Tag: Health

Zombie Preparedness: A Communication Strategy for Emergency Preparedness

October 31, 2017 / odrozd

Zombies have become a fixture in literary and cinematic culture over the past century. The list of on-screen zombie productions is extensive, ranging from White Zombie in 1932 and Night of the Living Dead in 1968, to this year’s Patient Z and dozens of others in between. In 2016, Netflix boasted a buffet of 19 zombie-themed shows to satiate their viewers’ appetite for the undead. Yet over the past decade, zombies have broken free of their cinematic chains. Runners can now have their zombie fix on-the-go, with zombie-themed races in which costumed zombies chase runners, or via zombie running apps. For the extreme among us, there are even zombie survival camps: “the ultimate weekend apocalypse adventure.”

The cultural capital of zombies has not gone unnoticed. Since 2011, the threat of a zombie outbreak has been used in a more unexpected way: as a communication strategy for emergency preparedness. In response to low engagement in previous emergency preparedness campaigns, in May 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) opted for a creative thematic pivot in their preparedness communication. And so, Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse was born. This campaign first manifested as a humorous blog post detailing key steps to take in the event of a zombie apocalypse,¹ such as building an emergency kit and developing a family emergency plan.²The CDC’s goals for this campaign were to widen the reach of emergency preparedness awareness materials and draw in younger audiences.

A quick glance at the post’s engagement metrics renders their strategy an unequivocal success; the post received unparalleled traffic, crashing the blog platform within nine minutes of the tweet directing viewers to the blog. The campaign was covered extensively by media outlets for more than a year following the original blog post. By 2013, two years after the original posting date, the post had garnered approximately 1,332% more views than average posts on the CDC Public Health Matters Blog, and 1,233 comments, compared to the average of five comments. The CDC’s social media followers across various platforms also grew significantly in response.³ Moreover, the immense popularity of the post led the CDC to develop a host of Zombie Preparedness materials, including a dedicated blog, posters, lesson plans for teachers, and even a graphic novella.

The CDC’s extensively shared and liked tweet referencing the Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse campaign. Photo Credit: CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (@CDCemergency).

Excerpt from original Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse blog post (May 16, 2011) on CDC’s Public Health Matters Blog. Photo Credit: CDC Public Health Matters Blog.

Since 2011, other organizations in cities across the country have followed the CDC’s creative lead, and further capitalized on the Halloween season to launch preparedness education and trainings with a zombie theme. For example, REI offers a Zombie Preparedness – Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse workshop, which covers important survival strategies adequate for any disaster. From Zombie Scavenger Hunts in Anchorage, Alaska (2012) to Zombie Artwalks in Abilene, Texas (this month), zombie preparedness has consistently captivated geographically diverse audiences and has catalyzed unique partnerships around emergency preparedness.

Anchorage’s haunted zombie scavenger hunt is fun for the whole family. Photo Credit: Anchorage Public Library.

Perhaps more interesting, however, is the adoption of zombie preparedness at the state level. Each October since 2014, Governor of Kansas Sam Brownback signs a proclamation declaring October “Zombie Preparedness Month.” This tradition, spearheaded by the Kansas Division of Emergency Management echoes the sentiment of the CDC’s campaign, insisting that “if you’re prepared for zombies, you’re prepared for anything.”⁴Furthermore, in February of 2017, the state House of Illinois passed House Resolution 0030 declaring October “Zombie Preparedness Month.” This law “urges all Illinoisans to educate themselves about natural disasters and take steps to create a stockpile of food, water, and other emergency supplies that can last up to 72 hours.”⁵

Kansas Division of Emergency Management fb

Kansas Division of Emergency Management employing their own zombie preparedness campaign on Facebook earlier this month. Photo Credit: Kansas Division of Emergency Management.

Although the CDC’s novel campaign has certainly been effective in garnering significant attention and replication across the country, measuring the extent to which this messaging campaign led to increased actual emergency preparedness actions is more difficult to quantify. A 2015 study conducted by PhD students at the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago investigated this question by administering an online survey about emergency preparedness to two groups of undergraduates: one previously exposed to Preparedness 101 Zombie Apocalypse, and the other exposed to CDC’s traditional preparedness messaging campaigns. Their findings indicate that the zombie material did not have significant impacts on their performance on the preparedness survey compared to the traditional messaging group.⁶

Even with these results, there is clear value in zombie preparedness, beyond the laughs. According to a national survey conducted in 2016 by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, almost two-thirds of US households lack sufficient emergency plans. More than 30% of US households with kids are unaware of their school evacuation plans, and over 40% lack understanding about their child’s evacuation location in the case of an emergency.⁷Zombie preparedness can only help this, especially due to its potential for youth education. Additionally, true to both their nature and their historical staying power in popular culture, zombies aren’t likely to go away anytime soon. Bundling zombies with preparedness education every October is nothing but good (and perhaps spooky) news for emergency preparedness – planners, public health advocates, and hazard mitigation experts take note.

