Institution: FEMA

Course Description: The intent of the Advanced Public Information Officers Course (APIO) is application of public information skills to a major emergency or disaster situation. This is accomplished with a series of lecture presentations and exercises over the four days of the course.  

Prerequisite: Students must take FEMA's Basic Public Information Officers course at the State level before they can be accepted into APIO.  Waivers from the prerequisite can be obtained by students who are experienced PIOs, hold degrees in Communication, Journalism, Public Relations or have taken basic PIO training from another organization such as a police academy, the military or the Red Cross.  To obtain a waiver, attach a letter of request describing your experience to your application (FEMA form 75-5).

CEUs: 3.1

Target Audience:  Public Information Officers

Course Format: Classroom instruction
http://www.training.fema.gov/emicourses/crsdetail.aspx?cid=E388&ctype=R

Time Requirement: 4 Days

More Information: For admission and campus information call the NETC Admissions Office,
301-447-1035.  

For course content information call Pete Vogel, 301-447-1101 or pete.vogel@dhs.gov.

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Institution: FEMA

Course Description: The National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides a consistent nationwide template to enable all government, private-sector, and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic incidents. This includes public information.

The public information systems described in NIMS are designed to effectively manage public information at an incident, regardless of the size and complexity of the situation or the number of entities involved in the response.

Prerequisite: N/A.  However, completion of IS-700, National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction is recommended.

CEUs: 0.3

Course Objectives:  The goal of this course is to facilitate NIMS compliance by providing you with the basic information and tools that you need to apply the NIMS public information systems and protocols during incident management.  At the conclusion of this course, you should be able to:

•  Define NIMS public information systems to include onsite operations, the Joint Information System (JIS), and the Joint Information Center (JIC), and how they relate to each other.
•  Describe the JIS/JIC process of gathering, verifying, coordinating, and disseminating information by public information and incident management personnel.
•  Identify each agency involved in given emergency situations and the role of each in the JIS to ensure appropriate situational awareness information is communicated to the public.
•  Define key terms related to public information systems to include the relationship with multiagency coordination systems and the field.
•  Identify typical resource requirements for public information systems.

Target Audience:  This course is designed for local and State public information officers.

Course Format: Independent Study
http://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-702.a

Time Requirement: Approximately 3 hours.

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Institution: Iowa Department of Public Health,
Upper Midwest Center for Public Health Preparedness

Course Description: This course assists participants with building the skills needed to be a full or part-time public information officer; such as oral and written communications, understanding and working with the media, and the basic tools and techniques PIO's need.

Prerequisite: None.

CEUs: N/A

Target Audience:  Individuals who either have public information duties as an auxiliary or primary part of their jobs or who are relatively new first-time public information officers who have emergency management as part of their responsibilities.  Prerequisite: complete media release and bring to class.

Course Format: Classroom instruction

Time Requirement: Full day (9 hrs)

Contact Info: Pam Walker, 712-646-2304 or walkers@loganet.net

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Institution: Iowa Department of Public Health, Upper Midwest Center for Public Health Preparedness

Course Description: Preparing for and responding to a pandemic will challenge response officials and the public in all communities. To avoid confusion and uncertainty, public information officers and spokespersons must communicate messages to the public accurately, quickly, consistently, and empathetically. Communicating to community members will be a paramount responsibility - the right message delivered at the right time by the right person could save lives. Crisis Emergency
Risk Communication (CERC) resources developed by the CDC will be discussed including "By Leaders for Leaders" and "Pandemic Influenza."

Prerequisite: LPHA Representatives: FEMA G-290 or Crisis Emergency Risk Communcation (CERC) course. In lieu fo these courses, a LPHA representative can also complete the Prepare Iowa Courses "O4087-6 IA NPHA Risk Communication" AND "O3137 IAPH - Preparing News Releases".

CEUs: None.

Target Audience:  LPHA Representatives and Hospital Representatives

Course Format: Classroom instruction
http://prepareiowa.training-source.org/

Time Requirement: 6 hours

Contact Info: Please check with your regional education/exercise coordinator to learn if your region is offering CEUs for this course. Or email Tim Beachy (LMS Coordinator) at tim-beachy@uiowa.edu with your question.

Institution: Fire Service Training Bureau (this class can be handed off to fire department PIOs and training officers to be taught in house)

Course Description: Train fire department personnel in methods for establishing and maintaining a positive relationship with the news media

Prerequisite: None.

CEUs: N/A

Course Objectives:

1.  Understand the role of the PIO is the fire department
2.  Describe the key functions and responsibilities of the fire department PIO
3.  Recognize the need for cooperation with the media
4.  Demonstrate effective PIO duties at an emergency scene
5.  Demonstrate specific performance-based skills required in the PIO function

Target Audience:  Fire officers and firefighters

Course Format: Classroom instruction

Time Requirement: Approximately 6 hours (can be taught in one 6-hour day, two 3-hour segments, or three 2-hour segments)

STATUS: PENDING

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Institution: Iowa Central Community College’s Homeland Security Training Center Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC)

Course Description: Designed to provide rural first responders with the skills and knowledge to adopt the role of the public information officer (PIO) and communicate with the public through the media

Prerequisite: None.

