Presenters for Social Media response to Health Emergencies

Ann Aikin is the Social Media Strategist at the CDC
David Hale Project Lead from the National Library of Medicine
Andrew Wilson New Media Strategist from SAMHSA
Andre Blackman from Pulse + Signal

Introductions from the panelists include background on activities during the 2009 breakout of the H1N1 virus media peak in March and April of 2009.

Ann starts with several new projects the CDC rapidly expanded or created during the H1N1 breakout.

• Worked with Community Voice Mail to write emails and send voice mails to under-served communities.
• Twitter was used to monitor messages and see if there were gaps in knowledge or discrepancies in the information.
• Used several different accounts to deliver messages. WebMd partnered to expand reach, the information on that blog was the second most popular blog on WebMD by pageviews.
• Modeling behavior partnership with kids at Whyville.
• Finally, the CDC encouraged innovation in XML to provide transparency and collaboration. http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia for data metrics on what worked and didn’t.

David Hale worked on situational awareness (ability of group or individual to have access to information needed to make decisions). Works on Semantic webline at NLM and decided to release auto semantic reviewer. Ex. “swine flu travel” vs “how fast swine flu travels” are different salient tweets and with different needs for information. Used the Natural Language Processing system designed to read medical abstracts and used to analyze tweets. Real opportunities came from biosurveillance, respond to misinformation trends, monitoring of wide-spread sentiment, and potential for evaluating authenticity. Example: Monitor twitter streams and if everyone is tweeting about washing hands and coughing into sleeves, then good. Tweeting about using painter’s mask, then need to key in on that and see how to modify information. Partners with Swift River (Ushahidi) with the University of Wisconsin to evaluate ongoing work.

Andrew Wilson at the Department of Health and Human Services took a brief moment to show a PSA (barnyard conference) from their contest around the H1N1 flu spread of information. Great use of spread of social media and reaching people where their audience is. “Need to leverage social media to produce content that is more personally relevant that will resonate with all of our audiences.” As much as they can deliver a core message to their peers, they need people to deliver to their own personal networks in the tone needed impact to individuals and spread. Example: Spike in twitter traffic. See connectedthebook.com. Worked with Google Health Map via a quick connection during Twitter in initial information storm. Flattened the top down network structure to directly impact response time and spread of information to update and add H1N1 to the list of Diseases.

Twitter accounts for Health Emergency

@flugov
@cdc_eHealth
@cdcemergency
@cdcflu
@NLM_Sis

Web Site for Flu and Health Information

www.flu.gov/socialmedia
www.cdc.gov/socialmedia
www.newmedia.hhs.gov

Facebook accounts from H1N1 and CDC

www.facebook.com/h1n1flu
www.facebook.com/cdc

YouTube for video response and information of CDC

www.youtube.com/USGOVHHS
www.youtube.com/CDCStreamingHealth

Find relevant hashtags to follow include #opengov #gov20

Final wrapup included a discussion of how to manage during non-breakout communication. CDC continues to push content consistently and engage during non-ermergency issues. Primary takeaway is all or most of the social media tools were already in place prior to the breakout, so were readily available as people began looking for the information in real-time.

The movie is a bit of a documentary and expose on the food industry and the largely mechanized version of food growth, production, and delivery to consumers. Who controls the manufacture and quality? Not the FDA apparently, but for the moment, the food conglomerates. We are talking big business and some questionable practices. The moral of the story? There are some good guys out there and they will listen if we as a nation stand up and demand better quality food at better prices.

At fist, I was much saddened and disheartened by the movie. But, I now realize we will probably look back on this time in fifty years and scoff when people try and tell us how they ate. “Really? Food with little nutrional value and all those nasty trans, corn related, disease causing food substitutes? No wonder y’all needed healthcare!” Recognize any of same voices we now use when we look back on the tobacco industry? Granted, it still has room for improvement, but we know the risks and they are out in the open for tobacco and additives. We will hopefully one day soon understand the epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even some cancers as related to food. For now, we speculate.

Recent efforts to eat better, live simply and be more conscious have made me realize it isn’t easy, but worth it.  I am glad we watched the movie. It was thought provoking, disheaertening and empowering at the same time. Here is to lifting the veil and taking the harder but long term road for health.

The two biggest take aways so far?

1. Simple is hard work. There is a reason things are called “convenience foods” and prepackaged does save time.
2. Simple diet. It works to cleanse and heal the body on it’s natural rhythms.

One of the goals has been to not eat prepackaged foods, processed sugars, no added salt and buy local and organic when possible. I find planning out the shopping trips and meals VERY time consuming. I have been relying on energy bars, energy shakes and pre-cooked meals for a long time. I ate fairly healthy, no sodas, no trans or hydrogenated extras, but would let a little (sometimes a lot) of sodium sneak in for convenience. Now I am constantly steaming vegetables and buying fruit, trying to dehydrate when possible and cook healthy proteins. Between shopping, working, cooking, working out, eating and getting a full recuperative night of sleep, there isn’t much time. Whew. Not easy, but the results are worth it so far.

I have only been at this for a month, and plan on a 90 strict regimen with an evaluation of goals at that point. Then I can decide, what can I reintroduce back in my life, and if I will scale back workouts? We will see what the next set of goals requires. Why so strict? Because it is working! I have a much more even level of energy throughout the day both physically and mentally. Clothes feel better and I am working on functional exercises designed to let my body move and perform instead of just lose weight or gain muscle. Increased health benefits are totally worth the investment. It doesn’t seem so rigid when I consider both the short and long term return on my health.

