Pinellas County Commission Chair Highlights Financial And Behavioral Health Resources

Press release from the Pinellas County Government:

In her weekly Facebook Live address about Pinellas County’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, County Commission Chair Pat Gerard updated citizens on the county’s efforts to help struggling individuals and businesses who have been impacted.

Struggling individuals and businesses can find resources at http://pinellascounty.org/emergency/covid19. Business owners can find links to loan and grant programs by visiting www.pced.org. In addition, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater launched a Brighter Days Ahead campaign and is welcoming ideas from local businesses on how patrons can continue to support them during this time at www.vspc.info.

Pinellas County is addressing behavioral health needs as well. Local nonprofit Directions for Living has set up an emotional support line for English and Spanish-speakers at (727) 524-4464, ext. 1001, available 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. In addition, the county will host a live Facebook event with the CEO of Directions for Living, April Lott, on Wednesday, April 15 at noon at https://www.facebook.com/PinellasCountyNews/, to address citizens’ concerns. Individuals and families needing more help with mental health concerns or other needs can call 211 Tampa Bay Cares by dialing 2-1-1.

This update came just a day after Gerard extended the local State of Emergency until Friday, April 17, which includes the continued closure of county beaches and beach parking lots. Pinellas County remains under Governor Ron DeSantis’ statewide order requiring Florida residents to only leave home to conduct essential business or essential work.

You can watch Gerard’s full update from today at www.youtube.com/PCCTV1. She will deliver her next live update on the ongoing county response to COVID-19 from the Pinellas County Emergency Operations Center, next Friday at 2 p.m. She will share recent actions by various County working groups, and information and resources for local businesses and residents.

The presentation will be streamed live on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PinellasCountyNews/, YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/pcctv1 and the county channel: Spectrum 637 - Frontier 44 - WOW! 18.
The County has a dedicated COVID-19 webpage with in-depth information, links to resources and archived news releases. The webpage is available at http://pinellascounty.org/emergency/covid19.

Pinellas County’s Emergency Operations Center remains under a full activation for monitoring and response. Citizens with questions or concerns can call the Citizen Information Center at (727) 464-4333 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Those with hearing impairment can online chat at www.bit.ly/PinellasChat.

This press release was produced by the Pinellas County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.