GBH Salud, a show and podcast focused on health issues important to Latino and Hispanic communities, debuted on October 22 with an episode on living longer. Future episodes of the show in Spanish will cover topics such as health misinformation, long COVID and dementia. The show airs on GBH 89.7 FM on Saturdays at 9.30am and is available on all podcast platforms. Host Tibisay Zea, journalist with The worldjoined morning edition co-host Jeremy Siegel to talk about the show. This transcript has been slightly edited.

Jeremy Siegel: Salud is a program in Spanish. It’s a partnership between El Planeta, Massachusetts’ largest Spanish-language newspaper, Harvard Medical School, and GBH. And it’s not exactly what you’d expect to hear on a public radio station, as I mentioned. Take me back to the beginnings of ideas for Salud. How did this idea for a show come about?

Tibisay Zea: This idea actually arose during the pandemic. I worked for El Planeta as a full-time journalist and we noticed that misinformation in Spanish was a serious problem. This has always been the case, but it somehow became more visible during the pandemic because there was an immediate need for reliable sources of information in Spanish, especially on health care. For example, we found members of our Hispanic community in places like Chelsea, Lawrence, where the pandemic has hit really hard, getting misinformation about vaccines or COVID on Facebook or WhatsApp groups. And I also reported a misinformation story from a few evangelical churches here in Boston. And, you know, there aren’t as many Spanish-speaking journalists or media outlets in the United States. They therefore often have limited resources. And, of course, social media companies invest fewer resources in fighting misinformation in Spanish. So we’re extremely excited about this show, because we know it’s something our community needs.

Headquarters : So now Salud is a reality. The first episode aired this weekend on GBH. It is also available as a podcast that comes out weekly. What can people expect from this show?

Zea: Salud is a Spanish podcast about some of the most common health issues affecting Latinos in the United States. Each episode features stories from Latinos and how their lives are affected by the current condition, as well as healthcare leaders covering issues such as prevention, treatment, and the big picture of how these conditions affect this population. here. Our first episode is about human longevity. It’s a fascinating subject. And we spoke with an immigrant from Guatemala who is celebrating her birthday – number 102. And also, we spoke with a Cuban singer who, at 95, was nominated for the Latin Grammy as best new artist. And then, of course, we also interview people like Dr. Thomas Perls, who is the author of some of the most extensive research on centenarians in the United States and around the world.

Headquarters : I don’t want to reveal the episode, but what do people learn about life expectancy and in particular within the Latin American community?

Zea: Well, there’s something called the Hispanic Paradox, which is very interesting, because despite all the socio-economic disadvantages that Latin American populations have here in the United States, Latin women are the group with the longest life expectancy in the United States. So we explore Why. And it has a lot to do with our culture.

Headquarters : Interesting. So what do you plan to cover in Salud in the coming weeks ?

Zea: So we will have an episode on Alzheimer’s disease. And we interviewed the son of Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, who is a Colombian writer. He had Alzheimer’s disease and we have his son telling us how he had to deal with this disease. But we also have episodes on diabetes, on mental health, on long COVID, on infertility. So stay tuned for more.

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“We serve over 40 million people who speak Spanish in this country. And I think that’s a very important job that we need to do.”

-Tibisay Zea, host of Salud

Headquarters : Tibisay, working on this podcast, coming up with the idea, bringing it to life now – what do you think you’ve learned in this process about the needs of communities and the role that public radio can and should play in filling that need ?

Zea: I think we have a huge responsibility to minorities in this country to serve them, to help them, because they do a lot for us as a society. We found that misinformation in Spanish is a huge problem. And, you know, immigrants, they come to this country to work. Many end up having two, three jobs. They work odd hours. They do hard jobs that no one else wants to do. And this has a huge impact on our health. And on top of that, it’s sometimes hard to find reliable information in Spanish about health care, as I said before. So when they find out about diabetes, about cardiovascular disease, it’s sometimes too late. Our goal here is therefore to help them understand how to take care of themselves and also to put them in touch with the latest research in medicine and biotechnology. With this podcast, we expect to serve over 40 million Spanish speaking people in this country. And I think that’s a very important job that we have to do.