This week on the HHS Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog, I indulge my rich fantasy life and crown myself the Queen of Pandemic Communications. In my final post for that blog, I lay out what my ideal pandemic flu preparedness campaign would look like.
Coincidentally, today Craig wrote about how to extend Mack Collier’s brand evangelist framework to social marketing. This is an approach that I have previously advocated for how to harness the energies already being directed toward pandemic preparedness by scores of well-informed citizens who have organized themselves into online communities. Craig’s post helps to think through what would need to happen to create the Citizen Pandemic Preparedness Corps I propose in my post.
I just want to share a few resources for those who are interested in finding out more about how to communicate about pandemic flu:
- The Communication Initiative has a pageful of descriptions of campaigns, how-to guides and other resources specifically about avian flu.
- Greg Dworkin posted on Flu Wiki an excellent downloadable manual called Influenza Pandemic Preparation and Response – A Citizen’s Guide (pdf).
- Minnesota’s Code Ready website offers a customizable tool to help you put together your preparedness supplies, including the numbers of servings of each type of food you will need to have on hand for periods ranging from 3 days to one year. Many pandemic flu experts recommend having a 3-month supply of food and water for each person in your household. This website helps you figure out what that means in practical terms for a shopping list.
And, of course, lots more information at pandemicflu.gov and the Flu Wiki. Now that the HHS blog is winding down, I suppose I’ll have to abdicate the crown. I still do have to fill the royal storehouses though, just in case.
Technorati Tags: pandemic flu, hhs
Nedra helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing and transmedia storytelling strategies at Weinreich Communications since founding the company in 1995. She helps organizations make a difference for the populations they serve by strategically designing programs that draw on state-of-the-art behavior change techniques, digital media approaches and the power of stories. 
Nedra-re: your last post
“The first — and most obvious — piece that needs to be put in place is a media campaign. The message should probably be an “official” announcement from the CDC or the Surgeon General that makes it clear that pandemic flu is something to worry about, with clear steps that individuals can take to be prepared.”
Oh, thank you, thank you! All the posts were excellent but you have consistently hit the nail on head each time. Talk to Americans, and do it honestly and do it so they will have enough to prepare.