The Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium (NIPHC) has created Illinois Pandemic Flu, a new website that enables health communicators to find up-to-the-minute information about seasonal and pandemic influenza.

“With the current flu season upon us, we are pleased to introduce Illinois Pandemic Flu to health communicators who will rely on this website as an important resource," NIPHC President Maureen McHugh, Executive Director of the DuPage County Health Department, said. 

“Those who communicate with the public on important topics such as the flu will find this site an all-in-one repository on everything flu, including prevention, pandemic preparedness, crisis and risk communication, social media and much more,” McHugh said. “Even though Illinois Pandemic Flu was created for health communicators, we also encourage the public to access valuable information on the flu.”

Illinois Pandemic Flu was developed through a grant provided by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The site provides information on crisis communications, working with the media and public during an outbreak and a toolkit for helping at-risk populations during a health emergency. 

Health communicators can also access templates for press releases, posters and fact sheets on the flu, as well as resources from the CDC, World Health Organization and Flu.gov.

NIPHC members include the counties of McHenry, Kane, Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, Lake, Will, and Winnebago, as well as the City of Chicago and Village of Skokie.

Illinois Pandemic Flu.org can be accessed at http://www.illinoispandemicflu.org. For more information contact the Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium at 708-612-9699.