News & Events

SEPHLI Scholars Prepare to "Deal with the Media"

During the third quarter of the SEPHLI curriculum, scholars participate in a team assignment called, "Public Communications: Dealing with the Media."  The purpose of this assignment is to prepare scholars for "dealing with the media" during times of public health crisis, or communications crisis.  For this assignment, scholars identify a topic that public health leaders need to be prepared to speak about in the event that a reporter calls for an interview. Each team nominates one of its members and prepares him/her to be interviewed by the media on this issue.  The scholars learn about crisis communications during the May Retreat in two sessions, "Dealing with the Media" and "Crisis Communications".  The media interview is designed as a follow-up session from the May Retreat where scholars put their newly earned communications skills to work. 

Each team is expected to research their topic and provide SEPHLI with their Single Overriding Communications Objective (SOCO), three Message Maps outlining their three key messages, a comprehensive list of questions that a reporter might ask, and research including background materials as part of this assignment.

Below are the topics discussed during this year’s media interviews:

• An Outbreak of Hepatitis A Virus in Charlottesville Virginia
• Norovirus Outbreak in Assisted Living facility in North Carolina
• Threat of Pandemic Influenza
• Pandemic Influenza, more specifically the issue of the first H5N1 migratory bird identified in the US
• Avian Flu Powerpoint Presentation
• Recently discovered infectious medical waste in an abandoned hospital that no one seems to what to take responsibility for.
• Bird Flu - Breakout in Richmond, VA
• Avian flu hits North America