Reaching the Hispanic Community About COVID-19 Through Existing Chronic Disease Prevention Programs

Reaching the Hispanic Community About COVID-19 Through Existing Chronic Disease Prevention Programs

COMMENTARY — Volume 17 — June 25, 2020

This article is part of the US Public Health Response to COVID-19 and Chronic Disease special supplement.

William A. Calo, PhD, JD1,2; Andrea Murray, MPH3; Erica Francis, MS3; Madeline Bermudez3; Jennifer Kraschnewski, MD, MPH1 (View author affiliations)

Suggested citation for this article: Calo WA, Murray A, Francis E, Bermudez M, Kraschnewski J. Reaching the Hispanic Community About COVID-19 Through Existing Chronic Disease Prevention Programs. Prev Chronic Dis 2020;17:200165. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd17.200165external icon.

PEER REVIEWED

On This Page

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Hispanic Communities Are Especially Vulnerable to COVID-19
• Better Together REACH Initiatives
• Local Response to Help Hispanic Communities
• Opportunities for Next Steps
• Implications for Public Health
• Acknowledgments
• Author Information
• References
• Table

Summary

What is already known on this topic?

Emerging data suggest that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has disproportionately affected Hispanic communities in the United States.

What is added by this report?

We summarize how available infrastructure from Better Together REACH, a community–academic coalition promoting chronic disease prevention, and Penn State Project ECHO, a telementoring program, was adapted to support coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic efforts for the Hispanic community.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Leveraging resources, including community health workers, from an existing chronic disease prevention program is a promising strategy to reach Hispanic populations during these unprecedented times.

Abstract

Publicly available data on racial and ethnic disparities related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are now surfacing, and these data suggest that the novel virus has disproportionately sickened Hispanic communities in the United States. We discuss why Hispanic communities are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 and how adaptations were made to existing infrastructure for Penn State Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) and Better Together REACH (a community–academic coalition using grant funds from Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) to address these needs. We also describe programming to support COVID-19 efforts for Hispanic communities by using chronic disease prevention programs and opportunities for replication across the country.