Artists, Startups, Government & Healthcare Collaborate to STOP COVID-19

Black-Owned Technology Company Partners with the City of Milwaukee to slow the spread of COVID-19 through their mobile app. End Quote

Charleston-North Charleston, SC (1888PressRelease) December 11, 2020 - Heading into the winter, and in the face of another surge of COVID-19 cases, the Creative Health Collective a Milwaukee-based collective, composed of The City of Milwaukee Health Department, Milwaukee County Office on African American Affairs (OAAA), and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), is continuing its work to establish culturally responsive crisis communications to under-served communities to address health disparities magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaborating with Milwaukee-based artists, entrepreneurs and community organizers, The Creative Health Collective has worked since April of this year on a public health project to mobilize artists, health professionals, and others to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The Creative Health Collective uses music, street art, comics, videos, and a downloadable mobile app called LifeTagger to communicate public health messages to the African-American, Latino, Southeast Asian, and American-Indian communities in Milwaukee.

The project, led by Dr. Zeno Franco, Dr. Katinka Hooyer and Project Director Que El-Amin, confronted COVID-19 through 3 strategies: 1 – Repurposing existing COVID-19 messaging making it more culturally competent; 2 – Working with Artists, influencers, and the tech community to develop and disseminate creative messaging and; 3 – Building a team of Community Health Workers for on the ground support of Communities of Color during this time. Dr. Zeno Franco at MCW notes “Changing health behaviors in this pandemic has been a critical element of slowing the spread of COVID-19. Much of the early public health messaging around infection control was not culturally tailored enough to meet the informational needs of our communities of color. We’ve taken those messages and either translated them into other languages or used images and cultural icons that help connect ideas of wearing a mask and being socially distant to core values in these communities. Funding for The Creative Health Collective was provided through a $500,000 grant from the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Advancing A Healthier Wisconsin Endowment. We’ve also activated minority owned advertising firms to help us get the word out in less traditional media markets.”

One of the firms, LifeTagger, a Black-owned South Carolina based technology company, is using proximity and location based messaging to deliver COVID-19 notifications and artists content digitally through their LifeTagger mobile application. LifeTagger co-founder Kendrick Pullen expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership, “We are thrilled to partner with the Creative Health Collective, the exceptional local artists and content creators, and all the local community organizations who are committed to slowing the spread of COVID-19 in the Greater Milwaukee area. Our team has been working with the Creative Health Collective for a little over a month now and has seen over 20,000 notifications and digital impressions delivered through the LifeTagger mobile application and as more users download the app that number will continue to increase.”

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley added, “It gives me hope for the future to see partnerships like this one using a community-focused and culturally competent approach to informing historically underserved residents about the dangers of COVID-19 and the things they can do to stay safe and help us get the virus under control. This year has been challenging for us all and it is hard for some people to feel as hopeful and optimistic for the future, but our community coming together to bridge the gap and address health disparities created by COVID-19 should give everyone in Milwaukee County some piece of mind that we’re doing all we can to keep them safe and bring an end to the current public health crisis.”

Murals and banners by African American, Latinx and Native American artists are currently installed at McGovern Park, Reiske Park and along the Lakefront. At each installation, you can learn more about the Creative Health Collective, watch interviews done by the artists about their work, and how you can continue to support the artist directly from your mobile device by downloading the LifeTagger app and following the Creative Health Collective channel.

“Art plays a critical role during a crisis through translating information in ways that are more accessible but also emotionally engaging. Using relatable and trusted cultural symbols and practices, artists can convey health messages in ways that rally people and promote cultural pride,” said anthropologist and curator Dr. Katinka Hooyer. “Most of the artists centered cultural pride in their work, confronting a history of undignified and unjust medical treatment in communities of color.”

City of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett added, “Our diversity should not be an obstacle in our public health efforts. Engaging, effective and culturally competent messaging is key to reducing COVID-19 infections,” Mayor Tom Barrett said. “By working together, our community is making progress in this pandemic, and the Creative Health Collective is a significant part of that.”

For more information about the Creative Health Collective and to see all the artwork created please download and follow our channel on the LifeTagger App, or visit chealthc.info. To learn more about LifeTagger please visit their website www.lifetaggerapp.com.

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