With concern over health care and cost of health care, taking care of your body seems wise. Many people find themselves laid off in the flailing economy and without benefits as their COBRA runs out. Long term, it is really unclear what our healthcare industry will look like in years to come. Considering so many ailments are directly related to how we live our lives (not all, but many), I am feeling a lot better about getting back on track to a more sustainable diet and physical regimen.

Again, this isn’t as easy as just buying off the shelf what is provided and prepared. It is work and very conscious effort. At first it was a bit of sacrifice, but not the rewards are making the choices easier. I really wish the food industry would do much more to make healthy foods available. Not just foods advertised as healthy!

This has some nastiness potential, but it seems all government agencies including the CDC and WHO are doing all the right things for social containment. World Health Organization has declared the Swine Flu Epidemic and International Public Health Emergency which gives them the personnel and resources to follow, track and support the local agencies.

For information on how to respond and recognize symptoms, review the sites above. Now is a good time to top off any over the counter medications to support a flu like illness and check expiration dates on medicines. Make sure you have current medications for diarrhea, fever reducing medication, and rehydration solutions. Have on hand Pedialyte or similar such as Gatorade diluted with water to support an illness of stomach flu symptoms. If you are out at the store, make sure you have some easy to store foods requiring little or no preparation such as soups, juices and teas.

Finally, make sure you keep good disinfectants on hand and remember to wash hands often, keep surfaces clean, and cough or sneeze into tissues that are disposed of properly. Watch your local news for updates and take the time to talk about Pandemic preparedness with your family since it is on the news anyway.

Follow recent events using these resources:

Use the HealthMap to track events for last 30 days.

Subscribe to the RSS feed for news from the World Health Organization.

Subscribe to Breaking News Online for updates via Twitter
@CDCemergency and @breakingnews

Flu Wiki Forum and FluWiki website. Maybe a little more anecdotal, but full of information.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

I am working on the small backyard and raised bed garden to help supplement my families food. We enjoy the local farmer’s markets and have decided we want a bit more control over what goes in our own bodies.

This video from the Dervaes family is amazing, they raise over 6,000 pounds of food a year on about 1/10th of an acre of land. Wow.

A recent trip to the Houston Hurricane Preparedness Workshop and meeting the Houston Mosquite Control team taught me how poorly I had underestimated the aftermath of a severe rain and flooding. Recent midwest flooding in the United States has produced a hatch of epic proportions. “For example, last week, 3,674 mosquitoes were counted in Ames-area traps, compared with 182 for the same week last year, Bartholomay said Wednesday. Trap quantities are just a tiny snapshot of the true numbers of mosquitoes flying around.”  The relief workers are being run out of areas or hampered with their efforts. The same thing happened after Katrina in New Orleans. Fortunately for the midwest, they are not fighting the particular types of mosquitoes identified as carriers of the West Nile Virus.

If you plan on weathering a severe storm or returning to a hurricane or flood zone, bring lots of safety measures for working in the area. This also means considering your family and pets. Make sure you have basic quantities of repellent and in your work and emergency kits. Then add more. Here are some basic measures for mosquito control:

• Wear insect repellent containing deet, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus and apply it frequently. Don’t skimp, get 30% or greater percentage of Deet if possible.

• Drain standing water from backyard bird baths, discard old tires and other containers that trap water, and frequently replace water in wading pools. Don’t overwater plants and keep drains and woodpiles clean.

• Avoid going outside from dusk to dawn, peak activity times for some mosquitoes. Mosquito hatches can be present all day, but start as early as 3pm.

• Avoid dark clothes, which can absorb heat and make you more visible; choose neutral colors that blend in with the environment. Purchase mosquito netting for your head and cover other parts of exposed skin with netting if possible.

• Avoid perfumes and sweet-smelling lotions and cosmetics, including lavender scents, which attract mosquitoes.

• Perspiration is a lure, so wash after exercising or sweating heavily.

• Antihistamine tablets taken throughout mosquito season or after being bitten can help reduce bumps and itchiness.

Notes included from Chron.com and Associated Press.

I can’t claim to be the first to find and use this cool service. Brian takes little jaunts around the country on his motorcycle (for days and hundreds of miles) and uses this to let his family know where he is via updated GoogleMap and leaving messages. The intro price is fairly steep, but the peace of mind this brings is probably well worth it for most families. Track your favorite hunter, biker, business traveler or wayward kid. Once activated, it updates your location every ten minutes to let loved ones know where you are in your progress.

I really don’t like posting things like this. It seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if it is not true, media attention can make people believe there is a food shortage and cause panic buying. Self-fulfilling.

I will admit my first reaction was to rush to Costco’s and see prices and availability in my area. Maybe buy a few extra things to stock-up on. I didn’t, but will make a regular shopping trip this month. Let me know if you notice any changes in availability in your area.

These ideas don’t require radical changes to every day life choices. Simple things can be implemented over time to reduce your carbon footprint and help make life more sustainable. Reducing hot water time in the shower? Makes sense. Passing on all those free give-away items you will throw in the trash the next time you declutter your house anyway? VERY EASY. Read through these ideas and see how you can go a bit greener without turning your life into a hemp wearing hippie commune.