The speaker shares her innovative approach to increasing vaccination rates within marginalized communities. By organizing vaccine clinics disguised as lively parties, complete with food, entertainment, and cultural references, she has been able to reach people who might otherwise avoid healthcare due to fear or accessibility issues. Her strategy was instrumental in vaccinating thousands in her community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through her work, the speaker highlights the broader challenges faced by immigrant communities in accessing healthcare. The core problem, she argues, is not vaccine hesitancy but rather a lack of access and the way these services are offered to different communities. By involving the community in healthcare conversations and validating their cultural backgrounds, she fostered trust and cooperation. This approach has shifted perceptions and improved healthcare outcomes in her community.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. enchiladas [ɛnʧɪˈlɑːdəz] - (noun) - A Mexican dish consisting of a tortilla rolled and filled typically with meat and covered with a chili sauce. - Synonyms: (taco, burrito, quesadilla)

So I had enchiladas, enchiladas con pollo, enchiladas con queso, enchiladas con carne asada, rice and beans.

2. mariachi band [mɑːriˈɑːʧi bænd] - (noun) - A traditional Mexican folk music ensemble, typically including violins, trumpets, and guitars. - Synonyms: (ensemble, band, orchestra)

I hired a clown, a mariachi band, and a bouncy house.

3. pinata [pɪnˈjɑːtə] - (noun) - A container filled with candy and toys; it is broken as part of celebrations such as birthday parties. - Synonyms: (party game, container, decoration)

We had a pinata that looks like a germ and then a stick that looked like a syringe.

4. undocumented [ˌʌndɒkjʊˈmɛntɪd] - (adjective) - Referring to someone residing in a country without legal authorization. - Synonyms: (illegal, unauthorized, unrecorded)

I came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico with a super abusive husband.

5. hesitancy [ˈhɛzɪtənsi] - (noun) - The state of being reluctant or unsure about something. - Synonyms: (uncertainty, reluctance, indecision)

After that, I went to the state, the health departments and everyone else said, does this look like hesitancy to you? Over 17 hours, we have vaccinated 1,279 Latinos and one day

6. accessibility [ækˌsɛsəˈbɪlɪti] - (noun) - The quality of being easy to approach, reach, or use. - Synonyms: (availability, approachability, convenience)

The problem was access. Do we have vaccines in our communities, in our neighborhoods?

7. cultural competency [ˈkʌltʃərəl ˈkɒmpɪtənsi] - (noun) - The ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures. - Synonyms: (cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, cross-cultural competence)

Some of you might call it cultural awareness, some of you might call it cultural competency.

8. cultural validation [ˈkʌltʃərəl ˌvælɪˈdeɪʃən] - (noun) - Acknowledging and respecting the cultural backgrounds and life experiences of individuals. - Synonyms: (cultural acknowledgment, acceptance, recognition)

It's what I call cultural validation, validating the life experiences struggles of the community.

9. sterile [ˈstɛraɪl] - (adjective) - Lacking inspiration, emotional interest or excitement; also clean and germ-free. - Synonyms: (uninteresting, uninspiring, antiseptic)

Public health has its reputation for being sterile and accessible and boring.

10. equity [ˈɛkwɪti] - (noun) - The quality of being fair and impartial. - Synonyms: (fairness, justice, impartiality)

I serve in the health equity commission for the state of Colorado.

How vaccine parties inject fun into public health - Julissa Soto - TEDxMileHigh

I'm like a wedding planner, minus the weddings. Last year I planned one of the most wonderful parties. So I had enchiladas, enchiladas con pollo, enchiladas con queso, enchiladas con carne asada, rice and beans. I hired a clown, a mariachi band, and a bouncy house. Then I alerted the media to invite everyone. 200 people showed up. Children and neighbors were all having fun with each other. By the way, it was not a party. It was a vaccine clinic. Vaccine parties is what I call it. We had a pinata that looks like a germ and then a stick that looked like a syringe. And when the kids were hitting the germ really hard, right, because they just got the vaccines. So they were hitting the pinata really hard. And when they finally broke open a bunch of candy and home COVID test 19 fell off. This is the strategy we used to successfully vaccinate 24,000 people and one of the worst ranking states. And how we're making childhood, how we're making progress in other childhood vaccines too.

See, public health has its reputation for being sterile and accessible and boring. But I believe that doesn't have to be. I believe that we can achieve our highest goals by making public health fun again and validating the cultures of the community we want to serve. I serve in the health equity commission for the state of Colorado. I was also honored with one of the biggest honors that Colorado that someone in Colorado can receive. The governor of Colorado declared September 20th as Julissa Soto Day. But I told everyone that I become a public health servant in the trunk of a car.

