On August 3rd and August 26, Arab American Family Services partnered with the Asian Health Coalition to host a focus group discussing how Chicago health officials can improve communication when discussing infectious diseases and ways to prevent them from spreading through the community.
The program was funded by the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Coalition members conducted interviews with members of several communities, identified as priority groups, most of which are immigrants and refugees, and will be using this information to make recommendations to Chicago health officials on how to best communicate if they ever need to give important information to everyone.
Various illnesses discussed included heart disease, the Zika virus, the flu, HIV, arthritis and diabetes. Moderators were also curious to want to know how members of the Arab American community discussed major news events among each other; how did they gather their news and did they learn about them from the news, on the radio, through friends, etc.
The focus group was definitely a great event and it helped many, including our staff, understand how important news travels through the community. This prepares us to use certain methods of communication to help reach out to everyone in our community.
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