Version
Disclaimer
Intended Audience
Program Purpose
History
How To Use
Computer Settings Guide
Printing
Acknowledgments
Contact Us

 

Version

This is a beta version of Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) CDCynergy; released on February 21, 2003.

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Disclaimer

This is a beta version of ERC CDCynergy. The CD will not be produced in its final form until all editing has been completed, and all necessary clearances, including copyright permission, have been obtained. Accordingly, if you identify any problems with text, grammar, or spelling, please relay this information to Varian Brandon at vfb0@cdc.gov or 404-639-7853.

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Intended Audience

The Emergency Risk Communication CDCynergy can be used in different ways by users with varying requirements and interests.

FOR THE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER WHO HAS LITTLE EXPERIENCE WITH EMERGENCY OR RISK COMMUNICATION, CDCynergy can:

• Guide you through the critical planning process.
• Give you step-by-step guidance as you handle a crisis, providing practical tools and resources.
• Help you identify and coordinate staff and other resources to accomplish your goals.
• Provide an emergency checklist if the event is "here and now" and you haven't prepared thoroughly.

FOR THE PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER WHO HAS EXPERIENCE WITH EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION AND/OR RISK COMMUNICATION, CDCynergy can:

• Refresh and broaden your knowledge by presenting several areas of communication expertise: crisis communication, emergency communication and planning, and risk communication, combined with the hands-on experience of practitioners.
• Provide checklists and other tools to test and strengthen the thoroughness of your planning.
• Tap into tools and resources to increase efficiency and effectiveness, from planning, testing, and execution, through evaluation.

FOR ACADEMICS, STUDENTS, AND OTHERS INTERESTED IN UNDERSTANDING EMERGENCY RISK COMMUNICATION IN GREATER DEPTH, CDCynergy can:

• Bring the perspectives of practitioners, subject matter experts, and academicians from several disciplines to bear on the challenge of communicating effectively with the public in a serious health crisis, including a bioterrorism-related crisis.
• Train students through a self-contained, interactive, multimedia curriculum based on a text that is provided and utilizing, PowerPoint® presentations, video, and scenarios.
• Provide extensive resources that include practical tools, references, and links to many other sources of information.

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Program Purpose

The phone can ring at any time; an emergency or crisis event is occurring. Accurate, timely, and coordinated communication is needed to inform the public of the potential risks and the steps being taken to address the situation. To meet this need, the Centers for Disease Control and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has developed ERC CDCynergy: a step-by-step tutorial and performance support tool to help federal, state, and local public health communicators systematically plan, implement, and evaluate emergency health communications. Contained on a single CD-ROM, ERC CDCynergy contains resources, examples, and tools for pre-event planning and preparation, communication response during and after an event, and advice from risk communication experts.

The purpose of the ERC CDCynergy is to introduce the user to communication principles and tools as they relate to what we have called emergency risk communication. Emergency risk communication encompasses the urgency of disaster communication with the need to communicate risks and benefits to the public and stakeholder. The principles in this CDCynergy borrow from 1) academicians, 2) modern crisis, issues management, communication and psychological theory and, 3) lessons learned from the real and often painful world of experience and old-fashioned trial and error.

Crisis and emergency risk communication is the attempt by science or public health professionals to provide information that allows an individual, stakeholders, or an entire community to make the best possible decisions during a crisis emergency about their well being, and communicate those decisions, within nearly impossible time constraints, and ultimately, to accept the imperfect nature of choices as the situation evolves.

The ERC CDCynergy is a tool that addresses a number of topics critical to successful public, partner and stakeholder communication during an emergency situation. This is not an in-depth tool on risk communication, issues management, crisis or disaster communication. It draws on the work of many professionals in these fields including Dr. Peter Sandman, Dr. Vincent Covello, and Dr. Baruch Fischhoff. Therefore, no one area of ERC CDCynergy is a complete source for a specific discipline such as media relations or risk communication. It is meant to help those who are charged with these responsibilities, and who may not be steeped in these subjects, to manage the tasks of planning and implementing crisis and emergency risk communication. When possible, many resource sites are provided that offer more in-depth materials on a particular subject. The ERC CDCynergy is a practical what-to-do and how-to-it guide for the professional who is planning for and communicating during a time of extreme crisis and risk.

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History

For information about the creation of CDCynergy, see "History of CDCynergy."

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How To Use

For information on how to navigate and use this program, see "How To Use - ERC CDCynergy."

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Computer Settings Guide

To set up your computer with the necessary settings and plug-ins, see the "Computer Settings Guide."

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Printing

Many resources referenced in ERC CDCynergy are available on the CD-ROM or on the Web. Reference articles and documents that are available in PDF format can be printed through Adobe Acrobat Reader®. If you do not have Acrobat Reader® installed on your computer, you may install it by following the Computer Settings Guide.

