Get the Picture? NCEH Wins Awards for Clear Communication

Have you ever tried to follow written instructions for putting together a piece of furniture or setting up new equipment? If you have, you probably know how frustrating those instructions can be. Without diagrams, following them can be nearly impossible.

What about following instructions on a government website? How has that worked out for you? Well, understanding government language should be getting easier for all of us, thanks to the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

Plain Language: It’s the Law!

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 requires federal agencies to use clear writing practices in communication materials designed for the general public. Two related executive orders (that are still in effect) cover the use of plain language in regulations. People are more likely to understand what to do (and what might happen if they don’t) by reading regulations written clearly in plain language.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and ATSDR take plain writing seriously. We create materials for technical audiences like scientists and health providers, but our most important job is giving the American people clear information about their health. Writing materials in plain language helps everyone to understand more clearly how to stay safe and healthy.

NCEH Wins ClearMark Awards for Plain Language Materials

The Center for Plain Language is a non-profit organization that helps government agencies and businesses write clearly. Each spring, the Center gives ClearMark Awards to the best writing for consumers by government, private, and non-profit organizations. Two divisions of the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) won awards in 2015 for clear writing projects that explain the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) and the proper use of an asthma inhaler.

How Does VSP Protect Cruise Ship Passengers and Staff?

The Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services (DEEHS) won a ClearMark Award of Distinction in the Public Sector and Government Before/After Revised Document category. The award was for translation of text-based information into an infographic explaining the work of the Vessel Sanitation Program: Keeping You Healthy on the High Seas.

Most of us understand pictures and diagrams more easily than written explanations. So government agencies and other organizations sometimes put information people need to know into graphic designs—called “infographics.”

VSP receives many questions about cruise ship inspections year-round. To answer those questions, DEEHS lead health communicator Pam Wigington, VSP’s Amy Freeland and her co-workers, and CDC graphic designer Steve Mann created the VSP infographic. Now the program can use this colorful, easy-to-follow poster to explain why it does inspections and what inspectors look for.

How Do I Use an Asthma Inhaler?

The Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch (APRHB) in the Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects won its Award of Distinction in the Public Sector and Government Multimedia category for its English and Spanish videos: Know How to Use Your Asthma Inhaler.

Research tells us that asthma patients and their caregivers want to learn more about how to use two types of inhalers. But APRHB communication staff realized that materials already available online might not reach everyone—for example, those who speak Spanish or who have problems seeing, hearing, or understanding health messages. They also knew that watching a demonstration is easier than reading a set of instructions.

So communication team members Scott Damon and Anne Meyers designed and created videos and simple picture instructions to reach these audiences. To keep costs low, the CDC video team — Larry Thomas, Todd Jordan, Charlotte Duggan, and Tanya Johnson—produced the videos and the team used “actors” who are children of CDC staff. To date, the videos have been viewed online over 50,000 times.

NCEH Divisions Are Plain Language Champions!

These award-winning ideas are just two examples of how NCEH and ATSDR communication staff members are always looking for better ways to tell the public about environmental hazards that could harm their health. Of course, we are proud that our NCEH teams received national recognition for their excellent work. But we are even prouder of NCEH/ATSDR’s dedication to using plain language in communicating important environmental health information to people across the United States and around the world. We want everyone to get the picture!