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North Sound Accountable of Health invierte en la formación de intérpretes médicos

September 12, 2022 by Natalie Leave a Comment

El año pasado, North Sound Accountable Community of Health (North Sound ACH) desarrolló una encuesta sobre el acceso lingüístico para recopilar datos sobre los idiomas que se hablan en la región de North Sound y comprender mejor cómo apoyar a las organizaciones regionales en proporcionar servicios lingüísticamente y culturalmente apropiados en los servicios sociales y de salud.

Los datos recopilados en la encuesta destacaron oportunidades para aumentar los servicios en idiomas distintos al inglés. En la primavera de 2022, North Sound ACH inició un proyecto piloto para brindar oportunidades de capacitación a personas bilingües y multilingües para incrementar el acceso a la interpretación médica, una necesidad identiﬁcada de la fuerza laboral en North Sound.

Los participantes en esta encuesta son organizaciones asociadas con North Sound ACH, incluidas organizaciones comunitarias que prestan servicios a comunidades y naciones tribales en los condados de Whatcom, Skagit e Island.

La encuesta mostró que los principales idiomas para solicitar un intérprete son: español (95%), ruso (64%) y vietnamita (24%). La encuesta también informó sobre la gran necesidad de intérpretes para las personas que hablan lenguas indígenas, como el mixteco alto y el mixteco bajo, lo cual es especialmente difícil encontrar intérpretes locales con estos idiomas particulares de manera oportuna.

North Sound ACH ofreció becas para una clase de capacitación en Whatcom Community College en el trimestre de primavera de 2022; 12 estudiantes bilingües y trilingües se inscribieron en el curso de Fundamentos de Interpretacion Medica, provenientes de los condados de Skagit, Island, Snohomish y Whatcom. De los 12 estudiantes, 11 completaron la capacitación y ahora son elegibles para tomar el examen para la certiﬁcación nacional en interpretación médica. Los estudiantes que aprueben el examen serán elegibles para ofrecer interpretación médica a hablantes de mixteco, español y coreano.

Hay una diferencia entre un intérprete y un empleado bilingüe.

Rebeca Sixto era una de las alumnas, bilingüe (español e inglés), que al igual que muchos niños inmigrantes y de primera generación, ella ha estado interpretando de manera informal para su familia y miembros de la comunidad durante años, y a menudo se le pedía que ayudara a traducir o interpretar en sus lugares de trabajo. “A veces se siente como, oh Dios mío, tengo todo este trabajo que hacer,” reﬁriéndose a su experiencia al tener que traducir mientras estaba en el trabajo, pero “lo estoy haciendo para las personas que lo necesitan.” Ella menciono que siempre ha sido el tipo de persona que ayuda a las personas necesitadas. Después de tomar la clase, Rebeca dijo que aprendió que hay reglas a seguir para asegurarse de que está interpretando correctamente, especialmente en un entorno médico. Los estudiantes aprendieron sobre los estándares legales y éticos para la interpretación.

La compañera de estudios Julieta García Suárez dijo que descubrió que los empleadores a menudo quieren personas bilingües, pero no siempre se ofrece una compensación adicional por sus habilidades. “Hay una diferencia entre un intérprete y un empleado bilingüe,” dijo Julieta.

Todos los estudiantes han visto una gran necesidad de intérpretes, y muchos están motivados para tomar el examen estatal para obtener la certiﬁcación, no solo para recibir una compensación adecuada por sus habilidades, sino porque se necesitan intérpretes locales, como se demuestra en la encuesta realizada por North Sound ACH. Muchos de los estudiantes compartieron historias de ser jóvenes e interpretar para sus padres en las citas médicas, o ser la persona a quien acudir para ayudar a los pacientes de habla hispana que vienes a las clínicas donde se trabaja, o incluso si la persona necesitaba ayuda con el papeleo escolar de sus hijos. Tener intérpretes locales también genera conﬁanza en los miembros de la comunidad Latine, dijo Sixto.

