Community, COVID-19

Spectrum Health Provides Additional Multilingual Community Resources on COVID-19

Resources include web page in Spanish and materials in five additional languages

**Updated Feb. 19, 2021

Grand Rapids, Mich., April 13, 2020 – Spectrum Health today announced it has updated its website to include a web page in Spanish with downloadable materials to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Spanish-speaking community members are encouraged to visit www.spectrumhealth.org/covid19-in-spanish  to access the resources.

The site includes a video message from Guillermo Cisneros, executive director of the West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Juan Carlos Hernandez, senior specialist in talent acquisition for Spectrum Health. It also includes resources for the community, including a section called “COVID-19: Information, Symptoms and Prevention,” and the latest information on testing and treating the virus.

“COVID-19 is impacting all the communities we serve, and it is important that our messaging touch as many people as possible,” said Darryl Elmouchi, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, Spectrum Health System, and president, Spectrum Health Medical Group.

Spectrum Health is also working to offer its online symptom checker and screening chat tool in Spanish. These tools can be found at: www.spectrumhealth.org/covid19.

Spectrum Health is in the process of offering additional COVID-19 information in the top five non-English languages spoken by our patient population: Spanish, Vietnamese, Kinyarwanda, Burmese, Swahili, along with information for our Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community. This information can also be found at www.spectrumhealth.org/covid19.

“We hope these materials from Spectrum Health and other reputable sources will equip our communities with accurate information that will inform, ease anxiety and help prevent the spread of the disease,” Elmouchi said.

Spectrum Health continues to offer free virtual COVID-19 screenings to those who have symptoms and may be concerned they have the virus. The purpose is to prevent the spread of illness by enabling people to seek the information they need from their homes, while making it easy and convenient for them.

People in Michigan who are experiencing symptoms can get screened by calling Spectrum Health’s hotline at 833.559.0659 or by using Spectrum Health’s virtual chat found on www.spectrumhealth.org/covid19 .

Spectrum Health providers will determine if a person needs further evaluation and, if so, provide instructions for specimen collection. Anyone with severe or life-threatening symptoms should call 911.

Free interpreting and translation services are offered to Spectrum Health patients and family members who feel more comfortable communicating in a language other than English, or those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Please let your provider or admitting representative know about your communication needs.

 

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Media Relations
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Email: timothy.hawkins@corewellhealth.org