COVID In Colorado: Equity Clinic Aims To Vaccinate 1,000 Latinos In Weld County
WELD COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – Several community groups in Weld County are organizing an equity clinic where 1,000 Latinos will receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The event will take place at the Monfort Family Clinic in Evans on March 14. It's being organized by the Latino Coalition of Weld County, which is partnering with Latinos Unidos of Greeley, the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado, the Hispanic Women of Weld County, and Sunrise Community Health.
"This is part of our responsibility as being a voice for our population," said Deb Suniga, public relations director for the Latino Coalition of Weld County.
In Weld County, Latinos represent just under 30% of the population, but so far make up only 7.9% of those vaccinated, according to the county's vaccination dashboard. At the same time, 80.76% of those vaccinated so far are white, while 66% of residents in the county are white according to Weld County's 2019 Economic and Demographic Profile.
"Here in Weld County, we've done a poor job of getting out the information to our Latino population, so this is an opportunity to partner with other groups in order to get that," Suniga said.
According to Suniga, one solution is for outreach efforts to be in both English and Spanish.
"Whether it be with posters, postcards, boots on the ground walking door to door, we're going to do whatever it takes in order to get that information out," she said.
The coalition is also working with groups the community trusts, including Sunrise Community Health.
According to CEO Mitzi Moran, 65% of the health center's normal patients are Latino. Health professionals at Sunrise's multiple locations also serve people from a number of other immigrant populations.
"They've done the work of building trust and rapport with these community members, and this is where our immigrant community comes for support," said Lisa Taylor, executive director of the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado.
Throughout the daylong clinic, wraparound services will be made available to patients.
"They'll find out about what they can get at the food bank, rental assistance, and other community agencies that are here to help," Suniga said.
Moving forward, organizers will continue taking steps to bridge gaps in access to help and normalcy to these underserved communities.
"Getting everyone vaccinated will get us back to life," said Moran.
The address for the Sunrise Community Health Center is 2930 11th Ave., in Evans. Appointments will be required.
To sign up on the vaccine appointment list: https://www.sunrisecommunityhealth.org/ or call to schedule: 970.346.2587 (English)/
970.346.2589 (Spanish)
