Swine Flu Music Video

Webcast to the American People - H1N1

For Immediate Release:

HHS Secretary Sebelius and DHS Secretary Napolitano will host a Webcast to answer questions from the American people regarding the H1N1 flu on Thursday at 1:00 PM EDT. They will be joined by Acting Director of CDC, Dr. Besser.

The Webcast can be viewed at www.hhs.gov and www.cdc.gov.

Questions Requested For Daily H1V1 Briefing

This morning a request went out for public questions for the daily H1V1 briefing. The following question and comment was sent to: hhsstudio@hhs.gov

"There are programs, such as the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) across the United States where volunteers can help if mass distribution is needed. Residents should be reassured that volunteers have been training with professionals for quite a few years. This is not to say that more trained volunteers are not needed.

What plans are in place for areas of the country that do not have a robust MRC or volunteer network, and areas where more volunteers are needed, including potentially leveraging volunteers from the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Red Cross, religious organizations, and other affiliated Citizen Corps programs?

As we learned from September 11, it is times like this when people see the need to act. However, with time, that need fades.

Thank you for keeping the public regularly updated.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors
http://citizencorps.blogspot.com"

Day In The Life - Emergency Manager

Often when we think of the role of Emergency Manager, we think of an emergency management office that might reside in an office of emergency management.

With all the recent news about peanut recalls, what might a day in the life of a state Department of Agriculture Emergency Manager look like.

While the following was written in 2003, it helps define a model for this role.

http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-125-50772_2404_4863-74271--,00.html

Take Your Mind Off The News - Eat Ice Cream For A Good Cause

"Bring your friends and your camera to 31 Cent Scoop Night™ tonight at Baskin-Robbins®. Join us as we honor America's firefighters with a $100,000 donation to the National Volunteer Fire Council National Junior Firefighter Program."

Information Overload

As mentioned yesterday, with all the Web 2.0 tools, like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and others, information travels faster than it ever has. With some of that content creating concern.

"Some observers say Twitter -- a micro-blogging site where users post 140-character messages -- has become a hotbed of unnecessary hype and misinformation about the outbreak"

The complete story can be found at:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/27/swine.flu.twitter/index.html?iref=werecommend

If you cant trust the internet for information where can we go?

In the last blog entry, we questioned the accuracy of some of the information on the internet. So where can we go to get validated up to date information.

The following US Government website:

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

"One-stop access to U.S. Government avian and pandemic flu information."