North Sound ACH actualmente está buscando sitios de pasantías para los recién graduados de su programa de Interpretación Médica. A través de esta pasantía, los estudiantes practicarán sus habilidades de comunicación, traducción e interpretación, se familiarizarán con el entorno de atención médica y ganarán conﬁanza para brindar servicios de excelencia a sus clientes.

Para aquellos que ya trabajan en el campo de la atención médica, tener una certiﬁcación mejorará su capacidad para servir a sus comunidades, reducirá las barreras para los servicios de interpretación dentro de sus organizaciones y será reconocido y compense justamente por el trabajo.

Para aquellos sin experiencia en el campo de la atención médica, esta capacitación y certiﬁcación podría ser el comienzo de una carrera en la industria de la atención médica, ya que el graduado estará equipado para trabajar en organizaciones que requieren interpretación y traducción médica para sus clientes.

En 2023, North Sound ACH continuará liderando esfuerzos con socios de la comunidad para expandir el programa de certiﬁcación e interpretación médica a personas que hablan otros idiomas identiﬁcados en la encuesta de acceso lingüístico.

Las organizaciones que estén interesadas en recibir pasantes o aprender más sobre este proyecto pueden contactarnos en team@northsoundach.org.

Rocio Castillo-Foell, Directora de Participación Comunitaria y Promoción de la Salud habla virtualmente a los participantes del programa de intérpretes. Foto por Gabriela Cardona / North Sound ACH

North Sound Accountable Community of Health invests in training medical interpreters

September 12, 2022 by Megan Stephenson Leave a Comment

Last year, North Sound Accountable Community of Health (North Sound ACH) developed a Language Access Survey (LAS) to collect data on languages spoken in the North Sound region, and to better understand how to support partner organizations in providing culturally- and linguistically-appropriate language services in healthcare and social services.

The data collected from the LAS highlighted opportunities to increase non-English language services. In spring 2022, North Sound ACH initiated a pilot project to provide training opportunities to bilingual and multilingual individuals to explore medical interpreting, an identified workforce need in the North Sound.

The participants in the LAS are North Sound ACH partner organizations, including community grass-roots organizations serving communities and Tribal nations in Whatcom, Skagit, and Island counties.

The survey showed that the top languages to request an interpreter are: Spanish (95%), Russian (64%), and Vietnamese (24%). The survey also reported the high need for interpreters for Central American Indigenous languages, such as Mixteco Alto and Mixteco Bajo, which is especially challenging to find local interpreters for those languages in a timely manner.

North Sound ACH offered scholarships for a training class at Whatcom Community College in Spring Quarter 2022; 12 bi- and trilingual students enrolled in Foundations of Medical Interpreting, coming from Skagit, Island, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties, speaking Mixteco, Spanish, and Korean. Of the 12 students, 11 completed the training and are now eligible to take the exam towards certification in medical interpreting.

There’s a difference between an interpreter and a bilingual employee.”

Rebeca Sixto was one of the students, a bilingual speaker of Spanish and English. Like many immigrant and first-generation children, she has informally been interpreting for her family and community members for years, and was often asked to help translate or interpret at her workplaces. “Sometimes it feels like, oh my gosh I have all this work to do,” she said of being asked to translate while at work, but “I’m doing it for the people that need it.” She said she’s always been the type of person to help people in need. After taking the class, she said she learned there are regulations to follow, to ensure you are interpreting correctly, especially in a medical setting. The students learned about legal and ethical standards for interpreting.

Fellow student Julieta Garcia Suarez said she found that employers often want bilingual speakers, but it didn’t always equate to extra compensation for her skills. “There’s a difference between an interpreter and a bilingual employee,” she said.

The students have all seen a great need for interpreters, and many are motivated to take the state exam to become certified – not just to be appropriately compensated for their skills, but because local interpreters are needed, as demonstrated in the LAS. Many of the students shared stories of being young and interpreting for their parents at medical appointments, or being the “go-to” person for Spanish-speaking patients when working at clinics, even if the person needed help with their children’s school paperwork. Having local interpreters also builds trust in Latinx community members, Sixto said.