I came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico with a super abusive husband. I told everyone that I'm so lucky not to be arrested and detained or locked in cages. But I didn't know where to go. And soon my husband, abused, sent me to the hospital again. And there I met a woman who I called my white angel, who helped me navigate the healthcare system and recover from my injuries. And she made me want to give back. So I started looking at the healthcare system, how it doesn't work for my community, how the hours and locations didn't work for those people that has two jobs. So I remember going to the clinic with my two kids and the doctors asked a bunch of questions and I barely spoke English. No, they didn't speak very well now, but better. So I was like, they asked me a bunch of questions like, what's your name? What's your address? Do you have insurance for you and me today, those questions might sound simple, but when you're undocumented, it can be scary. It's always that. Why they're asking all these questions? Should I trust them? Do they want to deport me? It seems that for marginalized and immigrant communities, the safest option is not to get any healthcare at all. As soon as I got out of the hospital, I started doing public health work.

One of my best community innovations earned recognition from the center of Disease Control, and from there, nothing could stop me. I advocate for everyone everywhere I could. And then the pandemic, the COVID 19 pandemic struck, and I started seeing all these problems at a much larger scale. Black and brown communities, communities that don't speak English, were largely among the unvaccinated. And I keep hearing on tv, on the news and committee meetings, Latinos are just vaccine hesitant. And I knew from my own experience that that was a myth.

The problem was access. Do we have vaccines in our communities, in our neighborhoods? For some of us, it's the hood. For me, it's my neighborhood. Are vaccines available for all? I knew what I needed to do. I needed to take vaccines to the community and speak their own language. I'm a Catholic woman, like most Latinos in the us So I call up a church that I know holds six masses every Sunday, and I talked to the priest and I asked him if he would let me organize a vaccine clinic at his church and help me save lives. He immediately said yes and told me to be there all day.

We started at 6am with one clinic bus from the state. And when the priest called me to the pulpit, I said to everyone, what the Lord has taught me, Love the neighbor as they self. I said to everyone, you might be young, handsome and healthy, and COVID 19 wouldn't do nothing to you. But think about the most vulnerable population, the children, the pregnant woman, your grandma, your grandpa. If something would have happened to them, are you prepared to have that in your conscious? The room was silent, like you guys and everybody calmly considering what I just said. So I went out. We ran out of vaccines the first four hours. The first four hours. So I had to call the state to bring two more buses.

After that, I went to the state, the health departments and everyone else said, does this look like hesitancy to you? Over 17 hours, we have vaccinated 1,279 Latinos and one day. Does this look like hesitancy to you? The problem was access and how the community was approached. So I started with working with other community Groups we have given 130,000 home COVID 19 test boxes, 70,000 masks and 24,000 new vaccines.

Those numbers sounds easy, but it's super difficult. What does whole experience that mean is that we cannot leave communities without healthcare by waiting on the sidelines. Providers need to approach the communities that they wish to serve with respect and dignity to build that trust. Some of you might call it cultural awareness, some of you might call it cultural competency. But I argue what matters most is knowing more where the people come from or what they do is what I call cultural validation, validating the life experiences struggles of the community. For example, I have tell you guys that many immigrants don't want to answer personal questions. A fear of being deported. Providers can include their patients in their conversations, like when they're vaccinating the children. Say, senora, I'm updating your daughter's health record right here. You want to come and sit with me?

Or when providers are talking to each other, they can include the patient by saying, senora, I'm talking to my colleague about what vaccines are available for your child. When providers talk among each other and we don't speak English, right, we don't speak English and they talk among each other, we understand when they say our child name, but when they say our child name, we start freaking out. We're like, oh my God, is my son sick? Is my child sick? Providers need to approach the community so they can build that respect.

And the funny thing is that when I developed the curriculum of cultural validation, I was thinking of my brothers and sisters, the immigrant and refugee community. But in practice, it's good for everyone. If you are a white American mom talking to a white American doctor, will you feel better if they speak to you in terms that you can understand? If our solocations work for you, vaccine parties take it to a whole different level.

Instead of the boring steroid, I don't want to go, we bring food and entertainment for you guys. It might not seem that enchiladas is that important, right? But it signals the community that we value their culture. You can do the same things with the Jewish community serving kashir food, with the Muslim community serving halal food. And by bringing a bouncy house, a clown, a mariachi band, our community gets super, super excited about this. Right?

And also providers dressing as superheroes. We give children the choice to choose. Who do they want to get their vaccines from. So Spiderman, the Flash, Wonder Woman. Yay. Right? Yes, mija, you're going to get your vaccine from Wonder Woman. And the kids probably think that they're going to be Wonder Woman after they get their vaccines, but that doesn't happen.

And with all these changes, we started to see the changes that we dreamed for years in public health. Access to care, access to vaccines, lower rates of untreated diabetes, and better health come for all. If I can say in one word what cultural validation is, the word is caring. I needed to say that slow because if I say scaring, you guys might think it's scary because of my accent, right? But no, it's scaring. We're building a relationship that will last for generations. Not only one encounter. When you leave, you come back. Because when children are super happy, they tell their parents. And when parents are satisfied, they tell their neighbors.

And next thing you know, you have a whole community with access to our vaccine and care. So don't be surprised if access to care look a little bit different when you go to the doctor and get your vaccines. Right? You might see a clown, a mariachi band playing in the background while getting your vaccines. Muccimas. Gracias.

HEALTHCARE INNOVATION, VACCINE OUTREACH, CULTURAL AWARENESS, SCIENCE, INNOVATION, INSPIRATION, TEDX TALKS