Photo caption: CKHA Personal Support Worker with the Language Interpretation Station available at the Chatham Site Complex Continuing Care Unit
By: Beth Northcott, Communications Specialist, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance
At Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA), Our Focus is YOU, which means communicating with people in the language they can understand best.
Recently, CKHA invested in 10 portable interpretation service stations which are equipped with a language interpretation application that provides staff, physicians, patients and families with access to virtual language interpretation services. The stations are available at the request of any person at both the Chatham and Wallaceburg sites.
These interpretation services offer language interpretation in over 230 languages – including Chatham-Kent's most requested languages such as American Sign Language, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese and French.
“How a person feels about their hospital experience is heavily influenced by their interactions with our staff,” said Fannie Vavoulis, CKHA Director, Communications and Patient Experience. “These interpretation services allow us to interact with those members of our community whose first languages are not English, ensuring that we can communicate with them effectively – and that they can communicate with us effectively.
“This technology is allowing us to provide more equitable, person-centred care as it ensures that everyone involved in a health care team – including the patient and their loved ones – can effectively communicate with one another without a language barrier.”
Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, this virtual language interpretation service supports the easy-to-access health care rooted in equity and kindness that CKHA’s values statement promotes.
To access these interpretation services, a person visiting the hospital can ask any member of their health care team. Watch a video from a member of the Chatham-Kent community as he demonstrates the service in American Sign Language.