Objectives

The objectives of the outreach effort in your market include:

• Generate awareness about potential dangers of eating raw Gulf oysters contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus when other health conditions are present
• Educate the Hispanic community and in particular Hispanic males, about:
  • The safe way to eat oysters
  • Avoiding and eliminating risks of eating raw oysters
• Create an association between risk and specific medical conditions such a liver disease, blood disorders, Diabetes and cancer
• Raise awareness of medical and health resources available within the Hispanic community regarding Vibrio vulnificus

Approach

The basic written materials needed to launch a bilingual communications effort in your market are contained in this electronic education kit. However, prior to launching a media and community outreach campaign in your market it is recommended that you determine your communications objectives and tailor your activities and materials accordingly. Are you:

• Responding to media queries due to a specific Vibrio-related death or illness?
• Proactively seeking to educate the Hispanic community to prevent problems? (See Getting the Word Out Through the Media and Community Outreach.)

Tactics related to these efforts will differ greatly. If you are responding to a specific incident it is essential that you first meet with health experts and determine exactly what occurred and where. Ask all these questions that reporters will want to have answered and if you can't answer them the reporters will find a way to get the information and it may not be accurate.

1. Who was affected?
2. Which agencies have jurisdiction over the issue?
3. Where the oysters came from?
4. Were they purchased?
5. Were they Gulf oysters or another type?
6. Was Vibrio vulnficus the cause of the problem or did something else occur?
7. Who is your bilingual spokesperson and is the person truly a fluent, native speaker who will be able to interact properly with the Hispanic media?
8. What other resources exist in the community to provide information to the media?
9. What community based organizations can assist in providing information to media or to the community?
10. Is there a tollfree number or other community resource available for consumers?

If you are conducting a public health education campaign, the timeline will help you planning activities for an April launch, typically the beginning of the season when Vibrio vulnificus problems arise.