North Sound ACH is currently looking for internship sites for the recent graduates of its Medical Interpretation program. Through this internship, the students will practice their communication, translation, and interpretation skills, become familiar with the healthcare environment, and gain confidence to provide excellent services to their clients.

For those already working in the healthcare field, having a certification will enhance their ability to serve their communities, reduce barriers to interpretation services within their organizations, and be recognized and better remunerated for the work.

For those with no experience in the healthcare field, this training and certification might be the beginning of a career in the healthcare industry, as the graduate will be equipped to work at organizations that require medical interpretation and translation for their clients.

In 2023, North Sound ACH will continue to lead efforts with community partners to expand the medical interpretation and certification program to individuals who speak other languages identified in the Language Access Survey.

Organizations that are interested in hosting interns or learning more about this project can contact us at team@northsoundach.org.

from left to right: Veronica Sanchez, Cristina Morales, Rebeca
Sixto, Jhovana Sanchez, Julieta Garcia Suarez; sitting, Marco Morales. Photo by Gabriela Cardona / North
Sound ACH

Monkeypox (MPV) public health response, stigma resources

September 2, 2022 by North Sound ACH staff Leave a Comment

As of September 1, 2022, there are 450 total cases of monkeypox virus (MPV) in Washington state. In our region, Snohomish has 15, Whatcom has 1, and Island has 1.

North Sound ACH staff Heather McGuinness (Public Health Liaison) and Michaela Vendiola (Tribal & Community Liaison) have compiled a list of Tribal, state, county and other public health resources, as well as anti-stigma literature.

You can also call 1-833-829-HELP for answers about MPV risk factors, vaccine information, testing and treatment, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and observed state holidays. In addition to calling 1-833-829-HELP, callers can continue to dial 1-800-525-0127 and press # to be transferred to a Washington 211 specialist. Language assistance is available in 240 languages. Call takers will not be able to schedule vaccine appointments.

The best thing you can do to protect yourself against MPV is to know the risks and take precautions. Despite misinformation, anyone who has close contact with a person with an infectious rash can get MPV; it is not exclusive to any community. MPV can also spread through touching objects, fabrics and surfaces that have been used by someone with MPV, and contact with respiratory droplets during prolonged face-to-face contact. If you have an unexplained rash, cover it, avoid skin-to-skin contact with others, and see a health care provider. They will determine what testing and treatment may be available.

View our North Sound MPV resource spreadsheet, and send us your suggestions to include in this spreadsheet by emailing Team@NorthSoundACH.org.

Intersections

July 29, 2022 by Liz Baxter Leave a Comment

When I became an adult, I could not get a credit card unless my father or (if I had) a husband to act as co-signer. I could not have had a jury of my peers because not all states allowed women to serve on juries. There was no protection for women who were raped by their spouses as there is today.

Laws and policies evolve – not just to ‘match the current prevailing opinions’ – but to recognize that our system of laws are imperfect and don’t always support and protect everyone in the same way. It takes years of advocacy to make the laws read the way they should in a truly democratic society. It does not happen by accident; it happens with intent.

Most laws were written at a time when women, Tribes, immigrants, and people of color were not considered to be full human beings with full rights under the law. There was an underlying presumption – sometimes explicitly stated, and other times implied – to support and maintain those in power to stay in decision-making positions and protect us from others who were considered inferior. This ironically also meant that those in power were in wealth-generating positions.

I mention all this because we often think that injustices were/are so far ‘in the past’ and that the arguments today are somehow easier or not as important.

We all stand on the shoulders of someone who came before us, and we should all be determined to leave this world a better place for future generations – that is the work of creating new legacies.

So, at risk of being mildly political, it matters who that next judge is, who sits on school and community college boards, who determines water quality, transportation routes and utility/broadband access. We spend so much time on statewide and national candidate races, we might forget that decisions that impact our lives are often much closer at hand.

