Workshops
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Workshop
B-3: Language Services Agencies: a community approach to interpreter services
Peer-to-peer practice advancement session
Many health providers are investing millions of dollars annually in interpreter
programs. Although interpreter programs are widespread, these programs
often serve only one health provider, are expensive and often inefficient.
Due to high costs, developing interpreter programs are only feasible for
large organizations or those serving large numbers of limited English
speaking patients. Most health organizations and physician practices do
not have the critical mass of patients or resources for these institution
based approaches to be affordable.
Several forces are placing pressure on providers to develop more effective
solutions to address language barriers. The limited English speaking population
is rapidly growing. Providers are caring for patients that speak many
different languages. Communication barriers lead to increased risk of
poor outcomes. Patients unable to speak English need language services
across the spectrum of health services. This means that language services
need to be available at multiple points within health care facilities
(such as registration, clinical care, discharge planning) and across multiple
independent health providers (for example private practices, hospitals,
pharmacists). On the regulatory side, federal and many state law prohibits
discrimination due to national origin.
Providers burdened with steady economic pressures and time constraints,
need solutions that are easily accessible. To be adopted, solutions need
to be readily available and reach patients wherever they seek care. Solutions
need to be value-added or essential to standard of care, and above all
affordable. To increase access to interpreters, some health providers
are using a community approach to providing interpreter services. These
programs work to create a pool of interpreters, available to all local
health organizations at costs driven by their use. Creating a bank of
interpreters enables the health community to capture economies of scale
and reduce the incremental cost of these services.
This session includes several organizations, at different stages of
development, implementing an agency model approach to deploy trained and
supervised interpreters to multiple health care sites. In this question
and answer discussion session led by a moderator, organizations will discuss
their approaches, offering participants an opportunity to gain information
regarding different ways to develop interpreter services. Participants
in the session will receive materials to compare and contrast the organizational
profile of the speakers and to learn the rationale and practices that
are contributing to the rapid growth of Language Services Agencies.
Facilitator:
Melinda Paras is an independent consultant, leading the implementation
of new language access solutions in hospital settings. She was the past
Director of Communications, Policy and Planning for the Alameda County
Medical Center (ACMC), an independent hospital authority operating safety-net
medical facilities in Alameda County. Ms. Paras oversaw the strategic
planning and facilities planning efforts of ACMC, including facilities
planning and the oversight of the new Critical Care Building project of
the ACMC. She led the strategic planning activities of the ACMC Board
of Trustees, policy and legislative activities and all internal and external
communications of the Medical Center. Ms. Paras was previously the Executive
Director of Health Access, a California health policy and advocacy organization.
She was also the former President of the ACMC Board of Trustees and a
former San Francisco Health Commissioner.
Melinda Paras
Consultant
Paras & Associates
P.O. Box 6023
Albany, CA 94706
Tel: (510) 812-5336
Fax: (510) 558-8980
mparas@jps.net
Panelists:
Sarah C. Cunningham, as the first Executive Director of the Central
Nebraska Area Health Education Center (CN-AHEC), provides leadership to
bring educators, health care professionals, public health department personnel,
and community leaders together in a 38 rural county area to insure health
care is available and will continue to be available in the future within
Central Nebraska. Dr. Cunningham has been instrumental in the creation
of policies and procedures that provide students the ability to receive
coursework from a variety of institutions within their rural community.
She believes the use of technological advances in rural communities will
allow rural areas to remain a quality alternative place to live. Dr. Cunningham
is a volunteer adjunct assistant professor in Family Medicine at the University
of Nebraska Medical Center. She is a past president of the Nebraska Distance
Learning Association and is a member of the Nebraska Information Technology
Commission Telehealth Committee.
Sarah C. Cunningham, PhD
Hablamos Juntos – Principal Investigator
Executive Director
Central Nebraska AHEC
3180 West Highway 34
Grand Island, NE 68801
Tel: (308) 385-5074
Fax: (308) 385-6414
sarah@cn-ahec.org
Kathleen K. Diamond has been involved professionally with foreign
language studies and Interlingual communication since 1968. She earned
a Master's degree in 16th century French literature from the University
of Florida in Gainesville. In 1979, she founded Language Learning Enterprises,
Inc. (LLE), a full-service language company in Washington, D.C. with a
mission to provide excellence in foreign languages. As LLE's CEO, Ms.
Diamond has led the company's expansion into the telephonic interpretation
arena through the creation of LLE-LINK®, a nationwide service which
gives clients immediate access to LLE's interpreters over the telephone.
She has been honored with the Capital Area Chapter, NAWBO award “Women
in Business Advocate of the Year” 1998. In May 1999, she received
the FCEM Lifetime Achievement Award for Woman Entrepreneur of the World
in Brussels. She served on the Board of Directors of the Center for Women’s
Business Research and the Association of Language Companies (ALC), founded
in 2002, appointed Ms. Diamond to be Chair of its Advocacy Committee.
Kathleen K. Diamond, MA
President and CEO
Language Learning Enterprises - Language Services
1627 K Street NW, Suite 610
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-0444 ext. 222
Fax: (202) 785-5584
kkdiamond@lle-inc.com
Frederick D. Hobby has spent the last twenty-six years in hospital
administration. The last ten years, he has served the Greenville Hospital
System as the Administrator of Clinical Services, Administrator of Guest
and Patient Services, Vice President for Service Excellence and currently
serves as the Chief Diversity Officer. Mr. Hobby wrote the GHS plan for
Managing Diversity in 1997 and has seen the program develop into a national
benchmark for best practices in serving diverse patient populations. As
the first of its kind in the State of South Carolina, and one of the first
in the Southeast, his programs have been highlighted in the American Hospital
Association’s Trustee Magazine, The Institute for Diversity
in Healthcare’s publication, Bridges, and he was the cover
story in the January 2002 issue of Health Leaders Magazine. In
addition to managing GHS’ Diversity Department, he is Administrator
of the hospital’s Department of Interpretation and Translation Services.
