 The Board of the California Health Care Interpreters Association met at Northern Inyo Hospital to discuss the challenges facing rural hospitals and translators. Shown are: (back row, l-r) CHIA board members Charo Velasquez, Jesus Oliva and local member Katharine Allen; NIH CEO John Halfen; CHIA Executive Director Don Schinske, (front row, l-r) board member Nora Goodfriend-Koven; CHIA President Margarita Bekker; and board members,Tatiana Vizcaino-Stewart, Rosario Nevado and Carmen Castro-Rojas. Photo submitted By Mike Bodine
Register Staff
10-15-2009 Imagine a family from Russia visiting the world-renowned destinations of the Eastern Sierra, when one of the children starts complaining of stomach pains. The child’s condition worsens and the family rushes to Northern Inyo Hospital only to discover no one speaks Russian and the family knows no English. Hand signals and gestures only go so far.
Fortunately for the family, NIH’s Language Services has interpreters and translators – and even though no one speaks Russian, the interpreters have instant access to translators by phone, and soon via video.
This scenario is not so far-fetched according to José García, NIH Language Services manager. In 2008, NIH had to deal with 23 different languages, including Arabic, French, Italian, Vietnamese and even American sign-language.
“People come from all over the world to visit Bishop,” García said, which places a high demand on interpreters at local hospitals, especially for such small communities as Bishop and Mammoth.
This unique dilemma was the focus of a strategic board meeting by the California Health Care Interpreters Association, or CHIA, Oct. 3-4 at NIH. The board consists of members from California, Arizona and Washington, D.C., including two members from the Eastern Sierra – the only two board members representing rural areas.
Margarita Bekker, president of the CHIA and Russian Medical Interpreter at Stanford Medical Center, said via e-mail that the biggest challenge facing rural hospital interpretation demands are geography and, as García hinted at, the “spared demand in some languages.”
He explained that big-city hospitals may have full-time interpreters, covering several languages. But, the need for translators is still not on top of the list for hospital administrators.
Carmen Castro-Rojas, interpreter instructor at San Francisco City College and project director for the Alameda County Coalition on Language Access in Health Care, said via e-mail, “Language access programs development are not a priority neither in the urban areas nor in the rural ones. It takes a lot of effort and energy (and advocacy) to develop the programs and sustain them.”
García, who has been integral in implementing an interpreter program at Mammoth Hospital as well, said he was proud of both efforts.
“What makes the program at both hospitals (NIH and Mammoth) different from others, is that it has been made to fit the needs of a small (rural) hospital, and not only allows compliance with state and federal laws but it places the patient’s communication needs up front, in order to provide culturally competent services,” he said. “Both programs are based on a set of comprehensive policies and procedures to facilitate timely and appropriate services, utilizing the hospital’s human and technological resources to the maximum.”
Northern Inyo Hospital is currently working on implementing a video-conference interpreter service, so long-distance translations can seem face-to-face.
García also explained there is a new urgency to expand interpreter services. Since 2006, new federal and state guidelines have demanded that a health care interpreter be present during doctor examinations and hospital visits for people with Limited English Proficiency, or LEPs.
In the past, family members were often used as translators, but García said these interpreters, while trusted by the patient, usually have little to no experience with medical terminology.
“A patient can decide to use a family member as an interpreter, but another hospital interpreter has to be on site – this protects the patients, the hospitals and the interpreters,” García said.
Castro-Rojas added that legislation is not the only reason for the need for people who can speak to doctors for patients. “There has been an increase of interpreting services due to education, awareness and of course recent legislation. I think that the demand is what creates the need for the supply and in a state like California the immigrant communities have increased the demand of the language services, and specifically interpreting.”
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