Discussion ONE

(FILE IS ATTACHED)

Zombie Apocalypse

 Develop a PSA (using either Screencast or video) that informs the population of what will be done to resolve the issue.  

• Describe the nature of the situation.
• Explain what FEMA and others are doing to mitigate the situation.
• Explain what people need to do to stay safe and/or to get help in order to reduce panic.

Questions to think about while formulating your response to the public:

• What are the issues you will address first?
• Which organization is responsible for what? Where will you allocate your resources?
• What public health concerns are the results of each of these events?
• Which populations might be most at risk?
• What are some of the long-term health effects of these events?
• What other health concerns may arise from these events?
• What will you say to the people, who are desperately awaiting your direction?

DISCUSSION TWO

 Imagine that you are standing on the bank of a river and injured people start floating down the river towards you. There is no end to the floating people…they just keep coming and coming. You are alone and you do not have cell service to phone for back up. What do you do? In your discussion post, discuss what type of assistance you would want to provide. Explain where you think it would be best to focus your energy assisting (ie. should you stay where you are and pull people out of the river, or should you go upstream to find out why injured people are ending up in the river?) Determine what proportion of assistance should go to aiding injured people versus preventing the cause of the injuries in the first place. Justify your reasoning for why you would allocate your resources that way. (There is no right or wrong answer to this; it is a matter of determining the priorities between treatment vs. prevention.) 

ASSIGNMENT 

(USE SPEAKER NOTES FOR WHERE I SHOULD SPEAK)

 Imagine that you have been chosen to represent a public health advocacy group as they begin a campaign to get legislation related to a health issue passed in your state legislature. You have been tasked with the role of presenting a proposed policy to the legislature and advocating that the legislature vote for the policy. You have been told that you will have 10 minutes to present to the legislature. Your presentation should be informative, but also persuasive. The legislature will need to make a decision about whether or not to vote for the policy based on your presentation. Your presentation should be structured exactly as if you were “live” in front of the legislature advocating for them to adopt the policy you are proposing.

For your assignment, you will need to select a public health topic of interest to you (you are encouraged to choose one related to your academic major or intended field of work) and a public health policy related to addressing the topic. You may select an actual proposed policy or create one that you think would effectively address the topic. Your presentation should provide enough information about the topic and the proposed policy that a reasonably educated legislator should be able to make an informed decision. Be sure to consider the various questions that a legislator might have about the issue and proposed policy, such as long-term costs and benefits, potential effects on business and industry (especially those that support politicians’ campaigns), and how the policy will support the health and productivity of state residents.

For this assignment, you should create an approximately 10 minute presentation* that addresses each of the following points:

• Discuss the public health issue that your proposed policy is intended to address. Questions to consider:
  • Who does this health issue affect?
  • What is the impact of this health issue on the community?
  • Why does this health issue need to be addressed?
• Explain the proposed public health policy. Questions to consider:
  • Who will be affected by this policy?
  • How will this policy address the health issue?
  • What will change by enacting this policy?
• Evaluate the impacts of the proposed policy. Questions to consider:
  • What are the costs and benefits of the policy?
  • What are the risks of enacting or not enacting the policy?
  • How will the lives of people who are affected by the health issue change if this policy is enacted?
• Create an influential presentation that affects voting behaviors of legislators. Questions to consider:
  • What information about this policy would potentially affect the voting behavior of legislators from across the political spectrum (eg. conservative, moderate, liberal, progressive; particularly those who might not support the policy based on political orientation)?
  • What are the most important messages that legislators need to hear about this policy?
  • How would the constituents of the legislators voting for this policy feel about this policy and a legislator who votes for it?
  • What information would a legislator need to “sell” the policy to consitutents who were perhaps not in favor of adopting the policy?

*Note: Your presentation can be created using screencast software on your computer, the camera and microphone on your computer or handheld device, or the voice recording functions within a presentation program (like PowerPoint). Please see the announcement posted in Week 2 for more information on how to create effective presentations using one of these methods.

The Advocating for Public Health Policy assignment

• Must be an approximately 10 minute long formal presentation recorded as a video, screencast, or using the voice recording functions in a presentation program.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must use at least three scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• If the assignment is submitted as a video or screencast, your submission (via Waypoint) should be a document with the title page, a page that lists the URL of the presentation, and a page with your references. If the assignment is submitted as a voice recording within a presentation program, you should upload the slides from your presentation, and ensure that the first slide includes the information with the title page (as listed above) and a last slide that includes the references.