Launching a Spanish Podcast: Expanding Addiction Resources for the Latino Community - Podcast Episode Transcript

[introductory music]

Isabel Byon:

The New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports, or OASAS, provides this podcast as a public service. Thoughts and opinions expressed do not necessarily represent or reflect those of the agency or state. This is Addiction: The Next Step.

Jerry Gretzinger:

Hey everybody, Jerry Gretzinger, here, your host of Addiction: the Next Step, and I have to tell you we have a really exciting and different kind of episode in store for you today, and that's because we're kind of building upon the success we've had so far with this podcast and I want to thank everybody who's been listening to it, downloading it, you know, listening to every episode.

Jerry Gretzinger:

We really appreciate a lot of important information and we want to be able to reach even more people in our communities, and we've had some conversations and we said how do we do that? We know what we're going to do. We're going to start a Spanish speaking podcast to be able to reach our Spanish population and to do that. Listen, I took Spanish in high school. I can say a little. My father was very disappointed. He was a Spanish teacher but I was not fluent. However, we have somebody on our communications team who is, and he's sitting here with me now. He's going to be our guest to discuss the beginning of a new chapter in the podcast series, and that's Edison Alban. Edison, thanks for sitting down today.

Edison Alban:

Thank you, Jerry.

Edison Alban:

I'm happy to be here.

Jerry Gretzinger:

Yeah, and thanks for taking on the challenge of helping us launch the Spanish-speaking podcast. You know we've talked about this for a little while. We've had communications with you. Obviously, working back and forth, we're all in the same communications department here at OASAS and you know I think we all agreed that the message that we're trying to get out there, which is so important about substance use and addiction and the services and supports available, we need to reach as many people as possible, and all the good that we've done with the podcast so far. We want to extend it even further. So talk to me about your thoughts on the Spanish-speaking population and the good this can do.

Edison Alban:

Absolutely this is an incredible opportunity to be able to bring this and reach the Latino population in New York State. We at OASAS have already been doing a lot of work with the community. We've done a lot of outreach, we continue doing outreach for the Latino community and most of our materials have been always in Spanish and English. But this is the next step, as we called it. So I'm excited about having we could reach so much, many, many more people via the podcast, and I think that it's so important for people to hear about what OASAS has to offer, what different resources are there. I think that there is an opportunity here to reach a lot more people in our community in their language.

Jerry Gretzinger:

Yeah, and you are really taking on like the lion's share of the effort to make this happen. So we thank you for that, obviously. And so just so people know too, you're not like sitting down and you know people are hearing your voice for the first time saying, well, who is this guy? So let's tell them who is this guy. Edison, you've worked with the agency for several years now.

Edison Alban:

Yes, I have worked for OASAS for about four years. I've done communications at OASAS for that amount of time, always using my Spanish skills to work with the community and provide materials and resources in the Spanish language. So it's always been one of my big efforts and priorities to make sure that the Latino community also is well informed, and I think OASAS

Edison Alban:

has done a really great job in doing that, and this is now another opportunity for us to provide even much more information.

Jerry Gretzinger:

Yeah, and so you talked about how this has always been important to you. I want to point out I said people may be hearing your voice for the first time. Some people may not be hearing your voice for the first time because when we did some of our public service campaigns getting the message out about ordering the free naloxone and test trips that we offer you were one of the voices that people would have heard on those spots.

Edison Alban:

Yes, they heard me on the radio a couple of times.

Jerry Gretzinger:

On the radio we had you on a couple of different, I think television or video spots through social media, so you're not a total newbie to this thing.

Edison Alban:

Absolutely not, but this is even much more of an important job, so I'm totally excited about it.

Jerry Gretzinger:

Yeah, and so we want to let people know too. It's really the same idea, and even the name. We've decided to kind of keep the name the same, but in Spanish. So I know in English we say it's Addiction: The next step. And, Edison, why don't you announce what the name will be in Spanish?

Edison Alban:

La adicción, el siguiente paso there you go

Jerry Gretzinger:

Say it one more time.

Edison Alban:

La adicción, el siguiente paso.

Jerry Gretzinger:

All right, I would attempt to say it. I'll practice a little bit before I ever try to say it because, again, my father would give me a hard time for mispronouncing things. But so, yeah, we're going to do a lot of the same sort of you know content. We're going to bring people on from the agency, we're going to have information about services and supports and Edison, I know all of us in the communications department have had really the opportunity to hear people tell about their lived experiences. We're going to have people come on who are living a life in recovery, who have been there, who have walked the walk and, as you know, like I do.