¹FEMA. 2012. “Zombie Preparedness: Effective Practices in Promoting Disaster Preparedness,” Webinar Transcript. https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1913-25045-3339/20130430_final_zombie_preparedness_transcript.pdf

² Khan, Ali S. 2011.“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse,” CDC Public Health Matters Blog, May 11. https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/

³Kruvand, Marjorie and Maggie Silver. 2013. “Zombies Gone Viral: How a Fictional Zombie Invasion Helped CDC Promote Emergency Preparedness” Case Studies in Strategic Communication. http://cssc.uscannenberg.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/v2art3.pdf

⁴Barber, Elizabeth. 2014. “Kansas Will be Prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse.” Time, September 24. http://time.com/3424392/kansas-zombie-preparedness-month-sam-brownback-natural-disasters/

⁵Illinois General Assembly. 2017. “Bill Status of HR0030.” http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=HR&DocNum=30&GAID=14&SessionID=91&LegID=99787

⁶ Kruvand, M and FB Bryant. 2015. “Zombie Apocalypse: Can the Undead Teach the Living How to Survive an Emergency?” Public Health Reports. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26556937

⁷ National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. 2016. “Children in Disasters: Do Americans Feel Prepared? A National Survey.” National Center on Disaster Preparedness Research Briefs. https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:194073

Featured image: A zombie flashmob (fleshmob) takes on London in 2007. Photo Credit: CGP Grey via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

About the Author: Margaret Keener is a first year master’s student in the Department of City and Regional Planning, focusing on land use and environmental planning. She is particularly interested in resilience and climate change adaptation. Prior to UNC, Margaret worked as a graphic designer for ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. Outside of class, Margaret enjoys listening to podcasts while running, playing outdoor team sports, and exploring new places on foot.

Current Planning-Related Legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly

April 5, 2017 / odrozd

The Planner’s toolbox is being modified constantly by laws passed and policies enacted at every level of government. Being aware of existing laws, as well as proposed legislation, is important for planners, communities, and advocates working throughout the state. Here’s a sample of the planning-related bills currently under consideration at the state level in the North Carolina General Assembly:

North-Carolina-Legislative-Building-20080321

North Carolina Legislative Building. Photo credit: Wikimedia, Jmturner.

House Bill 3 / Senate Bill 34: Constitutional Amendment on Eminent Domain/Takings (Land Use)

House Bill 3 and its Senate counterpart, Senate Bill 34, propose a Constitutional Amendment requiring that eminent domain takings be exclusively for “public use,” and not for “public use or benefit.” It also entitles parties whose land is taken through eminent domain the right to request a jury trial in order to determine just compensation. Current state statutes do allow for jury trial to determine compensation, but the NC Supreme Court has ruled that it is not a State Constitutional right. If passed, this amendment would come before the NC general electorate for a vote in November 2018. (Current Status: Passed in House 104-9, in committee in Senate )

House Bill 68 / Senate Bill 65: BRIGHT Futures Act (Economic Development)

House Bill 68 and Senate Bill 65 propose funding for digital infrastructure supporting broadband, computing, and communications, particularly in rural and low-income areas. Known as the “BRIGHT Futures Act” (BRIGHT is an acronym for “Broadband, Retail Online Services, Internet of Things, Gridpower, Healthcare, and Training and Education”), it advances the idea of digital infrastructure as an essential public investment to spur growth in the “BRIGHT” markets across the state. The bills further stipulate that the NCWorks Commission produce an annual report showing how it can improve job training and employment opportunities for individuals seeking work in BRIGHT markets. (Current Status: in committee in House and Senate)

House Bill 175: Environmental Revitalization in Empowerment Zones (Environmental Justice and Hazard Mitigation)

