Communications between local health departments and the public during emergencies: the importance of standardized web sites.
Of the 2790 local health departments (LHDs) in the United States, Internet homepages were located for 1986. We reviewed each homepage to document the presence of 9 elements deemed to be critical for effective communications during emergency or disaster situations. LHD Web site homepages had a mean of 4.1 (±1.4) elements. Among the findings, this review revealed that 4 of 5 (80.5%) of the LHDs included the agency phone number, half (49.4%) provided links to emergency information, and about 1 in 5 (19.6%) listed an agency e-mail address. Fewer than 1 in 20 (4.3%) of the LHD homepages reviewed allowed visitors to sign up for automatic alerts or notifications. We suggest that these results be used as a starting point in developing a standardized template containing the 9 homepage elements. Such a template complements National Incident Management System protocols and can provide a recognizable source of consistent and reliable information for people during a public health emergency or disaster.
Department of Public Health, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA.
L Fleming
LF
Fallon
Hans D
HD
Schmalzried
Nausheen
N
Hasan
D003142:Communication; D004190:Disasters; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000592:standards; D020407:Internet / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D009111:Local Government; D011634:Public Health; D013597:Systems Analysis