Catholic Healthcare West Launches Healthy Families Outreach Effort Featuring Spanish-Speaking Disc Jockey
To boost the number of Latinos enrolled in Healthy Families, Catholic Healthcare West is launching an ad campaign that will feature a popular Spanish-speaking disc jockey, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Hispanic Broadcast Corp. has provided discounted air time, and the hospital chain has donated $270,000 for the campaign, for which disc jockey Renan Almendarez Coello has recorded an ad that will air regularly over the next year during his morning show on KSCA-FM in Los Angeles. Coello, whose show regularly draws about one million listeners, last week was recognized by the Legislature for his efforts to promote Healthy Families. The Times reports that the campaign is designed to use Coello's "trusted voice" to "break through" barriers that often keep Latinos from enrolling in Healthy Families. Experts say many Latinos are immigrants and "suspicious" of government programs or incorrectly believe that enrolling in public programs will hurt their chances of becoming legal residents. Of the more than 1.5 million uninsured children in California, about 500,000 are eligible for Healthy Families, and 68% are Latinos (Galarza, Los Angeles Times, 3/19).
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