House Bill 175 requires the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to prioritize the improvement of environmental metrics within “urban empowerment zones.” These zones are defined as areas within a city of greater than 275,000 people that is experiencing: higher than city average unemployment or crime, or lower than average household income. The city government must identify these zones. DEQ would be responsible for helping with stream restoration and flood prevention, studying air pollution, and convening an annual conference to create plans for the improvement of air and water quality within the urban empowerment zones. (Current Status: in committee in House)

House Bill 387: Corner Store Initiative (Community Revitalization and Public Health)

House Bill 387 aims to increase the sale of healthy foods in food deserts by assisting existing small food retailers to stock fresh produce and other nutrient-dense foods. The bill would create The Healthy Food Small Retailer Fund within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and funds would be dispersed through county or regional public health departments. Participating stores would be required to accept or agree to accept benefits for federal nutrition programs such a SNAP. (Current Status: in committee in House)

Senate Bill 296: Requirements for Road Improvements Adjacent to Schools (Transportation)

Senate Bill 296 would allow a school to hire its own independent traffic engineer to evaluate whether a new school’s access points meet the standards of North Carolina Department of Transportation’s “Policy on Street and Driveway Access.” Also, schools would be reimbursed by NCDOT for any improvements made to the state highway system that exceed the requirements of NCDOT’s policy. The city’s standards for improvements may not exceed what is “required for safe ingress or egress to the municipal street system and that are physically connected to a driveway on a school site.” (Current Status: in committee in Senate)

Please note that the selection of bills for this article does not constitute an endorsement of their content, but is meant to show the breadth of planning issues under discussion in the North Carolina General Assembly. To track the status of these bills and to read their full text, visit www.ncleg.net. For a full list of bills that the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association is monitoring, visit http://apa-nc.org/legislation.

About the Author: Catherine Peele is a first year Master’s of City and Regional Planning candidate from Albemarle, North Carolina. Her planning interests include transportation project prioritization methods and freight mobility. Outside of planning, Catherine enjoys exploring local parks and museums, supporting refugee resettlement efforts in the Triangle, perfecting classic Southern dishes and trying new recipes, and spending time with her two nieces.

Pork, GRITS, and Planning

October 12, 2016 / odrozd

As a native North Carolinian, there are a few things that come to mind as quintessentially Southern. At the top of this list is barbecue. The smell of hickory chips, the taste of tangy vinegar, and the social ritual of the pig pickin’ are, for many, cornerstones of a place-based identity.

Unfortunately, our cultural appreciation for authentic barbecue underscores a fundamental tension between the strength of Southern identity and the quality of our health. Alongside a regional cuisine typified by rich comfort foods, the South has the highest percent of obese adults. Relative to other U.S. regions, the 17 states that comprise the US Census region also have a lower overall life expectancy, stronger negative associations between poverty and healthy food access, and a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke.¹ These statistics are even more alarming given that the region also has the highest percentage of uninsured non-elderly adults and, of the entire region, only Arkansas and Louisiana have expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.²

But the twin components of culture and health don’t have to be at odds. The question is, how do we leverage our assets to tackle our problems? And what is the role of Planning in the context of Southern health promotion? Graduate Research and Intervention in the South, or GRITS, is a student organization established 2 years ago by Christina Galardi, an alumna of the dual MPH/MCRP program at UNC. Her intention was to create a forum for graduate students from multiple disciplines to delve more deeply into these issues.

The mission of GRITS is to prepare students for community-based field work by exploring the distinctive challenges and opportunities in the American South. The initiative began with a series of journal clubs, panel discussions and guest lectures, including a rural health roundtable on the health of farmworkers in Eastern North Carolina, and a talk titled “Southern Discomfort” by Mindi Spencer, a professor at the University of South Carolina.

Last year, the group hosted a panel discussion on public health in local affordable housing facilities with representatives from CASA, the Greensboro Housing Coalition, and the Charlotte Planning Department. Kirstin Frescoln, a doctoral student in DCRP also offered her perspective based on her research on how housing and community development can improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations. GRITS also hosted a screening of Deep South, a documentary about the neglected HIV/AIDS crisis in the rural south, and a panel discussion on defining and sustaining a local food economy in the Piedmont region.

GRITS event flyer, Spring 2016.

This year, we hope to increase interdepartmental collaboration, facilitate more skill sharing and skill building workshops, and increase volunteering and shadowing opportunities with local organizations. A skill-sharing social with graduate students from the Center for the Study of the American South, a panel on initiating and implementing health policy, and a community asset mapping workshop are currently on the books.

