State and local health departments are the backbone of our domestic public health infrastructure, yet they frequently struggle with funding and resources. As the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, the need to build the capacity of our public health frontline is critically important.
To combat the emergence of COVID-19, the CDC Foundation partnered with Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies. Resolve to Save Lives is dedicated to reducing death from cardiovascular disease and epidemics in low- and middle-income countries. While their focus is most often abroad, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a change of thinking in how best to address the crisis.
“In March 2020, we had the realization that the greatest need with COVID was actually here in the United States, through our contacts with local health departments,” said Erin Sykes, vice president of communications at Resolve to Save Lives. With the support of the CDC Foundation, the Resolve to Save Lives Initiative launched an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives by providing digital tools and quickly deploying resources to strengthen public health infrastructure. Through the initiative, the CDC Foundation supported local health departments’ COVID-19 response activities through technical assistance, communications campaigns, operational support and community engagement.
Erin Sykes, vice president of communications at Resolve to Save Lives
While Resolve to Save Lives' focus is most often abroad, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a change of thinking in how best to address the crisis.
“Our work in the United States started with contact tracing and how to explain it to the public and put infrastructure in place,” said Sykes. Through the initiative, 18 jurisdictions received technical assistance from a team of 14 staff members. In addition, support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helped create 13 technical resources and tools to inform and guide response and recovery efforts at both local and national levels, including a contact tracing playbook to provide clear and actionable technical guidance and tools for health departments to quickly establish and implement contact tracing measures.
As vaccines became available, activities expanded to ensure equitable vaccine distribution at the local level, with a focus on educating communities about the spread of COVID-19 so they could be more empowered to make decisions. To spread that message, Vital Strategies launched three communications campaigns using billboards and social media to encourage communities to participate in contact tracing and case investigation practices. Designed to adapt to specific challenges that emerged at different phases of the pandemic, the campaigns addressed timely topics like how to remain safe while voting, answering questions about contact tracing where there was local resistance and encouraging people to follow the three W’s of COVID safety: wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.
We turned to the Foundation to help us determine the areas of greatest need, and they helped us tremendously with that. It really was a true partnership in trying to improve the United States’ response to COVID.
By partnering with community-based organizations (CBOs), Resolve to Save Lives was able to provide support services in historically marginalized communities, and equity-driven programming improved care in the target jurisdictions. Recognizing the importance of shared data in curbing the spread of COVID-19, Resolve to Save Lives also created four digital tools that allowed contact tracers and other public health professionals to tap into existing databases to create patient profiles and health-related dashboards.
Throughout, Sykes said, the support of the CDC Foundation was critical in helping Resolve to Save Lives identify and target those areas most in need of the tools and messaging they provided.
“We turned to the Foundation to help us determine the areas of greatest need, and they helped us tremendously with that,” Sykes said. “It really was a true partnership in trying to improve the United States’ response to COVID.”
photos provided by Resolve to Save Lives
