I have borrowed heavily from inky’s excellent Flyer and tweaked it to address my community with an emphasis on protecting families.
InKy has kindly hosted the pdf on that site. Here it is and feedback is welcomed.
http://mindspinner.net/docs/Community_Pandemic_flyer.pdf
I also have this as a Microsoft Publisher file tha you could open with MS Publisher (comes with Office) and tweak it for your own community name or any other changes. I do not have a website to put it on, so can I ask that someone to volunteer to put it somewhere so it can be downloaded, please. I can email it to someone, it is about 600Kb.
I think this is a very worthwhile exercise and I have “market tested” the flyer as is to see how it could be improved.
WOW, some extreme responses, both positive and negative. Both I think are coming from the viewpoint of “Why the hell havn’t we heard about this before? If it’s true, why hasn’t it been in the media?”
So some have judged it as extremely important and I’m planning some specific follow up activities. While others almost see it as threatening, as alarmist. They don’t want to hear any bad news, especially this bad. They don’t even get to the point of hearing the GOOD news ie. there ARE things you can do to prepare.
I’m at the point now of just letting the chips fall where they may. We are only the messenger I keep telling these people. Judge the information for yourself on its own merits.
Can we discuss the reactions we are getting on this thread, as an exercise in improving the message? Also what ideas do you have to get this info out?
Do you think it is wise to have children read this material, for instance if it is put up on community notice boards? Been wondering about that one….
very nice Rob - yes it would be great to share and we can all add our community name.
Do you think it is wise to have children read this material
It’s a double-edged sword---it could frighten children if they don’t understand it, but OTOH, they may ask their parents about it and want to know what it’s all about. Some parents may even do a little research and try to come up with honest answers, meaning they’ve found something that piques their interest also…
BB;
I made it fairly blunt, that is my concern with kids reading it. I’m not worried about young teenagers, just the 6,7,8, year age group. From my understanding of communicatinf news of dangerous things to young kids, child psychologists stress the need for young kids to feel safe. Are there any child psychologists out there that can give us an opinion on this issue? I know my kids have picked up our concern about panflu from when we’ve discussed it and they have overheard, so my better half and I don’t discuss it in front of them anymore.
RobT — Don’t worry about the people who have a negative reaction. They will tune you out, but the next time they hear soemthing, they wil pay more attention.
As for community notice boards — maybe put it up a little higher than average child height? Mayne not so much in libraries or kid-friendly places, and more in adult -oriented places? Just a thought…
Ok I just handed out the flyer at my local town meeting. Most people took it in stride and stuck it in their folders with all kinds of other materials. The woman I was sitting next to was a reverend and she declind to take one saying that she didn`t go in for fearmongering (sp?). At little later she leaned over to me and said that it wasn`t that she didn`t know something about bird flu but that she thought that so many people went overboard “you know with duct tape and all that”. Her reference being to the constant state of alert around the Washington DC metro area and that we all need to have plastic sheeting and duck tape in case of a dirty bomb and other government alerts. Sigh…Its kind of daunting to bring the issue up here.
senegal1 at 2121
sigh…get used to it, but persevere. See is you county’s bosrd of health is training community speakers re panflu, get the training, then offer to present it at churches!
Tell people there’s a difference between fact and fearmongering……
Did anyone in the Gulf after Katrina complain they’d prepped TOO much and regretted it?
Average C Mom;
Yep, good thinking. Thanks.
Senegal1;
A reverend eh? So much for pastoral care. The issue of not wanting to frighten people has to be challenged. Yesterday I used the analogy with someone that if you saw a small child walking out onto a busy road, would you yell at him/her to stop, even though that would frighten the child? When they said yes they would yell at them, I said “Then your point is WHAT exactly?”
Rob T - I’m not surprised that reactions vary from one extreme to another. You’ve got a great comeback re not scaring people. I am a wimp about negative reactions, so I’m just going to have to focus on the fact that some people will take the information seriously and some of those will act upon it, so lives will be saved.
I’m not a psychologists of any kind, I don’t think a long drawn out explanation is in order to the younger set, they won’t understand and they would be fearful, but kids pick up on non verbal feelings and they have tendency to overhear things anyway. I would just very slowly get them in the habit of doing certian things that would become good habits, like sneeezing into their elbows, turning lights off, helping to stock for emergencys just in case, I had my kids trained from an early age to grab certian items when the siren went off for tornadoes, I and my sisters and brothers were trained to do certian things each in an emergency from grabbing the dog, cat, flashlights…and bring them to the basement or to get out of the house for a fire drill. This pandemic prepardness could be thought of as the same thing if done right. I think.
Feedback?
KimT;
My little guy is a committed nail biter, so your idea that building good habits now pays dividends rings true for me.
