NEWPORT, Ore. — In a short time, Oregon State University Extension Service has built a collaborative team that is reaching deeply into Latino and Indigenous communities in Lincoln County with culturally relevant COVID-19 information.
The effort has centered on creating urgent video messages in Spanish and Mam — a language spoken by more than a half-million people in Guatemala — in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the region.
So far, the team has produced several videos in Spanish and Mam, which have been collectively viewed hundreds of times.
The videos provide information on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and, importantly, where to get help locally. Topics include how to:
- Access fabric face masks
- Complete rental assistance forms
- Navigate the healthcare system
- Get groceries while quarantining
“The key to these videos is that they are recorded by community members for community members,” said Dusti Linnell, assistant professor of practice with the OSU Extension Family and Community Health program. “The information is coming from trusted friends, family, neighbors and coworkers through the communications channels they use most. It also reinforces what they are hearing from Lincoln County Public Health and the Oregon Health Authority.”
COVID-19 had disproportionate impacts
In June, preliminary results from door-to-door sampling through OSU’s TRACE-COVID-19 project suggested that 3.4% of Newport’s 10,600 residents had the virus. That number dropped significantly — to 0.6% — during a second round of testing in July.
Although the identities of those who tested positive were not released, Latino and Indigenous people make up at least 16% of Newport’s population. In June, Pacific Seafood — a major employer of international seasonal workers — reported 124 confirmed cases among its Newport employees.
“The outbreak disproportionately affected members of the Latino and Indigenous communities,” said Rebecca Austen, director of Lincoln County Health and Human Services.
Listening sessions revealed communication gaps
“The June results of the TRACE project in Newport were alarming,” Linnell said. “And there were very few local COVID-19 materials available in Spanish or Mam — which is primarily a spoken language.” This gap prompted many local groups to ramp up outreach efforts in both languages.
Linnell, who serves Tillamook and Lincoln counties, collaborated with Beatriz Botello Salgado, Extension SNAP-Ed program coordinator in Lincoln County and a Newport City Council member. Botello is also active in Listos, a Spanish-language emergency preparedness project.
Botello convened two listening sessions to hear directly from the community. She interpreted during the sessions and asked participants to share their experiences, which led to immediate action.
“We recognized there were issues with reaching members of the Latino and Indigenous communities in Newport, and we needed to do things differently,” Botello said.
Community partnerships fuel solutions
The effort grew into a partnership involving OSU Extension, OSU’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Lincoln County Health and Human Services, the Olalla Center and other local organizations.
“Lincoln County Health and Human Services partnered with the Oregon Health Authority to establish a helpline for Mam speakers,” Botello Salgado said. “The Olalla Center and the county worked on radio outreach, and we assembled a team to record videos.”
“A lot of the communication had been coming from government agencies and medical professionals — not from local community members,” Linnell said. “We know that people often get health information from friends and family, so we asked Latino and Indigenous community members to record these messages for their own networks.”
Building long-term trust and resilience
The scripts for the videos were developed by Extension, with input from Lincoln County Health and Human Services, the Oregon Health Authority, the Olalla Center — which provides mental health services for children in the region — and other local partners. Botello Salgado and Alex Llumaquinga of the Olalla Center played key roles in identifying community needs and producing the videos.
Linnell said the videos are just a first step in a longer-term effort to build resilience and expand access to programs and services for Latino and Indigenous communities in Lincoln County.
Previously titled Lincoln County Extension builds coalition to inform Latino and Indigenous communities about COVID-19
