Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC (PPMW), recently launched a fresh video series providing essential information about health care services to Spanish-speaking communities in its service area. The stars of the five-part series — both on camera and behind the scenes, advising the production team — are trusted health educators whose expertise is informed by their close community relationships.
Three of the videos feature Patricia, Ingrid, and Ana — Promotoras de Salud with PPMW. Promotoras de Salud, which is Spanish for “Health Promoters,” are lay health educators who provide vital information about sexual and reproductive health and have close community ties. In the new videos, the Promotoras address the viewer directly, with honesty, candor, and compassion. They offer information on pregnancy prevention, medication abortion, and everyone’s right to make their own health care decisions.
The other two videos feature PPMW’s Bilingual Health Education Coordinator, Alicia Florian-Rabanales. She speaks in English and Spanish about the convenience, discretion, and compassion with which PPMW delivers care. She emphasizes that PPMW providers “aren’t just experts — they really care about the people too.”
"Your health matters" featuring Alicia Florian-Rabanales
Breaking down barriers
This new video campaign, driven by PPMW’s commitment to health equity, was made possible by Montgomery County’s Abortion, Reproductive Health, and Related Services (ARHRSA) Grant Program.
As PPMW Vice President of Education and Community Engagement Andrea Augustine reflects, “This project really centered the Promotoras, highlighting them as the faces and the voices of sexual health, reproductive rights, and choice. Showcasing these leaders as the champions of these causes is key to destigmatizing abortion and increasing the accessibility of reproductive health care.”
The aim of the ARHRSA Grant Program is to “reduce barriers…that obstruct access to abortion in Montgomery County,” including by expanding community outreach. To realize this goal to its fullest potential, PPMW started with research to better understand how local Spanish-speaking community members encounter barriers to health care and how PPMW can help them surmount those barriers.
That research included insights from PPMW’s partner La Clínica del Pueblo, a culturally competent, bilingual community health center based in Washington, DC. La Clínica del Pueblo emphasizes that “all women and people with the capacity to gestate have the right to make informed and autonomous decisions about their bodies and reproductive health.”
As a sub-recipient of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Latino Community Investment Grant, La Clínica del Pueblo has shared educational resources and information with PPMW addressing cultural barriers regarding the right to choose. This knowledge has informed the video series as well as educational programming, like community conversations on challenging health topics through the discussion series A Calzón Quitado.
Led by the voices of Promotoras
PPMW also worked with a local bilingual research firm to complete focus group and discussion sessions with the Promotoras de Salud as a foundation for creating the video series. The goal was to learn about the kinds of information community members most need, how different generations access information in different ways, and ways to effectively communicate this information to members of Spanish-speaking communities in our region.
For example, the Promotoras noted that many people are unaware of how medication abortion works, that it is now the most common form of abortion, or that it’s available through PPMW. Others are aware that Planned Parenthood affiliates offer abortion care but are less familiar with the broad range of other services PPMW offers, including birth control and health screenings. Information on services like these, the Promotoras recommended, should be presented together with information about abortion care, to produce holistic educational materials.
For some community members, they shared, the most important things to know about are PPMW’s emphasis on privacy, and that access to care is available for all people, regardless of immigration status or insurance coverage. For many, details about how PPMW keeps patient information private and how patients can access care from home using telehealth is essential. And information about the financial assistance that is available can make the difference between someone thinking health care is out of reach or knowing that they can reach out to ask for help.
After months of careful planning, research, and production, the full video series is now live on PPMW’s Instagram, TikTok and YouTube accounts, and is being shared widely through other channels, reaching communities in Montgomery County and far beyond with essential health care knowledge.
This PPMW video series is available on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can help us spread the word by liking, commenting, and sharing these videos with your networks.
Tags: Promotoras