CEUs: N/A

Course Objectives:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the need for PIO’s to establish and nurture good working relationships with their area media representatives
2. Demonstrate an understanding of how the media decides what’s newworthy
3. Identify and use the five W’s, plus One, in writing news releases
4. Provide examples of development and use of a core message
5. Demonstrate techniques for conducting media interviews at the scene of emergencies
6. Demonstrate an understanding of what the public wants, and needs, to hear from leaders during an emergency
7. Demonstrate knowledge of how to balance the needs of the media with those of first responders at the scene of an emergency
8. Demonstrate knowledge of how to choose a staging area at the scene of an emergency

Target Audience: Rural first responders

Course Format: Classroom instruction

Time Requirement: Approximately 6-hours (can be taught in one 6-hour day, or in two 3-hour segments)

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Institution: Iowa Department of Public Health, Upper Midwest Center for Public Health Preparedness

Course Description: The course focuses on writing effective news releases, public service announcements, news advisories, and preparing for and conducting news briefings and news conferences.

Prerequisite: None.

CEUs: N/A

Course Objectives:  After completing this course the learner will be able to:

•  Discuss the importance of deadlines in different types of news release.
•  Describe who’s who in the newsroom.
•  Focus on newsworthy elements of the story by using clear and simple language and consistence in the style and usage.
•  List the eight properties of a news release.
•  Summarize and organize information in a manner that creates clear and accurate understanding.
•  Understand the use of the 5 W’s and the inverted pyramid style in newswriting
•  Write the lead, body and headline for a news release.
•  Explain the importance of quotations in a news release and use them in an appropriate manner.
•  Explain the review process for a news release.
•  Explain the dissemination process for a news release
•  Adequately prepare for follow-up questions from the media
•  Effectively monitor and analyze news reports, utilizing Rapid Response when appropriate
•  Develop talking points using the “message triangle”.
•  Describe the criteria used to select broadcast media stories
•  Describe four essential qualities contained in effective broadcast news stories
•  Write effective public service announcements.
•  Describe the difference between a news release and a news advisory; write an effective news advisory
•  Distinguish between a news release, a news conference and a news briefing
•  Prepare for and conduct a news conference or briefing.

Target Audience:  This course is intended for PIOs/PAOs who need to improve their skills in communicating with the public during an emergency.

Course Format: Online independent study, accessible at: http://www.prepareiowa.com/

Time Requirement: 2.5 hours

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Institution: FEMA

Description: This document provides fundamental guidance for any person or group delegated PIO responsibilities during an incident or planned event when informing the public is necessary. It describes actions for PIOs during the preparedness, disaster/ emergency response, and recovery stages of incident management.   

Prerequisite: None.  

CEUs: N/A

Objectives:  The NIMS Incident Command System
(ICS) structure and the role of the PIO.

• The use of tools to help disseminate emergency and preparedness information to the public, such as Web sites and Web blogs.
• Factors to consider when gathering, verifying, coordinating, and disseminating information to the public and additional stakeholders during an incident.
•  The Joint Information System (JIS) and Joint Information Center (JIC). This section provides examples of what JIC organizations may look like at various stages of an escalating incident, beginning with sample organizations and functions at the local incident level or initial response stage.
• Integrating with Federal PIOs and support. The field level ESF #15 organization and pre identified tools for communicating with PIOs at the Federal level and across state lines are identified.
• Required and recommend training courses for PIOs.

Link:
http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/12578?id=3095

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Institution: University of Iowa Office of Health Science Relations, Joint Office for Marketing and Communications

Description: News coverage about the University of Iowa helps others learn about your projects or accomplishments and creates support for your missions. Letting others know about the good things that you’re doing also contributes to the reservoir of goodwill that exists among Iowans, alumni and friends. That translates into support that strengthens our ability to accomplish our missions of teaching, research and service.

There is no more efficient way to communicate your accomplishments to the general public than through the news media. Of course, as a public institution, we have an obligation to share information with the public, in good times and in bad. But for the most part, the UI—including individual faculty members, researchers, staff and students—and our programs all benefit from working with the news media.

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Institution: Iowa Department of Public health, Upper Midwest Center for Public Health Preparedness

Course Description: The purpose of this program is to introduce participants to the function of the JIC during emergency situations as a component of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). More specifically, this course discusses the processes and resources needed to ensure that timely, accurate, and consistent information is disseminated to the public during emergency events.

Prerequisite: None.

CEUs: N/A

Course Objectives: After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the function of the Joint Information Center within the Incident Command System (ICS).
• Discuss the role of the JIC in coordinating and disseminating official information.
• Describe the JIC organizational structure.
• Describe the roles and responsibilities of the JIC staff.

Target Audience: This course is intended for local and State public information officers.

Course Format: Online Independent Study, available at: http://www.prepareiowa.com/

Time Requirement: 1 hour

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