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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 08-19-2008 - 4cORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: August 19, 2008 Action Age~a Item No. - ~ SUBJECT• Orange County Preparedness Month Proclamation DEPARTMENT: Emergency Services PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No Health ATTACHMENT(S): Proclamation Campaign Plan INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Montes de Oca, 968-2050 Rosemary Summers, 245-2411 PURPOSE: To consider approving a proclamation designating September 2008 as Orange County Preparedness Month. BACKGROUND: Every year, September is proclaimed as National Preparedness Month by the President of the United States. The Department of Homeland Security and partner agencies use the month of September to promote emergency planning for individuals, families, and businesses using the message "Make a Kit. Make a Plan. Get Informed". Local agencies are encouraged to use this message and sponsor activities to bring awareness to emergency preparedness. The Emergency Services Department and the Orange County Health Department have planned several activities to implement in September to help increase the number of residents who have an emergency preparedness plan and kit in place. A preparedness month proclamation is a first step in communicating the importance of planning to the public. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Activities are planned as part of the normal budget process and incur no additional funds outside of the approved budget. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the proclamation and authorize the Chair to sign. ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PROCLAMATION TO RECOGNIZE SEPTEMBER 2008 AS ORANGE COUNTY PREPAREDNESS MONTH WHEREAS, the month of September is recognized nationally as Preparedness Month by the President of the United States and Department of Homeland Security to raise awareness of the importance of emergency preparedness; and WHEREAS, the Healthy Carolinians of Orange County Partnership's 2007 Community Health Assessment revealed that 53% of homes surveyed did not have a household emergency plan and that 56% of homes surveyed did not have all the essential items needed for a sudden evacuation; and WHEREAS, the September 2004 Rapid Community Health and Needs Assessment data collected by the NC Division of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control after Hurricanes Isabel and Charley showed that power outages caused by the storms restricted residents (especially those with lower incomes) from accessing medical care, food, and water; and WHEREAS, the month of September has in the past been a period of high hurricane and tropical storm activity for the State of North Carolina; and WHEREAS, Orange County has a strong emergency response system that includes emergency services, public health, social services, fire, rescue, law enforcement, UNC Health Care, water rescue, animal protection, public information officers, and citizen volunteer groups; and WHEREAS, multiple agencies within Orange County work in partnership and individually to educate the general public, businesses, faith and community based organizations about the importance of emergency preparedness; and WHEREAS, multiple agencies within Orange County work in partnership and individually to respond to and recover from local emergencies; and WHEREAS, proclaiming September as Orange County Preparedness Month will bring more attention to the need for individual and family preparedness among Orange County residents, and information provided during the month of September about emergency preparedness will be beneficial throughout the year; NOW, THEREFORE, we, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, do hereby proclaim September 2008 as Orange County Preparedness Month. This the 19th day of August 2008. Barry Jacobs, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners 3 Orange County Preparedness Month Campaign Plan Prepared by Orange County Health Department July 3, 2008 Overview The month of September is recognized as National Preparedness Month. Orange County partners, primarily Emergency Services and the Health Department will implement amonth-long campaign in September with the purpose of raising residents' awareness of the importance of individual and family preparedness, increasing the number of residents who are prepared for an emergency, and educating residents on the health department's role in local emergency preparedness and response. Existing research shows that personal preparedness levels among United States residents are low to moderate and that there is always room for more public information on this topic. This campaign will help address the Health Department's Crisis Communication Plan goal of increasing public knowledge of local natural and man- made disaster threats. Evidence of Need Local: The 2007 Orange County Community Health Assessment collected emergency preparedness data for Orange County residents. Participants were asked the following questions about household preparedness: (1) Do you have a household plan in case of a natural disaster or other emergency? 53% percent of surveyed homes did not have a household emergency plan and 3% did not know whether their household had an emergency plan. (2) Do you have a stock of water and non-perishable food in your home in case of emergency? 41 % of homes surveyed did not have emergency water and supply of non- perishable food and 1 % did not know if their home had such supplies. (3) Do you have all the essential items you would need to evacuate your home at a moment's notice? 56% of homes surveyed did not have all the essential items needed for a sudden evacuation. Survey results did not segment responses by geographic location within the county or socioeconomic status (although it is possible to do this). State: In September 2004, the North Carolina Division of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control conducted a Rapid Community Health and Needs Assessment in response to the impact Hurricanes Isabel and Charley had on North Carolina. According to this report, the hurricanes resulted in power outages that made it difficult for residents to receive medical care, food, and water. The report notes that lower-income residents had a harder time to accessing these services. National: There are several data sources at the national level confirming inadequate emergency preparedness among families and individuals. One in particular is a national opinion survey released by the American Public Health Association (APHA) in 2007, which surveyed 925 adults and found that most Americans are not prepared for a public health emergency because: (1) Americans prefer to not think about what could happen during a crisis, (2) some Americans overestimate their level of preparedness, and (3) Americans determine necessity of public health preparedness using acost-benefit analysis. 