The Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) has launched a harm reduction media campaign called Detect to Protect, created to reach individuals in Erie County who are at risk for drug overdoses and death as well as their family members, friends, and community leaders to support harm reduction messaging, education, and activities. The campaign focuses on the rise of fentanyl-related overdoses involving cocaine, the disproportionate impact we are seeing in communities of color, and that this is overwhelmingly occurring among older residents of Erie County.
The campaign was heavily informed by overdose data and trends at the county level as well as focus groups and interviews with community members, healthcare and behavioral health providers, people with lived experience, health department outreach staff, and others involved and impacted by this work. During the interviews and focus groups, participants expressed a desire to have the campaign reflect real people from Erie County and that's what we've done. It is a campaign informed, inspired, and featuring people from the community and our hope is that other community members will see this work and want to help spread the word.
As Erie County encompasses Buffalo, NY, the idea of the City of Good Neighbors is something we are hoping the campaign helps inspire--that people will help protect themselves, help protect their neighbors, and help spread the word to increase awareness and incentivize everyone to be part of addressing this health crisis. To facilitate cross promotions, we have put together a social media toolkit with possible messages and graphics that community organizations and individuals can access here and use to spread the word through their organizational and individual social media channels.
The campaign will have print ads throughout the community as well as targeted broadcast, digital and paid social media. The current campaign will run through December 2025.
Detect to Protect Social Media Toolkit
Share information on harm reduction to prevent and stop a deadly overdose with these ready-to-go social media posts for Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
Simply click the images to download. The sample copy can be used for Facebook/Instagram and X posts. Keep in mind, however, that URLs do not become active links when used in an Instagram feed post. If you would like to direct your Instagram users to an external webpage, you can do so in a story post by using the “link” button.
Please also tag the Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) in each Facebook and Instagram post (Tag @ecdoh for Facebook and @eriecohealth for Instagram).