“ Thank you to Merri Health for taking all my calls as I ’ m extremely stressed and worried about my family . Happy I have someone to talk to .
Thank you for everything you have supported especially getting my medication .”
Challenges
• lack of resources to meet in-home testing demand during the Omicron wave . In response , we set up a small testing team and collaborated with other community health providers for in-reach vaccinations
• Victorian Government HRAR funding ended 30 June 2022
What ’ s next ?
– HRAR Resident
• advocating for ongoing healthcare and social service support for high-risk accommodation residents
PROMOTING VACCINATION AWARENESS AND TAKE-UP
Merri Health delivered several programs to support the Victorian Government ’ s COVID Response and Recovery , including as a COVID Vaccine Ambassador to boost vaccine awareness and take-up in 15 + priority populations .
Priority groups included : parents , Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples , carers , those with a disability , culturally and linguistically diverse communities , parents , Merri-bek residents and high-risk accommodation residents .
We collaborated with consumers , community leaders , government , health and social services organisations to overcome access barriers and promote communications tailored to each group to reduce vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccination rates .
Together with our partners , we used our local knowledge and relationships to connect with communities where they were , in language , and partnered with ThinkHQ , a leading media agency to amplify our social media reach and impact .
What did we achieve ?
increased vaccination rates in Merri-bek alongside our activity including :
– 89 % Merri-bek residents aged 16 + vaccinated
– 2217 vaccinations at Coburg ’ s first pop-up hub run in partnership with DPV Health
4.5m people reached and
1.1 + m
Facebook impressions and
6800
LinkedIn impressions
57,700 multi-language flyers distributed to households with Merri-bek council
7,500 postcards and
4800 texts sent to HRAR residents
5000
“ I got my COVID-19 vaccine ” badges distributed to community sites
6 videos produced targeting priority audiences
partnered with ThinkHQ to deliver social media campaigns across metro Melbourne
presented at VCOSS Community of Practice , shared insights to help other Ambassadors
funding extended twice until June 2023 due to strong results
Challenges
• vaccine fatigue meant we needed to change our messaging to target specific hesitance and highlight the benefits of vaccination to maintain engagement
• more online community management was required to manage higher negative engagement as our paid campaign reach grew .
What ’ s next ?
• providing COVID-19 support and booster information via our social media and news channels
MERRI HEALTH / ANNUAL REPORT 2022
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