Encounters Online Magazine
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F E AT U R E
Spanish speakers, but speakers of indigenous languages such as Mixteco,
Zapotec and Triqui, Victor worked ardently to assure language access by
training interpreters in these languages at no cost. He set up a paid internship
program to hire the most promising and interested graduates from the class,
making Natividad Medical Center a core of language access in indigenous
languages. Furthermore, Victor created a program to help medical
professionals to work more effectively with interpreters and to understand
better the indigenous cultures that make up part of the patient population. As
part of this work he has developed effective relationships with indigenous
community leaders and local farm worker groups. Victor has made profound
improvements to language access to healthcare services for the most
underserved population in his community while creating the framework for a
model that is highly replicable. Victor’s work has had tremendous impact on
a vulnerable population.
Milly Valverde Alva
is the Associate Director of Language Services at Ohio
State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. She has worked
over the years to develop a patient navigation curriculum and has worked
vigorously on language access for Limited English Proficient and Deaf
and Hard of Hearing (HoH) patients. She focuses on gathering as many
resources as possible to help colleagues, thus creating a holistic approach
to Language Services. These include the full array of on-site interpreters,
telephonic and video remote interpreting, culture-specific training, and
translated patient education materials. Through her unending dedication,
she helped create a 24/7 Service Line, and a Direct Interpreter Access Line
(DIAL) to help empower LEP patients to connect to hospital resources, and
video phones for Deaf and HoH patients. Milly does not limit her expertise
to her workplace, as she also volunteers statewide as a guest trainer for
interpreters. She is a champion in the truest sense of the word.
For more information about NCIHC and the Language Access Champion
Awards, visit
.
