WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — Earlier this week, we shared with you the struggles Latinos and other non-English speakers are having when it comes to getting the vaccine.
Then we reached out to several organizations that are at the forefront of bridging that gap.
La Conexión and Welcome BG Initiative in Bowling Green say they have efforts brewing to vaccinate those individuals as more and more COVID-19 vaccines are available.
Beatriz Maya says it means more and more phone calls coming in to La Conexión in Bowling Green.
"We started to get questions from community members about how to access the vaccine registration and different people with issues ranging from language barriers and no access to technology," said Maya.
Maya is the director of the Latino community-based organization.
The need inspired her to reach out to the Wood County Health Department and the Welcome BG Initiative, which addresses labor shortages.
"By bringing immigrants and part of it is that once they're here, then how do you match them up with jobs and when they're here?" said Mojabeng Kamala, the coordinator for Welcome BG Initiative. "How are you making sure that the social services that they need and all the organizations and the sectors that they're going to interact are actually culturally sensitive and ready to welcome?"
Both organizations say many of these people are essential workers in agriculture, manufacturing or the food industry.
"In many cases, they don't even offer masks for free to the workers and there are not separations in the line and workers are shoulder to shoulder. So the safety in those workplace are not ideal," said Maya.
The groups began advocating for increased vaccine access for Latinos and non-English speakers.
After meeting with the Wood County Health commissioner, they decided to host a special vaccination day.
"Both created flyers. English and La Conexión came with one in Spanish. Basically just giving the basics of requiring to pre-register. And we have the city offering to have transportation going back and forth," said Kamala.
The need is so big, La Conexión has received calls from as far as Cincinnati, Dayton and Lorain.
Maya is working on helping them too but is prioritizing all of those in northwest Ohio.
La Conexión also says part of the issue is registration difficulties if it's only in English.
The vaccine clinic with the Wood County Health Department will be held on April 9 at the Health and Wellness Center in Bowling Green from 1 p.m. until 8 p.m.
You're asked to register by Monday night, April 5.
Clinica de vacunacion gratuita. Para registrarse, llame al 419.308.2328
IMPORTANTE: La registracion se cierra el Lunes Abril 5 por la noche.
