Tag: covid-19

BRIDGE project funded by UW Population Health Initiative

The UW Population Health Initiative just announced the awarded projects of its 2021 pilot research grant program, one of which was the Bi-directional Research Digital Engagement (BRIDGE) project whose Principal Investigator is Dr. Nathalia Jimenez, Research Director of the Latino Center for Health.

BRIDGE is a new partnership between the Latino Center for Health, the UW Department of Communications’ Center for Communication Difference and Equity (CCDE), UW School of Medicine’s Latinx Health Pathway (LHP) and the Mexican Consulate.

BRIDGE aims to highlight community voices to address current COVID-19 needs and create a sustainable platform for future communication around Latinx health. 

You can read more about the project in the abstract below. Congratulations, Nathalia and team!

Project abstract

Responding to the need for sustainable academic-community partnerships to address the burden of COVID-19 in Washington State Latinx communities, we propose developing an innovative bi-cultural, Bi-directional Research Digital Engagement (BRIDGE) Program.

BRIDGE is a new partnership between the Latino Center for Health, the UW Department of Communications’ Center for Communication Difference and Equity (CCDE), UW School of Medicine’s Latinx Health Pathway (LHP) and the Mexican Consulate. BRIDGE aims to highlight community voices to address current COVID-19 needs and create a sustainable platform for future communication around Latinx health.

BRIDGE’s innovative approach leverages infrastructure from the Mexican consulate (Spanish radio programing and Facebook reach 20,000+ followers) and an interdisciplinary network of faculty in LHP, combined with CCDE’s storytelling experience, to create an interactive platform for in-time communication with Latinx communities.

Based on findings from LCH’s collaborative work around COVID-19 with the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network and SeaMar Community Health Centers, and input from our community partner, the Mexican Consulate, BRIDGE proposes a stepwise pilot program that captures community needs through personal stories to understand gaps in care, education and outreach related to COVID-19 (e.g., mental health, school needs for Latinx children). It responds to outlined needs with in-time, culturally appropriate educational content (e.g., vaccinations) from bicultural/bilingual faculty and students to be disseminated through the Mexican Consulate’s outreach network.

Pilot data will inform future COVID-19 research efforts and a grant submission on the evaluation of social media as a tool for disseminating culturally appropriate health information to Latinx immigrant communities.

Investigators
Nathalia Jimenez, Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine
Carmen Gonzalez, Department of Communication
Daniel Cabrera, Department of Medicine
Diana Maria Oliveros, Mexican Consulate in Seattle
Meg Gomez, School of Social Work
Aida Hidalgo, School of Public Health
Mikaela Freundlich Zubiaga, UW Latino Center for Health

Dr. Morales presents at Latino Legislative Day 2021

Latino Legislative Day took place on March 16 this year, with a packed agenda including researchers, community advocates, elected officials, and even a Mariachi performance.

You can watch all the presentations, keynote speakers, and performances, by following this link: https://fb.watch/4idIbLOxfe/

A slide of Dr. Morales’ presentation
Dr. Morales Slides for Latino Legislative Day 2021:Download

Dr. Aisenberg participates in WA DOH Spanish panel on COVID-19 & mental health

The Washington State Department of Health, Univisión Seattle, and the Latino Center for Health (LCH) co-hosted a Spanish-speaking virtual panel on February 25, 2021 about mental health & wellbeing in times of COVID. Among the panelists was Dr. Gino Aisenberg, associate professor of the School of Social Work and co-director of LCH.

When asked about what we can do to improve our mental health and wellbeing during this pandemic, Dr. Aisenberg gave some fun and easy examples: “Listening to music, cooking our favorite foods like a delicious mole, or doing exercise, like playing volleyball in your home with the family, but with a balloon instead of a ball.”

You can watch the full recording of the Spanish-speaking panel here:

And here is the English voiceover of the recording:

LCH Research Director shares her experience: Getting the COVID-19 vaccine

Ventanilla de Salud Seattle (‘Health Window’ in Spanish), a health promotion program developed by the Mexican government via the Mexican Consulate in Seattle and operated by Sea Mar Community Health Centers, interviewed the Center’s Research Director Dr. Nathalia Jimenez in Spanish last week to learn about her experience receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Jimenez is an anesthesiologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital–a front-line healthcare worker and therefore eligible to get vaccinated during this first phase.

[Translated from Spanish] “I feel very fortunate for having the privilege of receiving the vaccine. I also feel much more at ease personally, because my risk of contracting COVID-19 is practically minimal. And I feel a responsibility to talk with others and share my experience, and particularly as a person who is part of the Latino community, I think it’s important that we all realize that our community has been disproportionately affected by this pandemic […] and therefore I want to encourage my community to get vaccinated.”

You can watch the whole interview here:

Spanish Language Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines Informs Latinx Community in WA

Medical experts, including from the UW, provided critical information to the Spanish-speaking population in our state to address frequently asked questions, concerns, fears and myths regarding the vaccinations against the raging COVID-19 disease.  The Latino Center for Health (LCH) and the Washington State Department of Health sponsored this webinar held on December 16, 2020.

Dr. Leo Morales, co-director of LCH and Assistant Dean in the UW School of Medicine; Dr. Santiago Neme, Medical Director of UWMC – NW Campus and infectious disease specialist; Dr. Julián Pérez, a physician from Sea Mar Community Health Centers; and Dr. Matías Valenzuela, Equity Director of Public Health Seattle & King County served as panelists.  Pablo Gaviria, a reporter from Univision Seattle, moderated this discussion.  This well-attended webinar serves as an important and necessary resource to inform our Latinx communities throughout the state as vaccinations are made available and to hopefully promote health and health equity.  In Washington, Latinos are 4.2 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites, and they account for 35% of COVID-19 cases in our state while constituting only 13% of the state’s population. 

“As a city and state, we need to ensure the equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, which means prioritizing communities that have been disproportionately impacted by SARS-CoV-2 infections and associated deaths including Latino and Spanish-speaking communities,” says Dr. Leo Morales. “This webinar is a first step in that direction.”

Here is a link to the video recording of the webinar from KOMO’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KOMONews/videos/158088332724444

LCH-affiliated faculty & student publish articles on Latinx COVID disparities

Latino Center for Health-affiliated faculty Drs. Barbara Baquero, Carmen Gonzalez, Maggie Ramirez, and India Ornelas, along with a member of LCH’s student advisory committee doctoral student Erica Chavez, published an article in the peer-reviewed journal Health Education & Behavior last month. The article, titled Understanding and Addressing Latinx
COVID-19 Disparities in Washington State, describes key factors contributing to COVID-19-related health inequities faced by Latinx communities in WA and provides recommendations for how to address them.

Download article

Based on this peer-reviewed article, Dr. Baquero et al. also published an op-ed in the Seattle Times last month, highlighting the importance of focusing on the health needs of those most in need, including Latinx communities. You can read the article here.

KNKX reports on Latinxs & COVID-19 in WA featuring LCH

Following the Center’s webinar last month titled, “The Burden of COVID-19 on Latinx Communities in WA State”, KNKX published an article reporting on the various reasons that might explain why Latinxs are so disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in our state.

You can read more by clicking here!

Or by copying and pasting the following link to your internet browser: https://www.knkx.org/post/farmworkers-can-t-pick-apples-through-zoom-experts-explore-why-latinos-hit-hard-covid