In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

Like most kids, I never liked getting shots when I was younger. Yesterday morning, I was recalling those days and thinking whether it would have been easier had they been given with the Health Commissioner, the School Chancellor and a room full of television cameras in the room.
That’s exactly how students at P.S. 157 in [...]

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In the Spring, when federal officials requested that the media to use the term “H1N1″ instead  of “Swine Flu” to describe the pandemic, I — being the obedient oldest child that I am — followed their instructions and have been careful not to write “Swine Flu” in any of subsequent blog posts.
However, I continue to [...]

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Yesterday, DHS Secretary Napolitano visited two pillars of the ‘new’ New York City-based national television establishment — she first appeared on “The View” and then was a guest on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”.
It was part of the Secretary’s effort to engage a broader audience, particularly as part of the H1N1 flu public information [...]

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I had the great pleasure to be a guest on the latest episode of the “Ready Radio” show co-hosted by Robin Parker and Lise Harwin. Parker and Harwin are the impresarios (or as they might say it, imprep-e-sarios) behind the terrific Cross Blog of the Oregon Trail Red Cross.
In the segment, we discuss how I got [...]

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With the start of H1N1 vaccine distribution yesterday, there were a number of useful articles (and one webinar) I thought I would post and excerpt:
* “Swine Flu Reaches An Anxious Nation” – (New York Times)
“The fear of swine flu is being compounded by new worries, this time among primary care doctors who say that they [...]

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On October 4th, it will be 10/4 and out for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) interesting online experiment, A National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. The third and last round began this week and will run through Sunday.
The Dialogue tool was developed by DHS with the National Academy of Public Administration to help [...]

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As I’ve mentioned before, one of the most challenging aspects in the effort to plan for a possible H1N1 pandemic is dealing with the business sector. Unlike schools, there is no central managerial authority to make and implement policies; guidelines have to be created and implemented on a firm by firm basis. It will also have to [...]

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Speaking to a workshop on crisis communications yesterday, DHS Secretary Napolitano said both ‘old’ and ‘new’ media “can and need to” continue to address the accuracy of rumors and conspiracy theories on homeland security issues such as H1N1 and terrorism. In her remarks, she also outlined some other news/information challenges faced by the media as [...]

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In Baltimore today, about 120 area journalists, government officials, business executives and scientists faced the following [mock tabletop] situation:
A major explosion at City Hall; another explosion at Baltimore’s World Trade Center; gunmen firing upon those on at the two sites; their actions are obviously being coordinated using complex communications partly utilizing info/images broadcast by the media; [...]

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The National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), National Public Radio (NPR), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in collaboration with three public television stations, and the Integrated Media Association are developing the Station Action for Emergency Readiness (SAFER) project, a plan to help public broadcasters serve their communities when disaster strikes.
SAFER will develop customizable plans [...]

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