Where firefighters come to talk training

CDC On Zombie Apocalypse: Are Ya Kiddin' Me?

Not sure how I missed this last week, but our illustrious Centers for Disease Control (CDC) posted a May 16, 2011 set of instructions to help citizens prepare for a potential Zombie Apocalypse. Now, I'm not sure about you, but this tongue-in-cheek instructional set seems a bit out of line for our national health information web source. The CDC has long maintained high quality, authoritative, and well referenced web sites for consumers and medical professionals to obtain credible heath information. Many certainly stood up and took notice of this Zombie post. I found it remeniscent of last year's instructions to dentists on avoiding exposure to H1N1 by having their patients wear sugical masks. Not exactly helpful. But it certainly turned heads. And maybe that's the intent of preparing for a Zombie Apocalypse.

Mike McEvoy

EMS Editor - Fire Engineering

Comment

You need to be a member of Fire Engineering Training Community to add comments!

Join Fire Engineering Training Community

Comment by Rommie L Duckworth on June 22, 2011 at 3:36pm: What was the CDC trying to accomplish?

Raise awareness within the general public of the need for emergency preparedness? It was likely to do that.

Motivate the populace to create or update a family emergency preparedness kit? I believe probably yes, but that is probably difficult to quantify.

Clarify the physiological differences between “Fast-Runner” and “Shambler” zombies? Not so much. (no CME credit for us medics then)

I believe that the CDC must decide, as individual educators do, where to draw the line between education and entertainment. While you can’t get your message across unless you have an audience’s attention, did the CDC pass by the “information” zone on their way to the “hey look at me, I’m on the internet” zone?

I think that they did a pretty good job in putting their primary message right up front. And with links to explain what the CDC and other Gov. agencies would do in a real emergency, at least it does seem better thought out than the “Hurry up and print some guidelines for H1N1.” dental recommendations.

I have to say that personally, for me, it got me to subscribe to the CDC newsletters.

Comment by Michael Schubert on May 25, 2011 at 4:44pm: C'mon sir, obviously they were not serious. However they were very successful in their objective. Kids, young adults and others are now aware of disaster preparation. The people who reAd the article just because of the word 'zombie' now know what to do in case of a real emergency. Kudos to the CDC for using this creative approach to public education. Those in the fire service should be thinking just as creatively to educate the public about fire safety, which to civilians, is pretty boring. With all respect, sir, lighten up.

RSS

Welcome to
Fire Engineering Training Community

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

Policy Page

PLEASE NOTE

The login above DOES NOT provide access to Fire Engineering magazine archives. Please go here for our archives.

CONTRIBUTORS NOTE

Our contributors' posts are not vetted by the Fire Engineering technical board, and reflect the views and opinions of the individual authors. Anyone is welcome to participate.

For vetted content, please go to www.fireengineering.com/issues.

We are excited to have you participate in our discussions and interactive forums. Before you begin posting, please take a moment to read our community policy page.

Be Alert for Spam
We actively monitor the community for spam, however some does slip through. Please use common sense and caution when clicking links. If you suspect you've been hit by spam, e-mail peter.prochilo@clarionevents.com.