Mr. Hobby has been appointed by the current governor to the South Carolina
State Health Planning Committee. He currently serves on the American Hospital
Association’s Leadership Circle on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic
Disparities in Healthcare. He has lectured across the country in 1997
as part of the faculty of the prestigious Snowmass Institute. He received
the National Association of Health Services Executive’s “Senior
Executive of the Year Award” in 1999. Mr. Hobby has presented “Managing
Diversity for Patient and Employee Satisfaction” at Press Ganey national
Conference in 2002 and “Managing Diversity for Organizational Performance”
at the Snowmass Institute in 2003. Mr. Hobby is married to Patricia-King
Hobby and they have three children: Ashley, and twins, Brian and Ryan.
Frederick D. Hobby, MA
Hablamos Juntos – Principal Investigator
Administrator and Chief Diversity Officer
Greenville Hospital System
701 Grove Road
Greenville, SC 29605
Tel: (864) 455-7115
Fax: (864) 455-6465
fhobby@ghs.org
David Jones has been involved in multi-lingual communication for
more than 15 years. Mr. Jones’ background includes program development
and implementation for call centers, governmental services including health-related
programming, and refugee resettlement. Mr. Jones has a background founded
in innovative approaches to project development. Presently, he manages
the Interpretation Services Department for Mercy Medical Center in Des
Moines, Iowa. The program has grown since its inception to include 11
languages on staff. The department provides interpreting service and training
not only for Mercy’s facilities, but for other community organizations
as well. Mr. Jones participates in various groups and committees that
target healthcare cultural competency, focusing specifically on diversity
related issues and interpreting for a multi-lingual client base.
David Jones, BA
Spanish and International Studies
Manager of Interpretation Services
Mercy Medical Center
1111 6th Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50314
Tel: (515) 643-2865
Fax: (515) 643-5202
djones@mercydesmoines.org
Linda Okahara is the Community Services Director at Asian Health
Services, a community health center predominantly serving low-income,
limited-English speaking Asian immigrant communities in Oakland, California.
Ms. Okahara oversees the Health Education department and the Language
and Cultural Access Program (LCAP). LCAP provides specialized language
services for the health care field including 1) interpreting services
for local health organizations; 2) offerings of the Connecting Worlds
interpreter training programs; 3) written translation; and 4) multilingual
focus group services. Her history in advocating for improved language
access dates back to 1980 when a coalition of community groups registered
a language access complaint with the Office for Civil Rights about the
county public hospital. She served on the community oversight committee
to monitor Highland Hospitals’ compliance agreement with the Office
of Civil Rights. She served on the California Department of Health Services’
Cultural and Linguistic Task Force which defined cultural and linguistic
requirements for Medi-Cal managed care plans. She is a founding member
of National Council on Interpreting in Health Care and California Healthcare
Interpreting Association and served on the CHIA Standards and Certification
Committee.
Linda Okahara
Community Services Director
Language and Cultural Access Program
Asian Health Services
818 Webster Street
Oakland, CA 94607
Tel: (510) 986-1153 ext. 205
Fax: (510) 986-1068
lokahara@ahschc.org
Fausto G. Patiño, a native of Ecuador, is an Epidemiology
and Health Services researcher. He earned his MD and Master of Public
Health (MPH) from the Central University of Ecuador–Quito. He received
medical training in Emergency-Care at Vozandes Hospital, an American Missionary
Teaching Hospital in Quito. Dr. Patiño earned a second MPH (Thomas
Jefferson International Fellowship), a doctorate in Public Health and
postdoctoral training in Health Services Research at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Patiño has extensive experience in public
health activities, program evaluation and community empowerment through
his work with nonprofit organizations, governments, and international
agencies in Ecuador and the United States. Dr. Patiño is the co-director
of the Alabama Alliance for Latino Health and founding member of the Hispanic
Interest Coalition of Alabama and Alabama Latin American Association.
Fausto G. Patiño, MD, MPH, DrPH
Principal Investigator/Project Director
Director of Research and Evaluation
En Espanol
3605 Lorna Ridge Drive, Suite 100
Birmingham, AL 35216
Tel: (205) 822-3848 ext. 304
Fax: (205) 822-3889
fpatino@enespanol.org
Patricia Patrón is the Training and Evaluation Specialist
of the Cross-Cultural Medical Interpreter Services program at the Family
HealthCare Center. She has a degree in Health Care Administration. Ms.
Patrón has worked with the interpreter program for six months.
Her primary responsibilities include designing a continuing education
curriculum for interpreters, developing standard minimum qualifications
for interpreters in the program, implementing hiring standards and an
orientation program for new interpreters, updating policies and procedures
and researching funding options for the program.
Patricia Patrón
Training and Evaluation Specialist
Cross-Cultural Medical Interpreter Service
Family HealthCare Center
306 4th Street North
Fargo, ND 58102
Tel: (701) 239-2293
Fax: (701) 271-3346
ppatron@famhealthcare.org
Organizational Profiles follow
in the resource material section attached.
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