SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) - As Bay Area counties begin vaccinating young teens, two women are working together to educate Spanish and English-speaking youth about the vaccine and encourage them to get the shot.
They're helping families across the state and right here in the Bay Area to reduce language barriers, fears, and misinformation.
Through the San Francisco Zion Church, these two women are providing info sessions for parents and teens. They're also providing mental health activities for younger children all through Zoom.
What started out as Zoom fitness activities and mental health programs for kids at the beginning of the pandemic quickly gained momentum and is now helping educate Bay Area parents and teens about the vaccine.
“When it came to minorities like Hispanic communities and also black communities we saw the number of those who said they'd be readily available to receive the vaccine was really low,” Alejandra Guzman said.
Alejandra Guzman is a nurse from Fairfield and through her experience the past several months, she's noticed a lot of vaccine hesitation in the Latino community due to fear and lack of information.
Now, she's breaking down language barriers and misinformation through educational sessions to encourage Latino youth and their parents to get vaccinated.
“Now with the different information sessions we've been able to educate a little more and we've seen an increase in people in the Hispanic community being more open to receiving the help they need,” Guzman said.
Guzman, along with Kimberly Cabrera who organizes Zoom fitness and social programs like this for kids, met through a volunteer group at San Francisco Zion Church.
Through the church, they're now combining both programs to encourage Bay Area youth minorities to get the vaccine to keep themselves and their family safe.
The duo plans to continue lessons as long as children need them.
“It's really us just being flexible for them, us being able to tailor to what these children need,” Kimberly Cabrera said.
The two are currently working on their own website to reach more parents and children.
For those wanting to participate, you can contact them through the San Francisco Zion Church's website where they've been organizing these sessions around family schedules.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/2RiW6H5
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