Health Communications Specialist, Reinforcing COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Project

TITLE:    Health Communications Specialist, Reinforcing COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Project 

DURATION:  12 months, with possibility of extension 

DEPARTMENT: Latin America and the Caribbean 

LOCATION: San Juan, Puerto Rico 

REPORTS TO: Puerto Rico Deputy Director 

ABOUT AMERICARES 

 

Americares is a health-focused relief and development organization that saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster. Each year, Americares reaches 90 countries on average, including the United States, with life-changing health programs, medicine, medical supplies and emergency aid. Americares is the world’s leading nonprofit provider of donated medicine and medical supplies. For more information, visit americares.org. 

POSITION SUMMARY: 

In Puerto Rico, Americares supports a network of 22 federally qualified health clinics serving an estimated 392,925 patients per year. In the USVI, the two existing FQHCs provide services to 19,214 patients through three clinics on the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. The population served in the USVI by these FQHCs is reportedly >70% below the poverty line, and approximately 20% are further classified as uninsured. Americares’ partner network treats patients that are harder to reach in communities, frontline essential workers, communities of color, low-income, the uninsured/underinsured, undocumented citizens, and disproportionally affected groups.  

The Health Communications Specialist will be responsible for the successful execution of the cross-departmental Reinforcing COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence project in Puerto Rico. The Health Communications Specialist will respond to the Puerto Rico Deputy Director and Manager for this project and, will work in close partnership with his/her counterpart, Health Communications Specialist based out of HQ. The Health Communications Specialist will serve in a 9-month term position to support the development of technical and behavior change communication health messaging to support healthcare providers working with vulnerable populations including communities of color, undocumented individuals and groups experiencing or at high risk for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Duties shall focus on keeping up to date with current COVID-19 vaccine health messaging, developing content for communication materials for a health worker audience and moderating an online community of practice. Key responsibilities include coordinating across teams for successful achievement of program goals. 

The Reinforcing COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence project is funded through the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and seeks to build and reinforce COVID-19 vaccine confidence among healthcare personnel in the safety net sector, and in turn the patients they serve. Healthcare personnel were among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccines because of their essential role in fighting the pandemic and their increased risk of infection and further spread among their patients. Healthcare personnel also play a critical role in promoting confidence among the population at large as wider distribution of vaccines become available. To reinforce confidence among healthcare personnel, and in turn the patients they serve, this project will work with our network of partners to implement a number of informational, marketing, social media, networking, and other activities.  

Based on Americares ongoing COVID-19 response efforts and the needs of our safety net partners surrounding vaccine confidence, the Health Communications Specialist will contribute to efforts to achieve: improved territorial safety net clinic and health center information management and coordination; information and feedback sharing to the CDC, and; general COVID-19 vaccine information dissemination and awareness raising. 

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

-Work with the Infection Control Technical Advisor and relevant stakeholders in the design and development of COVID-19 informational materials to ensure accurate, up to date, consistent messaging for health workers. 

-Provide health communication support to create integrated public health messages and content for multiple audiences. 

-Monitor, facilitate, and coordinate production and distribution of communication and health informational resources. 

-Moderate an online community of practice for COVID-19 vaccine information, monitor feedback on the online platform, cataloguing emerging issues of importance and analyzing priority issues. 

-Ensure communication activities are based on accepted principles, methods, and best practices. 

-Research, synthesize and share evidence especially from national authorities, CDC etc.  

-Facilitate and/or support educational webinars over zoom, including scheduling, promotion, attendance and follow up after completion 

-Work collaboratively with cross-departmental teams in Puerto Rico and Stamford, including Marketing/Communications, Technical Unit, PR Managers, US Programs and Monitoring/Evaluation departments; 

-Contribute to project calendar and important deadlines, and documentation needs; 

-Document and follow up on important action items and decisions from meetings; 

-Review pertinent correspondence and communications daily to remain current on project details; 

-Participate in project related meetings. 

-Work with the Marketing/Communications teams on outreach and information dissemination effort; 

-Other duties as assigned 

 

QUALIFICATIONS: 

-Bachelor’s or master’s degree in public health, health education, communications, journalism, or related fields.  

-Minimum five (5) years of health communication experience required, ideally in a health services, health care delivery or under-resourced context.  

-Previous experience implementing behavior change communication strategies for health and working with learning management systems. 

-Understanding of communication theory and practices as well as digital media strategy and implementation. 

-Understanding of basic risk communication principles (giving clear and simple communication during an emergency, providing actionable information) 

-Genuine commitment to community and public health. 

-Previous experience in an emergency response setting highly desirable 

-Knowledge of a range of public health issues and policies at the local, state, and/or federal level; 

-Strong understanding and experience with safety net organizations; 

-Collaborate closely with PR M&E to capture media/communication metrics and design reporting modules; 

-Experience working collaboratively both with internal teams as well as community stakeholders; 

-Strong attention to detail, high level of organizational skills and demonstrated multi-tasking ability; 

-Intermediate to advance level with Microsoft Office, especially MS PowerPoint and Smart Sheet.  

-Excellent communication (oral and written) and interpersonal skills in Spanish and English. 

-Meticulous with editing content, competence with multimedia platforms, digital software to develop infographics and layout an added advantage though not essential. 

-Must have a valid US Passport or US, Puerto Rico or international driver’s license and permission to work in US. 

Personal Success Factors: 

-Comfortable working in a virtual space with a driven and can-do attitude.  

-Works well independently and can be counted on to get the job done and achieve results; 

-Adaptability and flexibility; 

-Maintains positivity with the myriad of challenges inherent in the work, both from external as well as internal levers. Perseveres under adversity, when faced with challenges;  

-Proven ability to prioritize projects and tasks and complete them on time and with good quality; sound judgment and decision making. 

-Comfortable working in matrixed environment, including matrixed reporting structure with cross-functional, cross-business groups and other work models that do not maintain strict vertical business units or silos