Seattle Area BTG Alumni and Friends - November Meet Up

Message from Jaya Lapham:

We are still an informal group, as no decision was made about a name. We had a small group of people who came and thanks to Ahmed, Andra and Jaya, we had a nice discussion on the 10/10/09 meeting at the Seattle Public Library, Central Branch.

We sat next to the dictionaries, on the 7th floor, so we had the chance to work out some specific terminology; the differences between sedative and anasthesia, among others.

We also talked about building a special mission for our group, before we come
up with a name. So, we need to ask these three questions, "What kind of organization do we want to be?" "Where does our group aim to make an impact, and who does it serve?" "Can we map out how to get there...?"

We also did a short community walk and went into the International District Community Health Services. In addition, we toured the International District (China Town) Community Center which offered us a fee reduction for use of the facilities if we want to put on an outreach, youth awareness event, hosted by medical interpreters.

I thought it would be cool to do some improvised interpreting sessions, such as we did in our training, and then let some youth make a response about what types of situations they find themselves asked to interpret for. We could produce a brochure for youth about how to find appropriate language support in different situations as a result of this event. I propose that we try to put one on in January or February. We can also find other community centers around Pierce, Snohomish and other counties and put on such community awareness events for Medical Interpreters.

Thanks to everyone for the community work that you already do! Let's continue to meet monthly.

Our next meeting is on:
10:00 AM
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Seattle Public Library - Central Branch
1000 Fourth Avenue
7th Floor

Contact: Jaya Lapham - jayalapham@yahoo.com

Medical Interpreter Video Project by Seattle Channel

The video about medical interpreters will air on the Seattle Channel (Channel 21) on September 28th at 7:00 PM, and will be viewable on the Seattle Channel website (http://www.seattlechannel.org/CommunityStories/) forever!

Please share this with the interpreters, students, providers, patients, and staff whose participation made this video possible.

From Jill Friedberg

Corrugated Films in Seattle

Second BTG Alumni Meeting in Seattle

Meeting Date:
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Meeting Time:
10:00 AM
Meeting Place:
Seattle Library Central Branch located at 1000 Fourth Ave.
7th FLOOR, We will make a poster board and try to make ourselves obvious, so you can find us there

Meeting Topic:
I hope that we can gel together ideas around a group name and a group purpose that day. I hope we can think of a project we can do together to continue building awareness about the imperative to provide bi-lingual services, to both medical and social service providers in this area. We should think of ways to alleviate child and family-member interpreting, and promote students of all ages who excel in coursework and maintaining bi-lingual fluency. And of course, it is important to be a group of friends, to understand and support each other!

There is coffee available in the library at Chocolati.

Best wishes,

Jaya Conser Lapham
jayalapham@hotmail.com

June 09 BTG Delaware

Patient Interpreters Save Money, But Who Pays?

Click here for the full article by Jennifer Ludden at National Public Radio's website.

July 27, 2009
At a Northern Virginia pediatric clinic, 1-year-old Katy is getting a checkup.
As Dr. Hoda Bastani peers into her throat and eyes, Katy's mother, Myrna Mejia, looks on. Standing just behind her is Barbara Perez, one of 16 full-time medical interpreters for Inova Hospital, which runs this clinic.

Under civil rights laws, health care providers who accept federal money must provide interpretation for patients who can't speak English. But the law doesn't compel the government or insurers to pay for that. As Congress debates a health care overhaul, medical providers are hoping that will change.

BTG Dover April 2009

Click on photo for a larger view.

Training for the Division of Public Health, Office of Minority Health in Dover, Delaware 

BTG at the Alaska Immigration Justice Project in Anchorage - March 2009

Click here for more photos.

BTG Kenosha February 2009

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From the NY Times: Foreign Ways and War Scars Test Hospital

Photo by:  Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Dr. Carmen Divertie examined a Spanish-speaking patient at the clinic. Many of her patients are recent immigrants.

Article by:  Denise Grady

Published:  March 28, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS - The man from Somalia sat nervously in an examining room at Hennepin County Medical Center, gingerly brushing his fingertips against the left side of his head.

"You're having surgery to remove shrapnel from your skull," Dr. Steven Hillson told him, pausing to let a Somali interpreter dressed in a black head scarf and floor length skirt translate.

  

The patient, Abdulqadir Jirow, 31, nodded and explained that the shrapnel had been there since.....

Click here to read the full article at the NY Times website.

Class of February 2009, Seattle

click here for more photos in the photo gallery