Communicata Language Services, LLC

Fall 2009

October 26, 2009

Preparing Your Latino Employees for the H1N1 Virus

1. Write a plan for when the H1N1 virus hits. The plan should include:

-Choosing a workplace coordinator.
-Identifying a person who will assist those who become ill on the job.
-Sharing pandemic plans and expectations with employees. -Preparing business continuity plans.

We suggest that you communicate all of this information - in Spanish - to your Hispanic employees.

2. Share “Keeping Healthy: 8 Tips for Individuals” from www.flu.gov/professional/business/smallbiz.html#05. It will be very important to have those tips translated into Spanish, put on a poster and verbally explained to your Spanish-speaking employees. Our experience has been that it is dicey to have an employee translate these tips unless they are experienced and know how to put the tips in a general Spanish understood by all. We recommend the Spanish poster because your Latino employees may not have enough English proficiency to pick up these tips from the media. If your employees have interaction with the public, it is critical that they know how to stay healthy and when to report that they are sick – which would not be after three days sick on the job!

3. Also share the signs and symptoms of the 2009 H1N1 virus in Spanish. These symptoms are very similar to seasonal flu: chills or fever, runny nose, body aches, headache, tiredness, diarrhea, or vomiting. Those employees with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women are at higher risk of serious flu-related complications from H1N1. Why not post a list in Spanish of these symptoms so that employees can understand what to look for?

Contact Communicata Language Services, LLC for informative posters about H1N1in Spanish and for more advice as the flu season approaches.