HEALING WORDS INTERPRETERS AT HOSPITALS ARE AT THE FOREFRONT OF EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CARE FOR MINORITIES.Byline: Melanie Rome Correspondent Martha Castro knew the doctors were trying to relay vital information about her infant daughter, whose tiny body regularly convulsed with violent seizures. But without an interpreter, the Spanish-speaking woman could only guess at the meaning behind the doctors' words. ``I suffered a lot more because I wasn't understanding anything,'' the San Gabriel San Gabriel (săn gā`brēəl), city (1990 pop. 37,120), Los Angeles co., SW Calif.; inc. 1913. Fabric, furniture, paper products, tools, and aircraft parts are manufactured. woman said. Now Castro, whose daughter is still undergoing treatment for her illness, doesn't take any chances. She relies on an interpreter when she sees the doctor for her own heart condition. ``I used to come home with a lot of questions, and now I come home knowing exactly what I want to know.'' Castro is one of thousands of medical patients in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, who rely on interpreters every day to understand doctors' orders and medical prescriptions A medical prescription (℞) is an order (often in written form) by a qualified health care professional to a pharmacist or other therapist for a treatment to be provided to their patient. . Under federal law, hospitals and other health-care facilities are required to provide language interpreters for those who need such services. Many hospitals provide their own interpreters or contract with outside agencies, such as PALS for Health, a nonprofit, community-based interpretation and translation program established in 1993. But efforts are under way in California, and across the nation, to further minimize health-care disparities among ethnic and racial minorities. The state Legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions: continuing education or adult education Any form of learning provided for adults. In the U.S. the University of Wisconsin was the first academic institution to offer such programs (1904). courses in cultural awareness and sensitivity. State Assemblyman as·sem·bly·man n. A man who is a member of a legislative assembly. assemblyman Noun pl -men a member of a legislative assembly Noun 1. Joe Coto Assemblymember Joe Coto (D- San Jose) is currently serving his second term in the California Assembly. His agenda in the Legislature continues to focus on making California’s schools the best in the nation. , D-San Jose, introduced the bill to improve the quality of health care for California's diverse population and encourage physicians to be more sensitive and aware of racial, ethnic and gender-based disparities in medical treatment. The California Medical Association, which represents 35,000 physicians, opposes the bill. ``It's micromanaging the education and office practice of physicians,'' says Peter M. Warren, a spokesman for the organization. ``If you're going to entrust physicians with life-and-death decisions in health care and operating rooms operating room n. Abbr. OR A room equipped for performing surgical operations. , we ought to trust them to keep up with their practice, with medicine and science and what they need to provide health care to their clients.'' Currently, California's doctors can learn a foreign language and cultural beliefs under a voluntary program established by a state law called the Cultural and Linguistic Competency of Physicians Act of 2003. As Coto's bill works its way through the state Capitol, local hospitals are devising their own strategies to cope with the cultural and linguistic needs of their patients. Language interpreters are a vital part of those services. Walk around the campus of the Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney R. Garfield. Medical Center in Panorama City and you will find that most signs are in English and Spanish. Soon, they will feature instructions in Armenian, Thai and other languages spoken by the hospital's increasingly diverse patient population, says Mei Ling Mei Ling is a female Chinese given name. People
In response to the different languages spoken by patients, Kaiser has also posted signs throughout its campus advertising the availability of interpreters. Patients' language preferences are also identified and placed in their medical records. If an interpreter is needed, Kaiser provides translation services in two ways. One is a ``person-to-person'' service that provides interpreter services, on an on-call basis, through a Kaiser staff member who has passed a proficiency test proficiency test n → prueba de capacitación in the language. (Currently, the Panorama City center has more than 100 such interpreters on site. Each department maintains a list of interpreters, which is updated quarterly.) The hospital also contracts with Language Line Services, a company that provides interpreters via telephone. This service provides the center with interpreters in 140 different languages. But as Kaiser's Panorama City Medical Center spokesman Dan Rogan points out, ``Culturally competent care is so much more than just the language.'' To that end, the hospital supports an extensive physician and staff education program that focuses on the linguistic and cultural needs of patients. Education for the center's physicians and staff is on a continuing basis and includes handbooks and CD-ROMs developed by Kaiser that discuss cultural differences among populations such as Latinos, Asians, African- Americans and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender groups. Spanish-language classes are offered to the center's health-care providers and a monthly ``Lunch and Learn'' lecture series for staff at the Panorama City medical center includes topics such as ``Effective Communication With the Spanish-speaking Patient'' and ``Effective Interpreting.'' All Kaiser facilities, including the Panorama City campus, also have a Cultural Diversity Council, which includes the center's medical director, that meets monthly to ensure continued support for and promotion of diversity awareness. Like Kaiser's Panorama City hospital, UCLA Medical Center UCLA Medical Center is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. It is rated as one of the top three hospitals in the United States and is the top hospital on the West Coast according to US News & World Report. provides its own interpreters. The Westwood hospital employs four full-time staff interpreters; three fluent in Spanish and one in American Sign Language American Sign Language n. The primary sign language used by deaf and hearing-impaired people in the United States and Canada. American Sign Language (ASL), n. . It also has a special program called LINK, which uses pre-med students as interpreters, and it contracts with a telephone interpretation service called Pacific Language Interpreters. Fewer than 2 percent of UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX patients require interpreters, with most of those patients requesting Spanish and American Sign Language, says Tony Padilla, UCLA's director of patient relations and volunteer services. He also oversees the university's Interpreter Services Office. ``The primary goal at UCLA is to match multiple levels of services with a moving demand of patients who need language assistance. We try to ensure that our patients receive care utilizing a language they understand.'' The hospital as a melting pot melting pot America as the home of many races and cultures. [Am. Pop. Culture: Misc.] See : America The top 10 languages spoken at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City are: 1. English 2. Spanish 3. Armenian 4. Thai 5. Farsi 6. Vietnamese 7. Korean 8. Tagalog 9. Russian 10. Arabic CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) Healthy discussions Interpreters key to hospitals' efforts to reduct ethnic disparities in care (2) Doris Gomez, center, interprets as Dr. Marc Hoffman examines Sandra Sermeno at Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City. The facility has more than 100 interpreters on site. Michael Owen
Box: The hospital as a melting pot (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion