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| Amy Vinturella, standing, is teaching two courses this semester that address preparation for disasters. |
How do you measure the environmental health of a city after a disaster? And once you have the data, how do you talk about it? "Those are questions we are answering every day in my classes," says Amy Vinturella.
She is a research assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Vinturella was part of a team of environmental health professors, led by chair of environmental health sciences Maureen Lichtveld, who analyzed data and developed environmental health messages about New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Vinturella says, "But really, to the surprise of most environmental health professionals, this really hasn't turned into the environmental health nightmare that it could have become. We do, however, remain poised to monitor for longer-term health effects and ramifications, because we have not yet ruled those out."
Vinturella's courses this semester are popular. She is teaching a seminar-style, graduate-level course titled "Terrorism, Hurricane Katrina and Other Disasters--A Public Health Challenge" and an undergraduate TIDES course titled "Are You Prepared for the Next One?" Both courses address the issue of preparing for disaster or terrorist attack and the tools that are needed to assess impact and clean up after the event.
The graduate-level course was designed after 9/11, but Vinturella notes that students are no longer as interested in terrorism: they just want to hear about Katrina.
"We knew that this semester would be the crucial time to talk about what we learned from Katrina," Vinturella says.
Vinturella's professional interest lies in risk communication. "How do you encourage people to evacuate? What advice can you give them about returning? Is the city safe? Can you drink the water? How do you take all the environmental health data and translate it so people can take the necessary precautions?" Vinturella lists the questions.
There are several lessons to take away from Katrina, Vinturella says. She recommends developing a bank of messages that can be used for all eventualities.
"The first 72 hours--even the first 72 days after--you are scrambling. When the event happens literally in your back yard, if you are the person who has to respond with a communication and you also have to figure out how to put a roof on your house, you need a lead time. Meanwhile, everyone is waiting on you to say something, and they are depending on you for their health, safety and well-being. Even if you have to tell them to wait, it's better than being silent," says Vinturella. She notes that it is also important to build redundant communication infrastructures so officials have many possible ways to get messages out to the public.