As anyone who has ever overheard a dispute about the superiority of tomato- or vinegar-based bbq sauce knows, Southern culture is nuanced and multifaceted. So too, are the solutions to our health concerns. New perspectives and interdisciplinary collaboration are a vital part of the problem-solving process, and, given the deterministic relationship between the health of communities and the physical environment on which they’re built, a partnership between Public Health and City Planning would be a valuable asset. Our next general meeting will be on October 24 from 2-3pm, location TBD. We would love for you to join us and share your ideas.

If you can’t make the meeting but are interested in joining GRITS or attending our events, sign up for our listerv by emailing uncgrits@listserv.unc.edu or visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GRITSatUNC/.

Featured Image: A Piggly Wiggly store in Owasso, Oklahoma in 2006. Photo Credit: Wikimedia.

Citations

¹ The State of Obesity. Adult Obesity in the United States. 2016. Available online at: http://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/.
² The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Health and Health Coverage in the South: A Data Update. 2016. Available online at: http://kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/health-and-health-coverage-in-the-south-a-data-update/.

About the Author: Sarah Shaughnessy is a dual Master’s degree candidate in Public Health and City and Regional Planning. She grew up in Raleigh, attended Grinnell College in Iowa, and spent a year working on an organic farm in Washington State before returning to North Carolina for graduate school. She serves on the GRITS leadership team along with Public Health students Hannah Quigley and Bridget Hoschwald.

Academic Performance and Physical Activity: A Brief History Lesson

October 11, 2015 / odrozd

What do we know about the relationship between physical activity and fitness, and academic performance? This brief lesson, drawn from a 2014 article by Castelli and others, provides an overview of how this area of research has evolved and where we are today.

Paving the Way

Research on psychological benefits of physical activity began in the 1950s and 1960s, with the first large-scale study of physical activity and academic achievement taking place in 1967. In the 2000s, research shifted from an academic achievement focus, using metrics like IQ, to studying the impact of physical activity on mental function, attention, and working memory. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act emphasized classroom instructional time, often limiting physical education and physical activity opportunities during the school day. Exploring the effects of this tradeoff, studies emerged showing that physical activity could improve performance and “need not be sacrificed for academic excellence,” as described by Trost in 2009. In the late 2000s, researchers recommended more study on dose-response relationships, in other words, exploring the optimal duration and intensity of physical activity required to elicit an increase in performance.

Where do we go from here?

Castelli and others (2014) recommend more research on the right intensity and settings for physical activity, differences by grade levels, impact of policy, effects over time, and causal relationships. There are many variables, including demographics, age, gender, type of task, and learning style, that may play a role in affecting the relationship between physical activity and academic achievement, and researchers should look at those as well.

Currently, researchers are looking more broadly at academic performance, physical fitness, physical activity, and cognitive development, showing results like these:

Aerobic fitness was connected with better standardized test performance by Roberts, Freed, and McCarthy in 2010.
Cardiorespiratory fitness and weight status were each independently connected with academic achievement, cognition, and behavior by Davis and Cooper in 2011 and Sardinha and others in 2014.
Children with a high level of fitness performed better on a test of memory in a study by Raine and others in 2013.
After 20 minutes of walking, students completed learning tasks more quickly and accurately and performed better on tests of reading comprehension in a 2009 study by Hillman and others.

What Can Planners Do?

Active Living Research recently published a research brief that outlines the impacts of active living. The evidence is strong and although we don’t know all the answers, we can say with more certainty: active kids learn better. As planners, we must always remember that the shape and features of a neighborhood impacts much more than just physical health and well-being. More time spent sitting in cars or buses is not only detrimental to the physical health of young people but it is likely contributing to lackluster academic performance as well. Planning for active living is planning for healthier, smarter communities.

To learn more, visit the Resource Center from the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.

About the Author: Christina Galardi is a third-year master’s student pursuing dual degrees in City and Regional Planning and Public Health. At the intersection of these two disciplines, her areas of focus are capacity-building to support active living and healthy eating, traffic-related injury prevention, and improved access to medical services. She serves as a research advisor for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.

Tag: Health

Zombie Preparedness: A Communication Strategy for Emergency Preparedness

Current Planning-Related Legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly

Pork, GRITS, and Planning

Academic Performance and Physical Activity: A Brief History Lesson

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