The Risk Communication and Information Sharing Workgroup held its first call of NACCHO’s fiscal year on Tuesday, August 12, 2014 at 2 PM Eastern Time. Ten workgroup members participated in the call and two new workgroup members were introduced. The group discussed its 2014-2015 workplan and suggested several activities for the upcoming year, including the following:
- Potential policy statements – two topics were suggested, equity in risk communication by addressing health literacy and plain language issues, and local health departments’ communication capacity during emergencies and how this capacity may need to change with the Affordable Care Act prioritizing health education over clinical services.
- Risk communication toolkit – the workgroup collected several risk communication resources last year and reviewed two existing NACCHO Advance Practice Centers risk communication toolkits. The need for an updated toolkit with more recent tools and resources was identified by the group. The group expressed an interest in developing a new toolkit that would be managed by the group as an addition to NACCHO’s toolbox.
- 2015 Preparedness Summit abstracts – the workgroup identified three potential abstract ideas. The first was to provide social media training through a workshop. The group hosted a social media workshop at the 2014 Summit that was very well received and attended. The second abstract idea was to provide plain language training and the third was to present on communicating with immigrants and refugees during emergencies. 2015 Preparedness Summit abstracts are due September 23, 2014.
The next workgroup call will take place Thursday, September 4 at 2 PM Eastern Time. After this call, the workgroup will change its regularly scheduled calls to the first Tuesday of every month from 1-2 PM Eastern Time, starting on October 7.