Community leaders unite to launch ‘Safe & Healthy Big Bend’

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With CDC guidance evolving and the Governor revising vaccination policies regularly, it can be a challenge for Floridians to keep up with reliable COVID-19 information within their hometowns.

Now, a diverse array of community leaders in Tallahassee are stepping up with a new initiative to give regional residents a one-stop location for the latest accurate information to keep them safe and healthy.

In fact, that’s its name: “Safe & Healthy Big Bend.”

The communitywide public education initiative, which formally launches today, combines the resources of local governments, local hospitals and health care providers, the Leon public school system, the faith community, business, and media partners to keep the public informed and provide up-to-date information on COVID-19. Its focus is not just on Tallahassee but the entire Big Bend region.

The goal of the initiative is to provide residents with the most current information about vaccines, overcome vaccine hesitancy and resistance, and encourage residents to continue to use face masks, maintain social distancing, and observe other safety protocols to stop the spread of COVID-19.

All of the funders and partners in the project have worked together and in their own lanes during all of the past year to provide the facts, truth, and safe directions to local residents. The new project builds on that body of work with a unified message as everyone seeks to maintain and protect public health in this historic second year of the pandemic.

The Safe & Healthy initiative brings together Leon and Gadsden County governments, the City of Tallahassee, Leon County Schools, Capital Health Plan, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Capital Regional Medical Center, the Leon County Health Department, AARP, Prime Meridian Bank, faith leaders, and three local chambers of commerce: the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce; Capital City Chamber of Commerce; and the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce.

Sachs Media, retained by the funders, has conceived, created and is conducting the campaign.

Anchored by the website www.SafeandHealthyBigBend.com, the initiative will run through the summer and includes video interviews with key leaders, public service announcements, and a related digital campaign.

So why now, when it looks like hope is just around the corner? Leon County Commission Chair Rick Minor answers that well: “Vaccines offer promise to get past this, but now is not the time to let down our guard on any front. That’s the common message of this initiative.”