Reality program promotes emergency preparedness

Locals participated in ‘What If? Colorado,’ a public health education effort.

The Pueblo Chieftain
By JOhn Norton

September 2007

Michael Cox was just walking past a booth at the Colorado State Fair last month when someone asked him if he’d like to be a contestant in a reality program.

“Coincidentally, my wife and I had just watched a video the night before about how the (Pueblo) health department was planning for a flu epidemic,” Cox said. So he figured it was worth a try.

Cox, a children’s and teen librarian for the Pueblo City-County Library District, and James Amos, who runs the business section at The Pueblo Chieftain, were the two Pueblo representatives in the ‘What If? Colorado’ competition.

Run by the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the three-day program pitted nine contestants from around the state against each other in a number of competitions.

If the purpose was getting out the word about preparedness to the people of Colorado, it might seem strange that only nine people were involved. But Cox said that the media attention accomplished more than an advertising campaign ever could.

“We were constantly surrounded by cameras,” he said. “Every network, every night.

“It’s still kind of buzzing along a little bit. What it would have cost for that media coverage very well could have exceeded the $128,000 they spent on the project.”

And the group will continue to be involved. While next year the program will do something differently, Cox said that they brainstormed some ideas, like maybe having volunteers go to a football game and randomly place stickers on some people, later telling them the stickers were symbols to show how many people might have been exposed to the flu.

Also, the project will live on. While reality TV shows come and go, this one was a Webcast, available over the Internet, along with clips made by the contestants.

The group arrived in Denver on Sept. 20 for a meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel and then moved on to a three-night stay at the Gregory Inn, a bed and breakfast.

Each day the participants competed in a number of contests centered on emergency preparedness, working in teams that changed at random. In one contest, they had to gather up grocery items and were scored on how well they selected necessities. There also was a hand-washing contest in which a fluorescent oil was put on their hands and they were scored on how much bacteria showed up under a black light.

Amos took first place and $2,500, but he and Cox agreed that they were neck-and-neck throughout most of the competition.

The contestants came from varied backgrounds but most had some talents for the kinds of things they were expected to do.

Amos is a journalist who also performs in community theater. Cox has done some video with friends. Bob Marrow, a Walsh dentist, has been a coroner and emergency medical technician. Others came from similar backgrounds, including a Boulder woman who is no stranger to video since she creates “lifecasts,” sending her life over the Internet.

‘What If?’ Colorado is a statewide, six-month campaign that will ask Colorado residents to consider how well they are prepared for a sudden emergency, such as a severe snowstorm or power outage, as well as more long-term emergencies such as an outbreak of pandemic influenza.

Cox said that organizers wanted to make it a fun project that would draw people to the Web site instead of scaring them.

The finalists were selected based on video auditions submitted in August. A group of judges from the state health department selected 31 semifinalists and the nine were chosen by the general public after viewing their videos on a Web site.