KEYWORDS:
Spanish, referrals, information, toll-free national telephone service

BACKGROUND:
NIIH, operated by ASHA, began providing free information, referrals and publications, to English and Spanish-speaking callers throughout the US and Puerto Rico in March 1997. NIIH is staffed by Information Specialists trained in technical immunization information, communication skills and data collection.

OBJECTIVE(S):
To examine how Spanish speakers utilize the NIIH Spanish Service.

METHOD(S):
Staff participate in 80 hours of training prior to answering calls. Calls are then randomly selected to be surveyed for content and demographic information. One out of six calls is surveyed for the English service and one out of two calls for the Spanish line due to the lower volume of calls.

RESULT(S):
In 1998, staff answered an average of 412 Spanish calls per month. By 2001, this almost tripled with staff answering an average of 1,011. Of the surveyed calls from the Spanish service, female callers make up the majority (87%) and most of the Spanish service callers are under the age of 34 (76%). Most (85%) of the Spanish line callers discuss child immunization issues. These callers are concerned about the immunization schedule and specific shots such as pneumococcal and hepatitis B vaccines. Callers that call with adult immunization concerns are more interested in the influenza and hepatitis B vaccines.

CONCLUSIONS(S):
According to the US Census Bureau, Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the US. NIIH provides information tailored to callers’ needs and offers resources such as publications and referrals to immunization agencies. NIIH is an instrumental tool in reaching those who may or may not have the resources to acquire information about immunizations or VPDs.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1) Describe the types of services NIIH provides to Spanish speakers
2) Understand the importance of providing tailored information to this population
3) Discuss the advantages of utilizing NIIH as a resource to Spanish speakers