A grant will allow Fresno’s Children’s Hospital Central California to better communicate with limited-English proficiency patients.

Although the grant sum is relatively modest -- $167,000 – the additional equipment will play a significant role in expanding the facility’s ability to reach out to families with Limited English Proficiency:

“While the hospital already has a staff of around 25 health care interpreters to advise and guide people in their own language, the new equipment will expand their flexibility to help more individuals over the phone and increase their response time.

A grant of $167,000 through a collaborative [sic] with Health Care Interpreter Network provided for the video conferencing equipment and phone service that will allow the hospital to offer visual aid in more than a dozen languages, including sign language. Children's Hospital will also be able to connect with other interpreters in the network or with other outside agencies to exchange information.

The grant also provides access to interpreters through wireless sound station speaker phones or dual cordless phone handsets in inpatient and ambulatory areas. Previously, these areas only had land lines with no speaker phone capability and relied primarily on face-to-face interpreting.”

(Extract from The Business Journal, June 21, 2010)

For more information about all types of language interpreting, including telephonic interpreting, contact Language Translation, Inc. Located in San Diego, California, we have been providing language services domestically and internationally for over 20 years.

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
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