Reaching a Target Audience about Water Safety

Community Mapping

I am Ember contacting the local Walmart manager Debra to talk to her about the water crisis issues. The number one health risk/hazard in the community is the water problem: the residents are constantly being reminded to boil their water. This is an ongoing problem. Residents have been advised to boil all water for at least one minute before using it for drinking, cooking, or brushing teeth. While boiling water is an effective way to kill bacteria, it is not the only precaution that residents should take. Those with compromised immune systems, young children, and older adults are especially vulnerable to bacterial infections and should take extra care to avoid contaminated water. My priority health risk hazard is this water crisis/boil alert in Jackson and addressing it appropriately.

The plan for resolving the community’s health risk priority is to provide an educational intervention (boil water before use). I want to improve compliance with the boil water alert and get people in the community to use boiled or bottled water before making ice, brushing teeth, and food preparations; educating on the local spots where bottles of water will be issued; increasing knowledge about signs and symptoms that a person may experience from not boiling water before usage, and so on.

The listed assets that I think would best meet the needs of the plan for the community are the local churches, schools, and shops like Walmart. These are places where adults and children go to learn and communicate, and where people go for shopping. They are places of trust and places where people can be better informed. Overall, I am planning to address my community about the health risk of not boiling their water, the precautions to take, where to find updates about boil water alert, and also talking to someone from the water treatment plant to see what is in the works to prevent this issue again.

My potential partner is a manager at a Walmart and therefore is in a good position to help in disseminating information. The other potential partners are church leaders and teachers. The space to present is there in each location—at churches, in classrooms, and in the entryway/exit of the Walmart, where information can be handed out.

I expect my partner Debra to be helpful with this plan as she will be able to give a role to employees, which will involve handing out materials—just a flier reminding people to boil water and comply with the boil water alert.

Debra would have one suggestion, which is for information to be made available but not really to be forced on anyone. She would say that it is better when people are offered the opportunity to approach on their own rather than be approached by a stranger. This means that a table should be set up for handing out information. Along with posters and other visual aids, Debra would say it is a good idea to provide instructions on how to boil water and make it safe to drink.