Short Wave - Puerto Ricans Are At Risk From The Coronavirus And A Lack Of Information

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has the most older Americans per capita, making their population especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. A vital tool in preventing its spread there? Timely and culturally relevant public health information in Spanish. Maddie talks with Mónica Feliú-Mójer of the group CienciaPR about their science communication efforts.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hey, shortwave listeners, Maddie Safaya here. We know things are really tough right now, and our team is working around the clock to bring you the latest on the science of the coronavirus. Your contributions to public radio stations are what make that possible. So, if you're fortunate enough right now to be able to support our work, we're asking for your help. If you can, go to donate.npr.org slash short to find and support. your local NPR station. Again, that's donate.npr.org slash short. You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Here's one thing we know for sure. In general, older people are the most vulnerable to the

dangerous complications of the coronavirus. And what part of the U.S. has the most older Americans per capita? The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is especially vulnerable because their health care system still hasn't fully recovered from Hurricane Maria in 2017, followed by a recent string of deadly earthquakes. Tonight, News 6 takes you inside the medical crisis in Puerto Rico. On top of that, Monika Falum O'Hare, a Ph.D. scientist and a Puerto Rican, argues there's a huge communication problem. There's not as much information in Spanish, and it's not always timely. Recently, the White House put out some guidelines for the country on social distancing, and it took the government a couple of days to translate it into Spanish. And there were

journalists who were requesting, you know, where is the Spanish language information for this? And it took them a while. A lot of Puerto Ricans speak English. But according to U.S. census data, the overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans who speak Spanish in their homes say they do not speak English very well. And some don't speak English at all. And in a situation like a pandemic, having accurate and evidence-based, science-based information about preventive measures, about how to take care of your health, it can actually be a matter of life. or death. So Monica is trying to fix that. She works for a non-profit called Ciencia Puerto Rico, a network of scientists and supporters trying to get the right information out about the coronavirus.

And part of that is doing lots of interviews. And you know, early in the morning, you got to warm up that voice. Because I am in California and there's a three-hour difference in Puerto Rico, yeah, I've been waking up at five in the morning a lot more than I usually do. What do you got? Let me hear your vocal exercises. I don't have any. You need to tell me. Give me a couple of red leather yellow leathers.

Red leather yellow leathers. Yeah, but you've got to say it fast. Red leather yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather, red leather, red leather, yellow leather. I can't do it. So today on the show, how one group of scientists, educators, and community members are trying to bring accurate scientific information to Americans in Puerto Rico. And why it's not just about language, it's about culture, too. Today, we're talking with Monica about Siencia Puerto Rico.

After each emergency Puerto Rico has faced, Monica says the organization has had to respond in new ways. We are big believers of doing what you can with what you have from where you are. And one of the things that I have been leading in, in particular, has been essentially at a campaign to get scientists speaking with the media. So giving people, giving scientists the space and connecting them with different media platforms so that they can provide their expertise in engage with the public and answer questions about the coronavirus, about COVID-19. about public policy issues around this, about education issues. So I know a lot of this has been online, but y'all have also been focused on newspapers and radio. Why is that?

Because we want to make sure that this information, this scientific information, is accessible to as many people as possible. Not everybody has access to the internet or not everybody knows how to navigate. a website to find this information. And so by working with different types of outlets and platforms, we're trying to make sure that we're reaching as many people as possible. And so we've also been working with a radio station in Puerto Rico, particularly morning radio shows on AM radio are very popular. They go on and they answer questions from the audience about the virus,

they talk about public health issues. They've talked about public policy issues. I was on a couple of weeks ago, and I talked about misinformation and false news and what people can do to kind of fact-check the information that they must. might be getting on WhatsApp, on social media to make sure that they're consuming good information and not false news. I've personally have done some segments with Telemundo, with Spanish language channels. And so we're trying to cast a broad net so that we're reaching as many people

in Spanish as possible. I know there has been some, let's say, disappointment in Puerto Rico about how the government has handled big emergencies like Hurricane Maria. Does that make it harder to get people on board with some of the guidance that we're receiving from the government? I think so. Unfortunately, you know, in the last three years, particularly after he's, here again, Maria, there were so many missteps. The lack of transparency was so severe with the government trying to make it seem like there were not as many deaths later being revealed that supplies were rotten in warehouses. And so there is. a lot of mistrust in the government.

And I think that makes it a lot harder because in emergencies like this pandemic, you should be trusting that the government is doing what's in the best interest of people. But the government of Puerto Rico doesn't have a good track record of that. And so I think people are looking for members of the scientific community, for academic, people that are not, don't have an association with the government, they're looking at those people for information that they can trust. And, you know, most of the scientists that are being part of these communication efforts that we're leading, they are Puerto Rican.

Their families are in Puerto Rico. They live in Puerto Rico. And so they are speaking from a place of deep understanding and of deep concern and love for Puerto Rico. Yeah, absolutely. So you told me that one of the big problems is that even though there is, you know, some Spanish-speaking information out there, it's not in context. What do you, what do you mean by that? And why is that important? Well, what I mean by that is that, well, information is, you know, information is universal. But the way that we understand and value and interpret any kind of information, and also science, it's influenced by our culture, our contacts,

by our life experiences, our previous knowledge. And in Puerto Rico and in other Latinx cultures, family is really important. We are a culture in Puerto Rico, in particular, I'm going to speak from my experience. In Puerto Rico, we say hello, even to strangers with a hug and a kiss. That's not uncommon. And so when people are talking about physical distancing, about staying at home, that is particularly difficult for a culture that thrives on that level of closeness. And so you might need to do more to explain and to really help people understand why this is important. You might need to go the extra mile and to really communicate the empathy of, you know, I know this is particularly hard because it goes against our nature and it goes against our culture.

Yeah. So obviously we've been talking about how this is all going down in Puerto Rico, but obviously keeping people's cultures and languages in mind when we're communicating about this pandemic applies kind of everywhere, right? listen, the scientific community is international and science is universal, but we need language to communicate. And I think it's very important that we remember that there's nothing better than hearing science in your own mother tongue. There are things that I can't really express very well in English because Spanish is my first language. there is not just an issue of understanding, but I think there's also an issue of belonging,

of somebody, you know, made sure that this was not just in my language so that I could understand it, but so that I could feel like it is for me. It is part of me. Like, I matter to science. And so I think that's an important element of why making science accessible in non-English language is so important, particularly in a pandemic like this, where access to information that people can understand and act on can really be the difference between life and death. Okay, Monica, I appreciate you. Yeah, thank you so much. Today's episode was produced by Britt Hansen and edited by Viet Leigh.

The facts were checked by Emily Baum. I'm Maddie Safaya. Thanks for listening to Shortwave from NPR.