Chapter 4: Coming together to respond to the pandemic

People need to receive accurate and easy-to understand information about the pandemic to help keep safe and feel more in control. In a world of frequent government announcements, 24-hour news, and often misleading social media, it's not surprising that people were often confused or switched-off altogether. 
Some communities have faced bigger challenges in accessing information that meets their needs.

Gateshead Council's Public Health Team have worked with volunteer Covid Community Champions and local communities to help make sure that people across Gateshead were able to access correct and consistent information. These arrangements also helped us understand what was working well in our communities and what was not. The community champions have played an essential role in sharing information with family, friendship groups, workplace, networks and communities, to myth bust and ensure people were getting accurate information in a way that works for them.

Seeing people taking on board what was being said and changing their behaviour be it wearing a mask, washing hands, and taking up the vaccination all because of the messages from the Gateshead Covid Community Champions has meant a lot. Meeting other Community Champions from different organisations has allowed us to share good practice in what works to support clients and our communities. 
Sihle Mapanda, Managing Director, 2 Way Tenancy Solutions CIC 

Taking part of the training has given me confidence to talk to people at Lawnmowers about certain Covid topics e.g. Track and Trace and the benefit of getting your vaccination. I am also the Film Editor on all of our Public Health England raps we have done, and this has kept me busy both in and out of lockdown! I feel by doing the raps we are giving out correct information to the wider public and our community. I attend the meetings so there is representation of the Learning-Disabled Community and to also make sure what is been discussed or produced is accessible to Lawnmowers and our wider Learning-Disabled Community. 
Louis Huckle, Filmmaker and Technical Support, Lawnmowers Theatre Company 

Disadvantage, poverty, language barriers, culture and lack of trust in authority made it difficult to get information out about the pandemic to some refugee and new migrant communities. A lack of information in community languages and cultural barriers has led to conspiracy theories.

Past traumatic experiences affect trust in the government and relationships with officials. It made it difficult for communities to trust the messages that they were receiving. It was important to involve communities in developing their own information.  
Sirak Hagos, Director, Integration Station 

Around 6,000 children have taken part in the Young Covid Champions programme. We developed the programme because of concerns that young people were not always getting the information that they needed. We recognised the power of young people to influence their families.

We developed short informative cartoons and also used local Makina MC Tazo to spread the message about coronavirus to young people with the launch of a new track. It's had more than 60,000 hits on YouTube. It showed the importance of getting the message to local communities in a way that they can digest and understand.
Sarah Gorman, Chief Executive Officer, Edberts House 

I am aware that many Deaf people have struggled to get information because of the access barriers they face. One example of these barriers was the lack of interpreter provision for the live broadcasting of the Prime Minister's Coronavirus briefings and subsequent information updates, and this impacted on the Deaf community's ability to fully understand the content: although subtitles/captions were provided, the Deaf BSL using community use British Sign Language as their first language and English is a second language. It was this lack of interpreter provision and poor access to life saving information that caused huge frustration for many people.

The health awareness of the Deaf community was placed at a disadvantage compared to that of the hearing community who were able to access the television and the radio for updates, briefings and general announcements at all and any time to the detriment of the Deaf community. 
Robin Herdman, Teacher in BSL/Deaf Awareness Course, Self Employment and Part time BSL Teacher at University 

As a digitally excluded community where many households do not have access to mainstream media such as TV, radio, internet and social media, ensuring that basic health messages around staying safe and other crucial government advice reached the Jewish community took on vital importance. Through its relationship with Gateshead Council, the Jewish Community Council of Gateshead (JCCG) ensured that ongoing conversations with Public Health allowed for the free and easy transfer of information both ways, ensuring that the community were cared for in the optimum way with full consideration for its cultural norms.

For example, the JCCG took responsibility for the publication of weekly informational bulletins, delivered in hard copy to each community household, detailing essential safety information and Government advice. In addition, the JCCG assisted Public Health in accessing the services of the local Community Advertiser for the posting of material relating to ongoing messages around staying safe, inputting on the content to ensure appropriateness, effectiveness and timeliness of adverts. 
Jewish Community Council of Gateshead (JCCG) 

Covid information is very confusing at the best of times for both the public and for professions. So being part of this Champions Team has helped us to be more confident in our ability, for example, to keep people informed and up to date with covid and the law. 
Shirley Bain, Volunteer Secretary, Leam Lane Community Centre 

In December 2020, Gateshead Council teamed up with our six neighbouring local authorities to launch a regional communications campaign. Beat Covid NE featured real local voices thanking North East residents for playing their part in keeping themselves and others safe, through key behaviours such as wearing face coverings, social distancing and adhering to local and national restrictions. Evaluation showed that the campaign felt relevant to local audiences, gave them a clearer understanding of how to stay safe and motivated them to do more in the fight against Covid. 

"Thank you Gateshead for everything you're doing to fight Covid"