TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Communications between local health departments and the public during emergencies: the importance of standardized web sites
JO  - Journal of public health management and practice
A1  - Fallon, L. Fleming
A1  - Schmalzried, Hans D.
A1  - Hasan, Nausheen
SP  - E1
EP  - 6
VL  - 17
IS  - 1
N2  - 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.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1078-4659
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0b013e3181e31d22
ID  - ref1
ER  -