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Assignment #4: Students will be provided with a scenario and will be asked to develop a risk and crisis communications plan. Detailed instructions, due dates, and grading rubrics can be found on Blackboard.
Scenario:
You work for the health department of the mock city used for Case Study #1 and are responsible for public and environmental health messaging for your department. It is early August and it has been an unusually hot and wet summer. There is concern about West Nile Virus (WNV) circulating in your region. There are laboratory reports of mosquito samples testing positive for the disease, and there are indications of mosquito to human disease transmission. Public health leaders are concerned about the potential for widespread disease transmission. You are tasked to take the lead on developing a West Nile Virus Risk and Crisis Communication Plan for your department.
Resources and Background Information:
For general background information on West Nile Virus, please refer to the CDC WNV webpage at the link below. To prompt your thinking a little further please take care to note the following items:
Disease transmission dynamics
Potential mosquito vectors of West Nile Virus (and here please pay attention to the environmental setting of the mock city- you’re looking at mosquito species best suited for this environment)
https://www.cdc.gov/westnile/index.html
Below are the characteristics from the mock community used in Case Study 1, which we will use again for this case study.
Characteristics of Interest for Mock Community:
Older city
Population of 200,000
Population demographics. (55% white, 35% African American, 5% Hispanic, 5% Other)
Socioeconomic levels are variable.
Community and neighborhood factor large in residents’ sense of identity, which is true across socioeconomic levels
Public housing community with apartments built in the 1950s
Older “historic” section of the city undergoing renovation-gentrification
Ongoing urban renewal efforts spearheaded by city and community leaders to re-purpose abandoned spaces, including creating play grounds, parks, and community gardens.
Instructions:
You are tasked to take the lead on developing a mosquito-borne disease risk and crisis communication plan for your city. Using Chapter 27 and 28 from your textbook as a resource for Risk Assessment and Risk Communications, please do the following two activities:
1. Risk Assessment. Answer the following questions (a few sentences each with references as appropriate):
Who is at greater risk from West Nile Virus?
What are communication needs and preferences of different audiences in the community?
What barriers to your risk communication message might you encounter?
2. Message Mapping. With the three questions above in mind, please select one “at risk” community or population group and developing a message map tailored to this particular group. Please incorporate key messages from these three elements into your message mapping.
Risks of Transmission to select group
Signs and Symptoms of West Nile virus infection
Methods of Disease Prevention
For general information on message mapping, please refer to source linked below. Feel free to consult other message mapping sources for additional guidance. Also cite these as references if used. An example of a message map template is included below. I’m looking for three key messages, with three supporting statement for each. As your craft your message map, please remember audience, writing level. Also, keep in mind this question: what do you want the public to know?
Message Map
Question: what do you want the public to know?
Key Message 1
Key Message 2
Key Message 3
Support 1.1
Support 2.1
Support 3.1
Support 1.2
Support 2.2
Support 3.2
Support 1.3
Support 2.3
Support 3.3
Tips for Message Mapping:
http://go.everbridge.com/rs/everbridge/images/WhitePaper_10TipsMessageMapping.pdf
