COVID Vaccine Clinic at Hispanic Center

A free COVID-19 vaccine clinic for residents of South Side Bethlehem and surrounding areas who are 65 and older will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, March 26, at the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley (HCLV). The center is located at 520 E. Fourth Street.

Registration is required to reserve a vaccine. To make a reservation, call 610-868-7800. Vaccines will be administered by appointment only.

The free clinic, sponsored by St. Luke’s, the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley and the Bethlehem NAACP, is part of St. Luke’s multipronged vaccine outreach efforts. The Network, which hosted its first vaccine clinic at the Hispanic Center last month, is collaborating with a variety of groups such as the Greater Shiloh Church in Easton.

This month St. Luke’s translated its Shot-Line into Spanish, facilitating and expediting outreach to Spanish speakers who have yet to register for a COVID vaccine appointment. This unique outbound-dialing system, developed by and exclusively for St. Luke’s, enables those whose preferred language is Spanish to self-schedule their appointments over the phone in less than three minutes.

Here’s how it works: St. Luke’s patients over age 65 who have previously indicated Spanish as their preferred language may receive a call on the phone number listed on their St. Luke’s patient records.  During the call from 1-866-785-8537, an automated voice recording will ask if the patient would like to receive the vaccine.

Additionally, St. Luke’s Shot-Line was recently upgraded to allow users to explore all available time slots, three at a time, as well as to choose from various locations.  This outbound-dialing system eliminates the need for people to call and wait on hold to schedule a vaccine.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for all of our patients who are eligible for the vaccine to get it,” said Shishir Singh, Director of Development, Information Technology. “With Shot-Line, we are able to dial up to 25 people per minute. … It’s a much better user experience – no waiting on hold, no waiting for a call back.  Our only limitation continues to be vaccine availability.”