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