Cities to Continue Targeted Multilingual Efforts to Increase Vaccination Rates
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cities of Pawtucket and Central Falls, alongside the Rhode Island Department of Health, have worked with community partners to best serve the two highly impacted communities including the establishment and maintenance of a call center available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Cape Verdean Creole with the help of Collette Tours and the Rhode Island National Guard.
Due to the continued decline in coronavirus cases in both Pawtucket and Central Falls and overall calls to the call center, the hotline that served to provide a call-in option for a test or vaccine appointment will no longer be in service as of Wednesday, June 30th, 2021.
“The BEAT COVID-19 hotline has helped us serve our residents with a multilingual call center staffed by many of our community partners,” said Mayor Donald R. Grebien. “We can’t thank Collette and all of our partners enough for their major roles in facilitating information, resources, testing, and vaccines to our community. After so many months of dedication and as we begin to get back to normal, everyone remains just as committed as ever to continuing our robust outreach efforts to get our community vaccinated and keep our residents safe.”
“This multilingual line has been an amazing resource for our residents during the hardest times of the pandemic,” said Mayor Maria Rivera. “We want to thank everyone involved who helped to make this a reality and are glad to continue to provide COVID-19 related services for our residents.”
“Collette was honored to be a part of the BEAT COVID initiative and to use our staff and resources to partner alongside the community in an effort to fight the disease,” said CEO of Collette, Dan Sullivan, Jr. “I’d like to sincerely thank all the members of the BEAT COVID initiative for supporting such an important endeavor over the last 15 months.”
The hotline will remain active in case any residents are looking for contacts, but will not be staffed. Instead there will be prompts for English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Cape Verdean Creole directing callers to various locations depending on their need.
Pawtucket residents looking for information relative to vaccines and testing will be instructed to call 401-616-2205 or email covid19@pawtucketri.com.
Central Falls residents looking for information relative to vaccines and testing will be instructed to call 401-616-2451 or email wcasiano@centralfallsri.us.
For those with general COVID-19 related questions or who are not residents of either Pawtucket or Central Falls will be informed that they can call the RI Department of Health’s COVID-19 information line at 401-222-8022 regarding updates on testing, vaccinations, documentation letters for employers or schools, or other general questions.
The COVID-19 testing site at 354 Pine St will remain open and active Monday through Friday, 9AM to 4PM, and Saturdays, 9AM to 12 Noon. No appointment necessary.
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