By: Robert Remler
And are there issues of culture or confidentiality that make you uncomfortable having this relative attempting to interpret? At Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center, where the patient population is increasingly diverse, reflecting the surrounding communities, a new service is providing trained medical interpreters in 150 languages (including Acholi, Khamu, Papiamento and Wolof). LIJ's Service Guild was instrumental in bringing the new service to the hospital and continues to offer financial support. It includes an innovative telephone with two headsets that eliminate the need for the patient and his/her doctor or nurse to pass the phone back and forth, enabling them to maintain eye contact while the conversation is taking place. "Eye contact is very important in such a conversation, to measure comprehension and to watch for other physical cues," said Thomas Kwiatkowski, chairman of emergency medicine at LIJ. The 18 CyraPhones are either stationed permanently (in the emergency department, for example) or can be checked out of the hospital's telecommunications department and brought where they are needed. To access the DiaLingual service, a language code is punched into the phone to summon an appropriate interpreter to the line. This takes only seconds for a commonly spoken language, although it might take as much as half an hour for one of the more exotic ones. Then the doctor or nurse speaks into the headset, the patient speaks into the other, and the interpreter is the voice in the middle, facilitating the conversation. It is LIJ's policy to provide patients with limited proficiency in English with the same opportunity to understand their condition and treatment options that patients who speak and understand English have. Over the past few years, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has been recommending with increasing urgency that hospitals provide interpretation services that meet these patients' needs. Lucila Jimenez, director of patient and guest relations, is enthusiastic about the CyraPhones. Spanish is the language spoken most often besides English in the U.S. today, but she reported that Russian has been the language most frequently requested at LIJ, followed by Spanish, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Italian and French (a tie) and Polish, in that order. A total of 28 languages have been requested. "I recently used the CyraPhone myself," Ms. Jimenez said . "I got an e-mail from Saudi Arabia, from the brother of a man who had brought his daughter to Schneider Children's Hospital for surgery. He didn't speak a work of English, but when I plugged in the phone and told him through the interpreter that his family was concerned about him, he was so excited and happy - his whole face lit up."Jeanne Wiegand, director of telecommunications, agrees with Ms. Jimenez that use of the CyraPhones is increasing steadily. "New technology is threatening to some people, but when they try it, they're almost sure to use it again," she said. Ms. Wiegand's goal is to have a phone permanently assigned to every patient unit in the next year or so. "I'm very pleased with the medical interpretation phones," said Dr. Kwiatkowski. "They are giving us important information about patients' symptoms and health history that we probably would be missing otherwise. I see this as a very positive contribution to the quality of care we offer."
Lecture Series for EMS Workers
The next educational meeting and lecture for local EMS and rescue squad members sponsored by Franklin Hospital Medical Center's Emergency Department will be held at the hospital on Wednesday evening, April 30. Dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m., and be followed by featured speaker Allen W. Cherson, D.O., Deputy Medical Director, NYC Fire Department and Chairman, Nassau County Regional EMS Advisory Council. The topic of his 7:00 p.m. presentation, which is approved for 2 CME credits by Nassau County REMAC, is Disaster Preparedness - Biological and Chemical Terrorism. Area EMTs, ambulance personnel and volunteer members of local Fire Department Rescue Squads are encouraged to attend. Reservations for this complimentary session may be made by contacting Franklin's Emergency Department at (516) 256-6353.
Free Screenings
Long Beach Medical Center will provide free blood pressure screenings and information on hypertension on the following dates and locations. Tuesday, April 15 from 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. at the Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs, Long Beach Office, 167 E. Park AvenueMonday, April 21 from 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. at the Island Park Library, 176 Long Beach Road, Island ParkThursday, April 24 from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. at the Long Beach Public Library, 111 W. Park Avenue, Long BeachA free health fair hosted by Long Beach Medical Center in collaboration with Project Challenge will be held on April 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Peoples Protestant Community Church. The church is located at 111 Delaware Avenue in Long Beach. Screenings for anxiety and depression, diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure will be offered. For information, call the LBMC HealthStyles Program at (516) 897-1090.
