Creative, unique, and, most importantly, safe during Covid-19

Over the past ten months Durham Middlefield Local Wellness Coalition has worked on many community activities, campaigns, and programs. Two programs that have been recognized as creative, unique, and, most importantly, safe during Covid-19 are our Prevention Scavenger Hunt and Coffee Breaks.

The Prevention Scavenger Hunt was a town wide event where community members were encouraged to stay active and look for eight prevention facts hidden around both coalition towns of Durham, Ct and Middlefield, Ct. Hidden at each of the locations was a Town Fun Fact, a Prevention Fact and a Call to Action that related back to our local student survey data. our target audience included all ages of the community and we even had a dog participate. With the help of our partners, we were able to reach many new community members with our prevention messages. Participants were encouraged to take a picture at each scavenger hunt location and submit the photos to be entered in a DMLWC SWAG BAG give away. These pictures are useful towards our marketing efforts and a provide us with a ‘fun’ way to share the prevention scavenger hunt facts. The successful event has also caught the eye of other local prevention coalitions, who have copied the program in their own communities. If you are interested in learning more, please visit http://www.dmlwc.org/prevention-scavenger-hunt.html.

Because we have spent the past ten months disconnected from members of the community in a way never experienced before, DMLWC wanted to provide opportunities for community members to connect, while at the same time continuing to build our coalition capacity. From this need, DMLWC hosted weekly ‘Coffee Breaks’, an opportunity for community members to join us and check in on an open zoom meeting platform. Each week different prevention topics were covered including vaping, underage drinking, mental health, and other issues that arouse during the session. We also provided participants with positive conversation starters and had opportunity to share upcoming community events. Because no registration was required for this event, with that flexibility, more people were able to join when it fit in their schedule and they did not feel pressured to attend the full meeting time frame. This is another successful event that has been adopted by other local prevention councils.

To promote these events, we primarily used social media posts and asked our community partners to share the flyers. Facebook events were made and shared on community forum Facebook pages as well as emails being sent to our contact lists. Community partners and word of mouth played a vital role in advertising. Both programs were at little to no cost to the coalition.

If you have any questions or comments about these programs please feel free to reach out to Dena Miccinello, Prevention Coordinator, at dmiccinello@dmyfs.org. Check us out on Facebook and Instagram for more prevention messages and events, @DMLWC.