When it comes to communicating with the police, citizens with hearing difficulty frequently have a hard time feeling heard.
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When it comes to communicating with the police, citizens with hearing difficulty frequently have a hard time feeling heard.
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“This is community policing on steroids.”
These were the words of Nassau County (NY) Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder on Wednesday when he announced the implementation of the LanguageLine InSight Video Interpreting application in patrol vehicles.
The interpretation service was already available in police precincts, headquarters, and other buildings. The addition of the interpreting application to officers’ cell phones allows them to communicate on-demand with residents using a video interpreter in 36 languages (including American Sign Language), as well as 240 languages in audio-only.
“It’s one way that we’re proving that every single person in Nassau County – in our growingly diverse county – will be respected and be protected,” County Executive Laura Curran said.
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Alex Gonzalez is a registered nurse in the oncology unit at Salinas Valley Memorial Health System. SVMH is a public hospital that provides quality health services to patients of all ages throughout Monterey County, an agricultural hub where a quarter of the overall population are non-citizens and more than 40 percent are native Spanish speakers.
It’s no wonder that when Gonzalez was trained on LanguageLine InSight, a video-interpreting solution that delivers on-demand access to professional linguists in 36 languages at the touch of a button, he thought the technology was heaven-sent.
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Like physicians, pharmacies play an important role in empowering patients to take charge of their health
Unfortunately, language barriers often make it more difficult for non-English-speaking customers to ask important questions about their medication, take it as directed, and be aware of potential side effects.
As pharmacies serve increasingly diverse populations, language access is becoming more important than ever.
The Center for Immigration Studies reports that one in five Americans (65 million people) speaks a language other than English at home. Just over of 40 percent of these individuals is considered Limited English Proficient (LEP), meaning they speak English “less than very well” and are entitled to assistance. This LEP group constitutes about nine percent of the total U.S. population.
Language barriers can pose serious health risks to LEP customers. Research has shown that those with little knowledge of English often do not have a good understanding of their medication instructions.
Here are a few ways language access can help pharmacists empower their customers.
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A non-English-speaking mother-to-be arrives at a hospital to give birth, unaware that her pregnancy is high-risk. The clinic where she had her pre-natal appointments did not use professional interpreters. Instead the clinic relied on the serious news being conveyed by the woman’s sister-in-law, who did not have the heart to explain the diagnosis. The woman is told at the hospital that her child will not make it.
A 9-year-old Vietnamese girl arrives at the emergency room with what appears to be a severe stomach flu. The girls’ parents do not speak English. Instead of using a professional interpreter, hospital staff instead speaks only to the girl and her 16-year-old brother about her prescription, sending them home with instructions that the girl should return if she experiences specific side effects. The girl ends up having a negative reaction to the drug. She suffers a heart attack and dies.
These real-life outcomes seem as if they should have happened in days gone by. Sadly, these events took place recently. Even worse, they are not uncommon despite readily available on-demand language services.
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The imminent landfall of Hurricane Florence tells us that we are in the midst of a time of year that has become known as “hurricane season.” Sadly, it is also a period when we are reminded that the needs of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing are sometimes minimized and even forgotten during an emergency.
Approximately 35 million Americans are hearing impaired. It has been well documented that training designed to help communicate with this community during a disaster is rare, and frequently lacks standardization or integration into a formal emergency management plan.
All too often, crucial information is delivered infrequently, late, and is often missing critical facts – if it is delivered at all. These dangerous communication gaps leave the Deaf and Hard of Hearing with an incomplete understanding of what is happening, when it will happen, and what steps they are expected to take.
What can your community do to better communicate with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing when faced with an emergency?
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Most of Houston is located on the gulf coastal plain. A year ago, Hurricane Harvey inundated America’s fourth-largest city with over 50 inches of rain and impacted more than 300,000 housing units. More homes flooded in Houston during Hurricane Harvey than in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. It was the third year in a row that Houston experienced severe flooding.
Accordingly, Houston placed fifth on a recent list of the 10 riskiest American cities for natural disasters. Two other Texas cities, Austin (second) and Dallas (fourth), also made the list.
The City of Houston has been proactive in preparing for natural disasters. Its Public Health Emergency Preparedness Team recently participated in the annual City of Houston Evacuation Hub Exercise. The Houston Health Department recently posted this video depicting the exercise.
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Yampa Valley Medical Center (YVMC) in Steamboat Springs, CO, is a 39-bed acute-care hospital that provides sophisticated medical services to more than 51,000 outpatients annually. Nestled in the Rocky Mountains, the region is a popular vacation destination, which adds to the challenge of serving the rural area’s diverse language needs.
“We have 16 different languages used in 2017 at the hospital,” said Erica Gallagher, manager of language services at Yampa Valley Medical Center. “Our highest frequency languages are Spanish, Vietnamese, and Mandarin.
“When you first encounter someone that speaks a language other than the one you speak, you may feel like you can communicate decently, and that’s OK. But the more you have experience with it, you come to realize that, even if one word is misinterpreted, the outcome could be fatal or at the very least, have really negative consequences for the patient.”
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The face of retail consumers in the United States is changing. Multicultural consumers – including Asian, Hispanic and mixed-race individuals – are the fastest-growing population group in the U.S., with 120 million strong and increasing each year, according to Nielsen research.
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For tens of thousands of people, 2017 was a year of devastation.
First it was floods: residents in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and other southern states faced catastrophic damage. Hurricane Harvey alone claimed at least 48 lives and caused an estimated $190 billion in damage. Then it was fire. Wildfires in Northern and Southern California forced thousands of residents to evacuate their homes as the governor twice declared a state of emergency.
When you factor in severe storms, cyclones, and other weather-related events, there were 15 that claimed more than 320 lives as of October. Each disaster cost $1 billion or more. Many of those affected were limited English proficient, deaf, or hard-of-hearing and required language services.Insurance companies know disaster is inevitable.
Having a language service provider on hand is a simple step they can take to ensure they are prepared to assist their policyholders and provide a great customer experience, regardless of language need.
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