Here in Whatcom County, ballots are due on August 1. Please vote, and talk to your families, including teenagers and young adults about running for office, even if it is for a city or community role. One way to change the course of our future is to change who is making decisions on our behalf.

I was on a national policy call recently about health system transformation and equity, when several men spoke to the need to include gender equity in racial equity dialogs this year because of the backward slides they were seeing in their own states around women, decision-making autonomy, rights, and access to care and services.

If we want to create a region where all people feel that they belong, where we address systemic and structural barriers to inequity, and leave new legacies for the future, 2022 provides lots of examples for how we can move forward, without giving states the power and authority to diminish the rights of women, to control what happens within our own bodies, or to control how we protect the environment, waterways, air quality, etc.

We are imperfect. We are working to dismantle long held beliefs and structures. And, I have more faith in what we can accomplish when I look at the groups of individuals and organizations coming together to do this tough work.

Thank you, as always.

Why Do We Focus on Equity?

June 28, 2022 by Liz Baxter Leave a Comment

Since 2018, when we first started contracting with clinical and community providers, we have asked for twice-yearly updates reporting on progress, challenges and how to mitigate them, and what aspects of innovative work can be sustained without Medicaid Transformation Project dollars. The past two years have been challenging for staff and the people they serve.

Every six months one partner or another will raise the question of why we focus so much on equity when we could be looking for administrative or legislative fixes for reimbursement or access issues. I get an email from one of my staff, each reporting period, asking “what should I say to this partner in response?” I usually have a long-winded answer, but the crux of the matter is this – we cannot create a culture of belonging without advancing our understanding of communities around us, their history, and the structural barriers that have disadvantaged them over decades or centuries. We cannot work in true partnership to co-design or co-create new initiatives or projects unless we understand who gets left behind by common ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches.

The last couple of months have been brutal. People are struggling, suffering, and dying – violence, extreme heat and flooding, and limited or no access to basic needs. Our region’s two northern counties still have thousands who are displaced by flooding in the fall, looking for permanent housing and that is on top of those who were looking for housing already. This impacts all of us, which is why we all have to understand and see our roles in what happens next.

We have the contradictions of close to 20 mass shootings over Memorial Day weekend, coupled with the knowledge that Congress has been deadlocked on gun legislation for close to 30 years. While they are stymied, children were being killed on the streets and in school buildings. I wonder if Congress would be deadlocked if they were debating the best ways to nourish, feed, and educate children. I want to believe that well-intentioned, smart people represent us in Congress and I want to help them focus on the questions and issues that will make communities safer and healthier, and allow people to thrive.

I collect photos of my family – we are a diverse collection of people connected by love. Perhaps for that reason, I also am moved by images that others create and share during these tough times and I want to share some with you. Not because I am trying to influence your point of view or politics, but because they are all asking questions that point to what I call ‘the creative tension’ in most decisions. Rarely is there a decision made where one solution benefits everyone; typically the choice made will advantage some and might disadvantage others, especially if we aren’t paying close attention to intended and unintended impacts.

I know that I gravitate toward images that affirm my viewpoint, but sometimes they challenge my thinking too, which I appreciate. I would also appreciate you sharing images or thoughts that have moved you and that you’d like to share. North Sound ACH has tried to stay in a nonpartisan space, which I also appreciate, but addressing gun violence and the public’s safety is a debate that will occur in many settings over the coming years. I have to believe that we will come out on the other side with a brighter future ahead, but it won’t happen if we stay within a debate designed by lobbyists from any side. We need to come at this as community members who actually care about the people in our communities – all the people, leaving no one behind. I hope you will join in those dialogues with an open heart and an understanding of our history of laws and policies that have left legacies of structural and systemic exclusion in many communities.

We emphasize equity so that our team, board, and partners understand the past and present, and find ways together to make the North Sound region a place where all people feel a sense of belonging and find ways to thrive, leaving no one left behind. We believe we can craft new legacies to leave for future generations.

Washington Post Article to Link: More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine.

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