Digital Storytelling to Communicate COVID-19 Research Efforts

COVID-19 was a once-in-a-century pandemic that hit the world in March 2020. Overnight, the SARS-CoV-2 virus threatened not only survival, but also food security, social supports, transportation issues, financial constraints, and more. Timely research became crucial to understanding how to mitigate viral spread, treat patients, and address the consequences and health implications.

Advancing the infrastructure to support research in northern New England has been the focus of the Northern New England Clinical and Translational Research (NNE-CTR) Network since 2017. The NNE-CTR Network is a multi-year initiative in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire that brings together academic institutions, health care organizations, and local community stakeholders to foster new research and address health challenges unique to the northeast region. The NNE-CTR Network was well-positioned to help address COVID-19, not only locally, but also nationally and worldwide.

The NNE-CTR Network's Tracking and Evaluation Core (TEC) assessed the NNE-CTR Network's COVID-19 research during the first 3 years of the pandemic. Using an innovative, arts-based dissemination method known as digital storytelling, the TEC summarized and shared the NNE-CTR Network's immediate and broad response to the pandemic. The analysis revealed 4 major ways the NNE-CTR Network responded to the pandemic: (1) quickly reallocating funding for early pandemic research, (2) providing innovative laboratory support and technologies, (3) collaborating in national research efforts, and (4) conducting research on a range of pandemic topics. The TEC used digital storytelling to highlight 18 research projects that addressed the pandemic.