TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Educators at The University of Alabama will share their expertise in a series of workshops presented by The Alabama Department of Public Health and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in which community leaders will learn how to effectively interact with media when bioterrorism or an infectious disease outbreak occurs.

Workshops will be offered in each of the 11 public health response regions in the state of Alabama. In this workshop, public health spokespersons and community leaders will learn how to effectively communicate with journalists and the public during crises related to bioterrorism.

The one-day “Communicating About Bioterrorism” workshops will provide up to 50 participants at each site with the knowledge and skills required to effectively communicate during crises related to bioterrorism, organizers say. The participants will include Alabama Department of Public Health personnel, church leaders, mayoral office staff, emergency management officials and other community leaders.

Dr. William Evans, director of the Institute for Communication and Information Research at UA, said that upon completion of this workshop, participants should be able to: Develop effective messages for dissemination via the media; predict and prepare effective answers to questions that journalists are likely to ask during a bioterrorism event; effectively communicate on-camera; develop a media/communication plan and tailor messages to special needs populations.

The workshops are scheduled as follows:

For more information, including times of individual sessions, please contact the South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness at 205/975-8963.