Novel Approach to combat the Novel COVID-19

The country Victorian city of Swan Hill has come up with a new and different way to get the key messages of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic out to its local community.

The novel approach was created by local real estate agent John Monahan as a twist on a Road Safety Campaign that his LJ Hooker office had been running over the Easter break for the last 20 years.

The key element of the campaign is a series of signs erected around town on arterial roads, public buildings and on prominently located private homes. The large signs each promote a key message around the overall strategy to “help save lives – flatten the curve” and seek to remind residents of the simple things they each do to contribute to beating COVID-19.

Swan Hill Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ernan Hession, approved the messages as being totally consistent with the aims of the national strategy and stressed the need for every citizen to do their bit and to not leave the effort to someone else. “Together we can all defeat this highly infectious virus but it only takes a small group of people to put other lives at risk. Even unwittingly, individuals can do great damage to the campaign if they do not heed these messages” Dr Hession said.

Over the long history of the road safety campaign there has not been a single death in the Swan Hill District during the campaign period and Mr Monahan said he hoped the same result could be achieved with the COVID-19 campaign.

“Over the years we have received a lot of positive feedback about the road safety campaign, including from local police, and we sincerely hope the impact of this new campaign over the next few weeks will positively influence the Swan Hill community to practice enhanced personal hygiene techniques to help us all to survive this dreadful pandemic” Mr Monahan said.

Strongly supported by Swan Hill Rural City Council and Swan Hill District Health, the campaign has several further elements that will roll out over the next week to help keep the program top-of-mind in the local community.

The unique approach to the dramatic circumstances are a great community initiative and definitely will produce a positive result for the local community according to Dr Hession who complimented LJ Hooker Swan Hill on their public-spirited campaign.

The red messages on stark white backgrounds are short and sharp, and reflect the key messages being promoted by the Australian Department of Health. They include a wide range of messages from washing hands and coughing into your elbow to keeping an eye on the elderly and practicing social distancing, and are impossible to miss when driving or walking around Swan Hill.

“This is innovative, high profile and highly focussed, and is a great way to remind our locals of their individual and collective responsibilities” Dr Hession said.