Texas Border Business
AUSTIN  – A new campaign starting today aims to tap into Texas pride to encourage everyone to protect one another from COVID-19. A unified team of several health care groups released a new public service announcement titled “Texas Strong,” developed by Austin-based agency GSD&M. The PSA encourages Texans to come together to fight COVID-19 by wearing masks to protect one another. It features two Texans – Grammy award-winning musician Lyle Lovett and singer-songwriter Lisa Morales – who lend their voices to narrate the English and Spanish versions.
The TV spot highlights the strength of Texans coming together for the common goal to stop the spread of COVID-19 in their communities. “What makes us strong is us,” the spot says. By wearing a mask, Texans are protecting themselves, their loved ones, and our health care heroes. Â
The PSA and social media campaign launch at a time when coronavirus infections are spiking across Texas and the country. Positive cases and hospitalizations are continuing to surge in the Lone Star State. To counteract this rising trend, particularly as the holiday season is upon us, the five organizations – the Texas Association of Community Health Centers, Texas Medical Association, Texas Hospital Association, Texas Nurses Association, and Teaching Hospitals of Texas – urge Texans to continue to follow the science-based precautions of wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, and washing hands frequently. The organizations are some of the members of the Texas Health Care Industry Strike Force on COVID-19, a large group comprising state health departments, health care associations, and academic institutions.
“The members of the Texas Health Care Industry Strike Force on COVID-19 have dedicated their careers and, in some cases, their very lives to protecting and improving the health of all Texans. In the here and now that means mask up, wash up, and physically distance,” said David Fleeger, MD, Texas Medical Association immediate past president and chair of the strike force.
“Texans’ dedication to maintaining COVID-19 precautions plays a critical role in our fight to stop this deadly disease. Our hospitals and health care workers are working day and night to care for the ill and save lives. We need every Texan to do their part by wearing a mask, washing their hands, and staying six feet apart,” said Ted Shaw, president and CEO of the Texas Hospital Association.
“Nurses were one of the first groups to implement standard sanitation practices, which started during war,” said Tammy Eades, DNP, MSN, RN, president of the Texas Nurses Association. “Now we are in another war against COVID-19. And we will not succeed unless everyone can follow the best practices of handwashing, physical distancing, and above all, wearing masks in public.”
Airing in both English and Spanish, the PSA is supported by a broadcast media buy.
View the English version here.
View the Spanish version here.
