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Locating and Communicating With At-Risk Populations About Emergency Preparedness: The Vulnerable Populations Outreach Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

Tamar Klaiman ,
Deborah Knorr ,
Shannon Fitzgerald ,
Philip DeMara ,
Chad Thomas ,
George Heake  and
Alice Hausman
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Abstract

Vulnerable populations tend to have the worst health outcomes during and after disasters; however, these populations are rarely included in the emergency planning process. In Philadelphia, the Department of Public Health and the Office of Emergency Management have reached out to community-based organizations that serve vulnerable populations to include these key stakeholders in emergency planning. In this article, we outline strategies for locating, engaging, and communicating with vulnerable populations about both organizational and personal emergency preparedness. Such strategies include creating a method for bidirectional communication via a free quarterly health newsletter that is distributed to community-based organizations serving vulnerable populations. We also note successes and next steps from engaging vulnerable populations in the planning process in Philadelphia.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:246-251)

Keywords

disaster preparednessvulnerable populationsdisabled personscommunity health planningdisaster responsecommunications media
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , October 2010 , pp. 246 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2010

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