I wouldn’t be raising the dangers of pandemic with kids at all, until it happens. When it happens they will be locked inside, right? But by all means teach proper hand washing etc now, as it helps prevent seasonal flu and cold anyway.
InKy;
The one negative reaction that really got me was from someone who should know better, they are in the healthcare industry. But of course they were an expert and knew all about virology & genetics etc etc…and a pandemic was NEVER going to happen. I asked what specifically had changed in 2006 that precluded a pandemic from ever happening again…but no real reasons of course were forthcomoing.
Ah well. I guess we just have to accept that some will be victims and be selected out of the genepool.
Thanks for the support Grace RN and Rob T. On the kids, my 7 year old understands about bird flu — that it could potentially come but its not here yet. She knows that if it does come I will tell her. At that time she will have to stop picking up feathers and stop running after Canadian Geese. We also practice handwashing to silly songs and try to stop her biting her fingernails. Its not fearful, its just something of which to be aware.
Surprised is what I am. I also used InKy’s excellent PDF and changed it into a more email friendly format (I was worried people wouldn’t even bother with opening an attachment). I sent it out this morning to a big group of people I personally know. I am certain 80% read at least the subject line, if not the whole email. Response so far: one person emailed back acknowledging that he received the email, no question, no further interest (whenever I send out an invitation to a party I hear back from everybody within hours…I know, this is NOT a party invitation)
Maybe it’s just too overwhelming? Maybe email is not the way to go? I don’t know, I sure was expecting people to email back or call by tonight. I am certain person-to-person is a better way to spread the word, but no response at all when using email?! I’d rather have someone call me overly anxious or uninformed than getting no response- maybe tomorrow!! :) YEAH, maybe tomorrow!!
I will print flyers and hand them out over the next week, curious to see how that is different.
Hang in there Orange-brown!
Orange-Brown - If I’d just gotten the flyer and didn’t know much about H5N1 past a mention or two in the media, I wouldn’t know what to think, at first, given the flyer. I’d give credence to some of the statements on the first page because of who made them, and I’d probably start looking things up to see for myself. It would take me at least a few days to sort out what to think and how to react. I wonder if a few responses to your email will trickle in later.
Orange-brown;
A bit discouraging isn’t it?
Did you specifically ask for feedback? If not, perhaps they don’t know how to respond. Don’t forget, we are immersed in this issue, they aren’t. My best interactions have been when I have asked questions, more than given out information. Ask what they think about this whole bird flu thingy. Have they heard the latest news? No?
You have to go a bit slowly because this is so scary that unless it is seen as an IMMEDIATE threat to them, which it isn’t, it gets lumped into all the other threats like Y2K, terrorism and so on. People mentally fob off that which is not smacking them in the face right NOW. They even fob it off when it IS right here, right now like Katrina.
It’s a human thing.
Treat it like insurance, explain it like insurance. You wouldn’t wait until the house is on fire before you call for a cover note would you? You wouldn’t wait until that car is about to ram into you before buckling up your seatbelt would you? Why not? Oh yeah, it’d be too late. Same thing with panflu. So why not put some bags of rice into the garage…just in case? What have you got to lose…. besides your life?
on sunday, I printed up a bunch of stuff on the wiki proper and inkys info, put it in a nice file and marched myself into the CFO today, sat down asked him what his thoughts were on pbf, he told me he was only slightly aware of it. I kept the conversation brief but told him that I was concerned and had gathered data from reputible sources including human resouce and finiancial data because he understands that, he also has a wife who is a minister and two daughters in their early 20′s.
We talked business in his office and later outside I asked him to have his wife look into it for the safety of his family. He told me that he wont be able to look into the data at work for another week but after that he promised to do it. He did go into the vp of ops afterward shut the door and talked, later he told me he was going to try to talk the CEO into paying for flu shots for everyone in the office and yes he said he was aware it wouldn’t help with pbf. Its a small start.
Just to let you know, Senegal, I know there are several clergy in the DC metro area who are very onboard with pandemic issues. Hopefully, the clergy person you sat next to will re-think her position sooner rather than later!
thanks for all the encouragement.
I just decided to follow up in a couple of days. I did not ask for feedback, and I think that is an excellent idea (thanks RobT). I offered my presence to answer questions as much as I can, refer to articles etc., but did not ask for feedback. I hope others will read this and change the approach beforehand (if you haven’t already thought about this).
