WATCH: COVID-19 Communications
The best way to talk with underserved communities in distress during pandemic ...
a CSG East | Healthcare Ready feature
Healthcare Ready in partnership with The Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference, Council on Communities of Color presents a new installment in an ongoing series of conversations or micro-summits called "CSG East on COVID-19" or #CSGCOVID19.
Policymakers, community leaders, advocates and media professionals are all struggling to communicate directly with fearful audiences through difficult times, while watching real-time examples of leadership either failing to do the same or using the moment to sow division and more anxiety.
“What folks are looking for, is what stands true and trusted,” said Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes. “They want messengers, delivering trusted messages, trusted messengers delivering trusted messages. We cannot escape this conversation without talking about where we adjust the posing, what we do as local elected officials, experts and folks such as who’s on this panel.”
“One of the difficulties in explaining a pandemic, or what we call an emerging infectious disease, it that it is something new that hasn't been in the population before,” said Dr. Nicolette Louissaint, Executive Director of Healthcare Ready. “The disease is spreading faster than the science can catch up. And so part of what we always have to do is make sure that we are communicating in a way that is explaining what we currently know. But also communicating that as it evolves, that we're going to learn more as the situation may change.”
“Every time something happens that particularly hits communities of color, it's like, oh, wow, what? Like it’s a surprise,” said Dr. Ivan Walks of Ivan Walks & Associates. “And that's the problem. Nothing happened. We continue to under resource our communities. We continue to under-inform our communities in a way that they have a difficult time accepting the messages.”
“Number one, actionable information,” said Tara Dowdell of the Tara Dowdell Group. “Don't waste people's time. If you're going to have a panel discussion, if you're going to have a webinar, if you're going to have a micro summit, there needs to be actionable information that people can walk away with and then implement.”
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