UC Merced and Cultiva La Salud have partnered to launch a new Spanish-language website aimed at providing the community with a wide range of information about the coronavirus.
"Saber Es Poder," now officially online, offers educational materials on COVID-19, including answers to frequently asked questions, community resources, vaccine and testing information, details on upcoming events and more.
The community-focused website is part of the Share, Trust, Organize, Partner COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA) — a statewide community-partnered collaborative funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute that addresses challenges faced by California communities related to coronavirus vaccines.
Public health Professor Nancy Burke leads the UC Merced site of the statewide collaborative of 11 academic institutions and over 75 community partners. The group conducts research, creates training materials for community leaders and develops policy recommendations to increase accessibility of vaccine trials and vaccinations.
In a report released by STOP COVID-19 CA earlier this year, researchers concluded that racism and other social inequities are the primary influencers of vaccine inequities among marginalized communities in California. The report also found lack of information, misinformation and disinformation reinforce hesitancy and make it difficult to access vaccines.
The hope is that the new website will be yet another tool to help the community stay informed about the latest news regarding the virus, as well as provide information about vaccines and testing opportunities.
"A wonderful UC Merced undergraduate student, Ediel López, worked with our team to create what we hope is a useful site for community-based organizations and promotoras (community health workers) to find up-to-date and trustworthy information, as well as links to other great resources available in Spanish," said Burke. "We also post upcoming events, like our monthly pop-up vaccination and rapid-testing clinics at the Atwater and Merced County flea markets."
"We hope that community residents utilize this website to find information and resources that are from a trustworthy source," said Claudia Corchado, program manager for Cultiva La Salud in Merced County. "With so much information out on the internet, it becomes overwhelming and confusing, and then you don't really know who to believe and who to trust. We hope that the community residents, particularly those who are monolingual Spanish, find the most accurate information on this site. You will also find all the amazing work that our promotoras are doing throughout the community of Merced County. We hope this inspires others to get involved."
For more information on the available resources, check out the website.
