Medicine as a Second Language
Veronica Hernandez Translating for Jan Meyer, PNP
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Medicine as a second language
Spanish-speaking interpreters bridge gap between what doctors say and patients hear
By BILL KETTLER
Mail Tribune
Veronica Hernandez knows how it feels to be the one who can’t understand what everyone else is saying. That’s why she chose to become a medical interpreter.
Hernandez came to the United States from Mexico, speaking no English. She remembers shopping for food by looking at pictures on the packages. "I went to my doctor’s appointments without knowing what the doctors were talking about," she recalls. Those memories stuck with the Grants Pass woman long after she learned to speak excellent English. When she heard about a program at Rogue Community College that would train her to be a medical interpreter, she signed up.
"There are times when people need help from someone who has already been there," she said. "This course got my attention because this is how I can help the community."
RCC organized the class after Providence Medford Medical Center recognized a need for better communication between medical practitioners and patients who spoke only Spanish. "People were having to come back for repeat visits because information wasn’t being relayed properly," said Kenton Gould, training services coordinator in RCC’s work-force training division. "Accuracy is very important when a patient is talking with medical staff," says Luis Navarrete, coordinator of Providence’s Programa Hispano. "The medical provider needs to know exactly what the patient is saying, and the patient needs to know exactly what the medical provider is saying."
Navarrete said problems sometimes surfaced when patients tried to use family members as interpreters. Their relatives didn’t necessarily have an adequate medical vocabulary, and they often didn’t understand that conversations in a medical office are private and personal.
"There’s more to medical interpreting than just being fluent in both languages," says Valerie Garza- Collins, an interpreter who came to Southern Oregon from the Portland area to mentor Hernandez and other students. Good interpreters try to become invisible, Garza-Collins said. "We’re just a voice." They also assure patients that their privacy will be protected.
"We tell them ‘Everything you say is going to be private,’ " Hernandez said. "We say ‘I’m not going to talk about you, and the doctor isn’t going to talk about you.’ "
RCC borrowed its curriculum from Portland Community College, which had already created a program for training medical interpreters. The Community Health Center won a grant to provide funds for the program and provides space for interpreters to work with patients. Students had to be fluent in both languages to enroll. They learned medical terminology and anatomy in both English and Spanish, as well as the appropriate procedures for interpreting. Along with classwork, students completed a 30-hour practicum with a certified medical interpreter.
Hernandez, who’s working as a waitress, hopes her training will be a stepping stone toward a new career.
"It’s very interesting work," she said. "You have to have brain skills. You have to be quick. It’s a challenge."
Certification hearing Standards for certifying medical interpreters in Oregon will be the topic of a Thursday public hearing in Medford. The hearing will be at 10:15 a.m. in the Educational Resource Center at the Rogue Valley Mall. Participants can learn about what’s likely to be included in Oregon’s new certification program, which could be in place as soon as 2006.
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