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Bridging
the Language Gap
By
Ioana Patringenaru I January 30, 2006
Interpreter services
at UCSD
Available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Language line telephones available evenings and weekends and for languages other than Spanish. |
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They're there when a loved one has cancer and has run out of options; during a high-risk pregnancy and at the end of a hospital stay.
UCSD's interpreters are called upon every day to help in difficult situations, which become even tougher when patients and their doctors don't speak the same language. The program is now up and running at full speed with three full-time employees covering the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest, the nearby Ambulatory Care Center and Thornton Hospital.
"We do it all," said lead interpreter Leticia Acuņa.
In
the past, translation
services were more informal
and interpreters were
called up only when needed,
said Carmen Ruiz-Vasquez,
a social worker who supervises
the full-time interpreters.
Under the new program,
employees work full time,
get more training, more
support and more supervision.
Ruiz-Vasquez said the
new program already has
helped improve services.
The new hires aren't just
bilingual, they're trained
and know more about medical
terminology, she said.
Silvia Gonzales has been working as an interpreter at the UCSD Medical Center for three and half years. Maria Lopez, who started in May, has a bachelor's in human development from UCSD. Acuņa, who started work in October, received a certification from the Southern California School of Interpretation.
In spite of all the training, there are difficult moments, Acuņa said. She said she tries very hard not to show emotion in a charged situation. She tries to focus on the words, rather than the emotions they might bring up, she said. But she also said she was about to crack a few times. Once, doctors were telling a woman that they had done everything they could for her husband, to no avail. Another time, doctors recommended placing a long-suffering cancer patient in a hospice because they had exhausted all treatment options.
"Because, basically, they're dying," Acuņa said.
Interpreters rotate every month so they get to know all departments, Ruiz-Vasquez said. They can do consents as well as short and easy translations and can go over discharge instructions, among other things.
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