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Acknowledgments

This product was developed and produced by the:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Communication http://www.cdc.gov (for a complete list of contributing personnel, see History),

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/,

Prospect Center of the American Institutes for Research http://www.air-dc.org, and

Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) http://www.orau.gov/orise.htm.

The following individuals and organizations provided resources or source materials for the development of the ERC CDCynergy program:

• Dr. Vincent T. Covello and the staff of the Center for Risk Communication.
• Dr. Peter Sandman
• Dr. Baruch Fischoff
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• Prospect Center of the American Institutes for Research.

Much of the content of the ERC CDCynergy program was adapted from the CDC's Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication training course, written and edited by Barbara Reynolds, M.A., CDC; Julia Galdo, Prospect Center, AIR; Lynn Sokler, Prospect Center, AIR. Additional editing was provided by Vicki F. Freimuth, Ph.D., CDC; Linda Weinberg, Charles Buki, Elizabeth Williams, Alicia Eberl-Lefko, and Chad R. Wood, M.B.A.

The content for the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication training course was developed in coordination with the National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC) and using the following works:

• Andreasen, Alan R. (1995). Marketing Social Change: Changing Behavior to Promote Health, Social Development, and the Environment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
• Auf der Heide, Erik: Disaster Planning, Part II: Disaster problems, issues and challenges identified in the research literature, Emerg. Med. Clin. N. Amer. 14(2):453-480, (May) 1996.
• Borman, Ernest G. (1975). Discussion and Group Methods. Second Edition. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc.
• Cohn, Victor. (1990). Reporting on Risk. Washington D.C.: The Media Institute
• Cooper, Lane. (1932). The Rhetoric of Aristotle. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.
• Fischer, Henry, W, III. (1998). Response to Disaster. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
• Graeff, Judith A., et. Al. (1993). Communication for Health and Behavior Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
• Hennekens, Charles H., Dr.P.H., et. Al. (1987). Epidemiology in Medicine. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
• Hennekens, Charles, H., & Buring, Julie, E. (1987). Epidemiology in Medicine. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
• Hicks, Rick & Kathy. (1999). Boomers, Xers, and Other Strangers. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
• Holsinger, Ralph, L. (1991). Media Law. New York: McGraw Hill.
• Johannesen, Richard L. (1971). Contemporary Theories of Rhetoric. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.
• Leeds, Dorothy. (2000). The 7 Powers of Questions. New York: Berkly Publishing Group.
• Lum, Max R., Ed.D.; Tinker, Tim L. Dr.P.H., M.P.H.. (1994) A Primer on Health Risk Communication Principles and Practices. Atlanta: Division of Health Education, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
• Rodman, George. (1981). Mass Media Issues: Analysis and Debate. Chicago: Science Research Associates, Inc.
• Shewe, Charles D.; Smith, Reuben M. (1983). Marketing Concepts and Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
• Smith, Larry. (2001). The ICM Crisis Management Certification Course. Louisville, Kentucky: Institute for Crisis Management.
• Susskind, Lawrence, & Field, Patrick. (1996). Dealing With an Angry Public. New York: The Free Press.
• Swets, Paul, W. (1992). The Art of Talking So That People Will Listen. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Timm, Paul, R. (1981). Functional Business Presentations. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.
• Turkington, Carol. (1999). The Complete Idiots Guide to Cultural Etiquette. Indianapolis: Macmillan USA, Inc.
• Ury, William. (1993). Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation. New York: Bantam Books.
• Yale, David, R. (1991). The Publicity Handbook. Chicago: NTC Business Books.

Public Health Partners and Associations who contributed to the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication course include:

• David Bergmire-Sweat, American Social Health Association
• Steven Berry, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice
• Bonnie Piper, Environmental Protection Agency
• Clete DiGiovanni, Jr., M.D., National Naval Medical Center
• Ronnie Goodstein, Penellis County, FL, Department of Health
• Bill Hall, Department of Health and Human Services
• Stacey Hoffman, Georgia Department of Public Health
• Robert DeMartino, MD, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency
• Marc Wolfson, Department of Health and Human Services
• Donald Stephens, Atlanta American Red Cross
• William Reynolds, Atlanta American Red Cross
• Darren Irby, American Red Cross
• Caroline Hall, American Red Cross
• Joseph Karwatka, M.S., Logistics Management Institute (LMI)
• John W. Yasalonis, MS, CIH, RHSP, Logistics Management Institute (LMI).

Additional individuals and organizations providing resources or references can be found on the References pages under the Reference tab.

The creators of the ERC CDCynergy gratefully acknowledge the contributions to its content by practitioners, subject matter experts, academicians and other federal government agencies as well as the longstanding contributions of communication theory, psychology, and philosophy that underpin this work.

For a source information bibliography, see Bibliography.

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Contact Us

Send questions and comments about this application to:

Office of Communication
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Building 16, D-42
1600 Clifton Road, N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30333
Phone: (404) 639-7584
Fax: (404) 639-7391
E-mail: vfb0@cdc.gov

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