University of Michigan launches Spanish health podcast

ANN ARBOR, MI – The University of Michigan Health System and the U-M Portal en Español Web site launched the University’s first Spanish language health podcast series for Spanish speakers around the world. The podcast – Actualidad Médica – is available at www.med.umich.edu/podcast/EnEspanol and on iTunes Latino.

The first 15 episodes will focus on consumer-oriented health topics such as cardiovascular disease, pregnancy and diabetes. Actualidad Médica also has a radio program equivalent - Servicio de Noticias de Radio - to be used by Spanish language editors in the broadcast media in the United States.

Actualidad Médica and Servicio de Noticias de Radio are produced by Jessica Soulliere, UMHS associate public relations representative and Vivianne Schnitzer, U-M Latino communications coordinator.

Schnitzer says this is an excellent example of the University’s commitment to public service. “Our Spanish language researchers frequently are featured on prestigious radios stations like the BBC Spanish Service. Through these new podcasts and the radio reports they will support, we hope to reach and serve a wider audience, including the poor, those who have little access to health information, people working in the fields, transient people and those who are getting established.”

UMHS began podcasting in June 2006 with its flagship programs MiHealth and MiResearch. Each offers health and research news based on the work of UMHS physicians and scientists. UMHS podcasting has grown to include several other programs, including AskThePodcastDoctor, with David Stutz, M.D.; YourChild, a nexus to the award-winning child behavioral health Web site, hosted by Kyla Boyse, R.N.; Dose of Reality Audioblogs by U-M Medical School students, and several others available at www.med.umich.edu/podcast.

Actualidad Médica will begin podcasting four episodes per month and will expand to eight per month.

“The success of our current podcasting efforts and that of the Portal en Español created a natural bridge to podcasting in Spanish. Given the popularity of the Spanish health-information we already provide, we felt that podcasting would create an easily-accessible and popular means for providing this much-needed information,” Soulliere says.

U-M Portal en Español, which includes academic and admissions information, news and information about University research and health topics, started producing and distributing news releases in September 2005. Since then, working in collaboration with the U-M News Service and UMHS, Portal en Español has produced 180 press releases, placed many other stories in the media and become a valuable resource to Spanish language editors in the United States, Latino America and Spain.

Portal en Español regularly sends press releases to more than 320 Latino outlets. In April, six stories were placed in 125 Spanish language media all over the world.