Jerry Gretzinger:

Sometimes, those stories, those messages are just. They can make such a difference for people to hear someone who's been in their position.

Edison Alban:

Yes, and I think that one of the things that I must mention is why is it important to bring this in Spanish language to the Latino community? Because there's so much information that could be very useful and if we don't put it out there, people will not know about it. A lot of people are thirsty for information. They really want it, and sometimes you want to hear from people that you can relate to, . and I think it's great that we're going to have so many people so many guests that I'm already lining up for the show that are going to speak their language, and people that are like you and me, people that have great stories to tell. Some of these people have had incredible careers and then they had maybe a downfall and there were issues and then they had to pick themselves up, and so to hear directly from these people in their language, to hear stories that we could all relate to, I think it's so important.

Jerry Gretzinger:

Yeah, and you know, one of the things that we talk about, too, is that we want to meet people where they're at and obviously if we don't do that is to also to communicate with them the ways they communicate, so that's another reason we wanted to do this. As we get started you mentioned you've got some guests already lined up. I know the first one is going to be just like we started the English

Edison Alban:

Yes, I'm so excited to have her on the show. She's going to be our first guest and she has so much expertise on addiction and the addiction field and she's worked with our communities for many, many years and she's very familiar and she's very much in touch with our Latino community in New York City and New York State and I know that she brings a lot of resources and a lot of expertise and I'm sure when she's going to be talking to us about her journey not only her journey, but what OASAS is about. You're going to want to listen to all this really great information that she has and, most importantly, she's going to talk to us in Spanish language, which is so great I'm excited about that it's terrific and I think that speaks a lot to her determination again to reach everyone with this important message that we have to put out there.

Jerry Gretzinger:

And two we'll also mention so people know, you know we have our presence on all the different podcast sites and platforms and so what you'll see is you'll see us dropping our English versions of the podcast and then, as we start, you know we'll start similarly to how we did originally with this whole process is, we'll start slowly. We'll drop an episode, probably once a month, and as we get more guests, it'll become more frequent. And you know it's going to be off and running. And I should mention too you know right's going to be off and running. And I should mention too, you know right now it's Hispanic Heritage Month and we thought what a perfect time for us to get this out there and to launch this idea.

Edison Alban:

Yes, absolutely, and it's a great, great time to do it, and also very important because, as we know, we you know we are going through a tough time with overdoses.

Edison Alban:

I think everyone is affected, but I think the Latino community in New York State is also very highly affected by this, and no better time than now to really find out all the resources that we have available for you.

Edison Alban:

All the resources that we have available for you, not only if you or your loved one needs treatment or needs to find out about where all the opportunities are for prevention and harm reduction, but also, most importantly, to save lives. And during our podcast, we're going to have people that have been going through the recovery journey, people that not only have been going through the recovery journey, but that not only have been going through the recovery journey but also now are working in the field, which is really amazing. We're going to have some counselors that have gone through recovery and now they're counselors, and they're peer counselors for people that really need help. We're going to talk to some people that are now running some of the centers and that they speak their language, your language, and that they're able to communicate and tell you all the different resources that are now running some of the centers and that they speak their language, your language, and that they're able to communicate and tell you all the different resources that are available for you.

Jerry Gretzinger:

And so we got a lot of good work that we're ready to continue doing, and as we get ready to wrap up here, you mentioned all the resources that are out there. So let's do this. So I'm going to tell people in English where they can find a lot of those resources and then I'm going to have you tell them the same thing in Spanish. How's that?

Edison Alban:

Sounds good, All right here we go. Oasas. ny.

Jerry Gretzinger:

So if you're looking for resources about the Office of Addiction Services and Supports first, you can go to our HOPE line 877-8-HOPE-NY or go right to the website. Everything is right there. Oasasnygov, o-a-s-a-s. Dot, dot, ny dot gov. And Edison, the big debut. Why don't you give us the information now in Spanish?

Edison Alban:

Sí, para las personas que quieren llamarnos y recibir ayuda, la línea telefónica es 1778 HOPENY H-O-P-E-N-Y, y para los que quieren ponerse en contacto en línea de nuestra sitio web es oasas. ny. gov.

Jerry Gretzinger:

All right, there it is. That was the debut, our host of our Spanish edition of the podcast. Say the title one more time La Adicción El Siguiente Paso. All right, there you have it, folks, ladies and gentlemen, Edison Alban, he'll be your host for the Spanish version of our podcast. Thanks for tuning us in and please do so again. I'm Jerry Gretzinger, your host. Be well.

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