And yes, it’s so true, I am on this website every day a couple of times, my place is filled with cans and buckets, I read a lot about the pandemic, and sometimes I forget that this is not everybody’s concern or even choice. I think there has to be a trigger, some event that is strong enough for an individual to spend a lot of time and money on prepping (physically and psychologically). My trigger was visiting my parents in Germany back in March. We went on a walk; I picked up a feather and my dad said “I don’t think you should do this anymore, you know about the bird flu?” Yes, I did and somehow it had been a concept that had nothing to do with me. Well, that wasn’t true anymore. That shook me, I came back to the U.S. and started reading.
So, it has to become a personal issue, scary or not, it has to have an immediate impact on someones life.
I will be sitting with this for a little while…..
Thanks libbyalex. I plan on tackling my church tomorrow and asking if they have a plan or a committee or anything. I printed off the CDC flyer on faith-based and community organizations preparedness check list. Its not too helpful but at least it points out that the CDC takes this seriously.
I left a stack of the flyers, ribbons and cards at my local library. Just went back to the library to check on it and was amazed to see how many were gone! People must be reading them. (I didn’t see any tossed outside or in the bushes (I looked).
I need to do a return trip today to leave more. : )
can someone direct me to the one I can tweak to my community.
TIA
I’d like to customize this for my county too. My email is carreyinva@yahoo.com
Birdie Kate - Look to the Pan Flu Flyer To Go thread. If you have Publisher, Rob T can email a copy of his flyer to you - look for his posts. If you don’t have Publisher but have some other word processing program, there are a couple of plain text files you can access, or, if worse comes to worse, there are a couple of generic flyers that will work anywhere.
orange - brown
my experience with emailing people has been frustrating — I have almots NEVER heard back from anyone.
At first.
I find that they remember what I sent them, and then later, they hear something from elsewhere. Work, or an announcement on TV like “Stock up for emergencies like blizzards and pandemic flu” and that gets them thinking.
I’m learning to give people a VERY little information at first, so they don’t disount it.
But right now is the time for the flyer. It is good, pretty brief, but pandemic flu is in the news or could be if you are in the right area. If people think about it and then mention it to their doctors they are less likely to get “oh, that’s a complete hoax”.
DH is a child therapist. His take on this is that is is far more important for children to feel safe and secure with the adults around them-that is, they percieve that adults around them are taking significant steps to insure the childs safty, than to worry about children being exposed to an odd alrming flyer or news item. We handled it like this for my 12 year old daughter-I explained that there was a possiblity of bird flu, and that it could be very bad in terms of how many people get it-she understands this because she herself had seasonal flu last spring. BUT we were taking steps to prevent all of us to get the flu again-i.e. we all got flu shots, we will quarentine when the pan flu hits. She has helped me shop, and store preps. I didn’t talk about mass fatailities and all that, and of course the more grim aspects.
Still and all, I think I would hang the community flyers higher out of small kids vision.
Small kids (up to 7 or 8) usually can’t read well enough to make anything of the flyer. They will see a mommy taking good care of a little girl who doesn’t feel good.
I can’t find the flyer for the life of me.
orange-brown - I’ve given lots of different information to lots of different people. Unfortunately, not many are prepping as a result. I wish I had the magic paper to get them to start (besides a 2X4 agianst the side of their heads lol!). But I keep trying hoping that down the road, maybe they’ll hear about it from another source, something will click and at least they’ll start to investigate a bit more. Don’t give up - and InKy’s flier is great!
Average Concerned Mom – at 17:46 and LauraB – at 21:25
thanks for your feedback
I guess it’s a learning process. I still have not heart back from anybody, and at this point I am not surprised. I will change my strategy !! I am not that easily giving up. I might just meet with three or four of my closest friends and discuss the pandemic in person (if I invite them for brunch, they will come :)) I might inspire or just simply scare (just kidden) the people enough that one or two might be willing to spread the word aswell. Someone will read and might even start prepping as a result, I am not just dropping this whole thing.
I thought about why I choose email as a medium to inform people, and it might have something to do with “outing” myself. Email is more anonymous, whereas if I hand out info personally, I really have to stand behind my perception of this pandemic threat, and my own actions in regard to prepping. So, do I want to take 1.) the risk that a lot of people might say “You are crazy!” or do I want 2.) take the risk that when the pandemic hits a lot of those same people panic, starve, suffer, die… Quick moral decision making process: I take number one, rather being perceived as crazy than losing a lot of people I care for.
Birdie Kate - Do you use Microsoft Publisher? If you do, I can send you the Publisher document because Rob sent it to me hoping I could post it. I can email it to you, but I can’t post it for downloading the way I can post a PDF file. I’m sure Rob will check this thread again, in any case. If you could use a generic flyer, see http://mindspinner.net.
Birdie Kate;
What’s your email address and I’ll get it to you.
Carrie in VA;
It’s on the way to you.
Just bumping all flyer threads during PFAW.
Closed to maintain server speed