How We're Reaching Our Spanish-Speaking Community

Communication is a big part of providing the very best care we can to the communities we serve. And it has become all the more meaningful now with such important messages to be shared about COVID-19. 

With significant Spanish-speaking populations in our primary service areas, we ramped up our efforts to reach these community members. It's been a team effort, with our Nursing, Marketing and Communications (Marcom) and Web teams as well as our translation services provider all working together—along with partners in the community.

"Seeing You Safely" Web Page and Campaign

Our "Seeing You Safely" web page communicates our commitment to safe practices and preventing the transmission of COVID-19 at our facilities to our patients. We've launched a Spanish version so that our Spanish-speaking patients can feel that same confidence when they come to see us for care. You can view the Spanish version by using the language drop-down at the top of the page. 

A Spanish-language advertising campaign, to feature images of Latino patients and providers as well as a direct url to the Spanish landing page, is currently in the works. 

"What To Expect at Your Visit" Resources

We've worked with our translation services partner to create Spanish versions of our three office visit guides. Like the English versions, each explains step-by-step what safety measures patients can expect when they schedule, check in and arrive for visits to our primary care offices, specialist offices or hospitals:

• Primary Care Office Visit Guide, Spanish
• Specialist Office Visit Guide, Spanish
• Hospital Visit Guide, Spanish

These can also be found on the Spanish landing page (use the language drop-down at the top of CarilionClinic.org). 

Those of you who work with patients are encouraged to use these guides as resources and to share them with Spanish-speaking patients when you have the opportunity!

We also worked with our translation services partner and a Spanish-speaking voiceover actress to create a Spanish-overdubbed version of our "What To Expect at Your Visit" videos. Fun fact: When editing the new version, our AV team had to slow down the visuals of speaker Karen McNew-Mcguire so that it would sync up with the Spanish voiceover. 

Hospital Visit Steps

Office Visit Steps

Media Interview With a Spanish-speaking Provider 

When it comes to topics like COVID-19, nothing beats hearing from an expert in her own words—and in your own language. Mariana Gomez, M.D., of our Infectious Diseases team, is fluent in Spanish and spoke about COVID-19 in an interview for WDBJ's Spanish-language broadcast.  

Mask Campaign

We've been promoting mask-wearing to our Spanish-speaking community members with billboards and social media posts featuring our popular pro-mask graphics and slogans. 

Social Media Messaging

Many people in our community prefer to reach us through social media when they have questions or concerns about their health and care—and this increasingly includes Spanish speakers. To connect Spanish speakers with the answers they're looking for, we now have ready-to-use Spanish replies saved to our Facebook page. These saved messages direct Spanish speakers to call Carilion Direct's Spanish LanguageLine. 

Community Outreach

We're fortunate to have partners in our local Spanish communities who've been helping us get the word out about masks and more. For example, several Spanish-speaking business leaders in the Williamson Road area have worked with us to share our Spanish mask-wearing campaign graphics on their businesses' social media pages. 

Reaching our community is one of the most powerful tools we have for helping to slow the spread of COVID-19—and that's what makes these outreach efforts so important. 

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To learn more about our Spanish-speaking outreach efforts, contact Erin Cooper, Marketing and Communications, at elcooper@carilionclinic.org or 540-266-6618 (76618).