Bluegrass Care Navigators Addresses Healthcare Disparities Faced by the Hispanic/Latinx Community in Northern Kentucky

September 20, 2023

Bluegrass Care Navigators (BCN) continues to build a more equitable and inclusive healthcare system for our Hispanic/Latinx Community. With the support of a Duke Energy Foundation Local Impact Grant received last year, we are walking hand in hand with the community to ensure every individual receives the care they deserve, regardless of their cultural background or language proficiency. 

BCN established advisory committees composed of individuals engaged within or connected to the community. The committee focused on healthcare issues that affect Hispanic/Latinx populations and advised BCN on outreach and treatment strategies tailored to this underserved community. Through this group, we learned more about various healthcare issues and received feedback that shaped BCN’s strategies to better serve this community and foster a more inclusive and culturally competent healthcare environment. 

 

Through listening sessions, our team heard about distressing realities regarding discrimination when accessing various healthcare systems and language barriers in care settings. We also learned that the community has limited knowledge of hospice or the importance of advance care planning. 

 

As a result of our learning, BCN has been able to provide targeted support to the Hispanic/Latinx community by developing a care model to train our clinicians. BCN also developed cultural programming to educate and create awareness of hospice care, advance care planning and resources for the Hispanic/Latinx population. By translating educational and marketing materials into Spanish, our team improved communication with the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, our team used Spanish commercials with captions across BCN’s social media platforms to more effectively bring awareness about our services. 

 

These dedicated efforts have truly helped to foster increased trust and engagement from the Hispanic/Latinx community. Thank you to the Duke Energy Foundation for supporting our mission and enabling us to reach more individuals who can take advantage of our expert, connected care. 

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