4 Target Audiences • Lower-income individuals and families living in Orange County, NC • Young Adults living in Orange County, NC (18-25) • African American and Latino residents Key Messages 1) Make an emergency preparedness plan. 2) Get an emergency preparedness kit. 3) Stay informed about Orange County emergency preparedness efforts. 4) Create a preparedness plan for all animals (pets and livestock) in your household. Goal and Objectives This campaign will increase the number Orange County residents who have an individual and/or family emergency preparedness plan. Objective 1: By September 30, 2008, a minimum of 125 Orange County residents will know how to make a personal/family emergency preparedness plan that includes evacuation routes, a communication plan, and preparedness kit. Objective 2: By September 30, 2008, a minimum of 25 community leaders will gain skills and materials needed to promote individual and family preparedness planning in their community. Objective 3: By August 30, 2008, enlist a minimum of 25 community organizations that are interested in partnering with the Orange County Health Department to implement campaign activities. Objective 4: By September 30, 2008, use a minimum of 5 media channels to promote emergency preparedness to Orange County residents. Strategies The following strategies will be implemented to address meet Objectives 1-3: • Train 25 Public Health Reserve Corps (PHRC) and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers as peer educators who can provide information to community members about personal emergency preparedness. Volunteers will lead emergency preparedness education sessions and staff information booths during Preparedness Month. We will also use Susan Clifford's Lay Health Promoters in this regard to provide information in Spanish. • Hold an emergency preparedness fair to teach residents how to prepare for local emergencies. The fair would be held outside of Wal-Mart in Hillsborough. Exhibitors would include such organizations as Orange County Emergency Services, Orange County American Red Cross, PHRC/CERT, and Chapel Hill Fire. Every exhibitor would set up an interactive booth with free preparedness information. Participants who complete a preparedness pledge card and correctly answer educational questions will be provided with emergency preparedness materials (e.g. backpack, flashlight, or first aid kit) provided by the PHRC/CERT programs. • Hold a workshop to educate community leaders about the importance of preparing for an emergency and OCHD preparedness efforts. Community leaders will receive a disaster preparedness toolkit and be encouraged to take information back to their organizations or neighborhoods to educate their members about disaster preparedness. They will also be encouraged to tell their members about the 5 preparedness fair. Announcements will be mailed to community members during week of August 11th • Orange County Government proclamation -September is Orange County Preparedness Month. Media /Public Relations To meet objective four, the following materials will be developed to increase the amount of county information being disseminated via local media: • Press Release: Will be released to television, print, and radio on September 1, 2008 announcing goals and planned events and activities. • Radio Public Service Announcement: WCHI, • Campaign Web Page: Will contain all campaign materials and links to local, state, and federal emergency preparedness sites. • Audio Podcast: Work with WCHL or UNC Instructional Media to develop a two audio podcasts. One will address individual and family preparedness planning and the second will address animal/livestock preparedness. A representative from Animal Control or Cooperative Extension will be asked to discuss the animal preparedness. The podcasts will be available via the health department's webpage. • Community Calendars: Use WRAL, Carrboro Citizen, Carolina Parent, and share.triangle.org to promote events. Educational Materials 1) Preparedness Kit Shopping List 2) Are You Ready for a Disaster 3) Ready.Gov Materials (already ordered) 4) Train-the-Trainer Presentation 5) Community Leader Preparedness Toolkit a. Emergency Preparedness PowerPoint b. Ready.gov brochures c. Disaster Planning for Your Family Fact Sheet Community Groups to Tap Into - Fairview Community Policing Substation - Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) - Immigrant Emergency Communications Committee (IEC) - Orange County Communicators Workgroup - Orange County Department of Social Services - Chambers of Commerce Evaluation Measures Campaign success will in part be measured by whether the stated objectives were fully met. Fair Participants: We will implement the following activities to determine whether community members reached during the preparedness fair used materials received to develop an emergency preparedness plan/kit: I) Give each person taking a preparedness bag a pledge card asking for their name and phone number or a-mail address. The card will also ask participants to answer three survey questions: (1) Do you have an emergency preparedness plan for your home; (2) If you do have a preparedness kit, please check all the items in your kit now; and (3) I will use materials and 6 information received today to make or expand my emergency preparedness plan and kit. In November, have several PHRC volunteers contact participants to ask whether or not they created their plan, preparedness kit, and have enough information about emergency preparedness. 2) Follow-up with all community leaders who attended the workshop to determine whether or not they have used materials provided to promote emergency preparedness within their home, community, or organization.