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way for them to get that,”
Michalczyk says of the interpreters.
“There was no formal training for
anyone to go to.”
Many who wanted to join
Michalczyk’s staff failed her test,
but this did not stop them from
continuing to offer interpreting
services. She realized the need to
create strict standards for qualified
medical interpreters and succeeded
in spearheading a law that passed
in 2001. It set up a certification
process for healthcare interpreters.
The law takes effect this year.
Besides language, medical interpreters need to understand the cultural
nuisances that might be different,
such as when dealing with a Mexican
patient as opposed to a Cuban
patient. Immigrants who are recent
arrivals may interpret U.S. culture differently. Interpreting medical terms
can present another challenge.
Despite the law taking effect five
years after its introduction, knowledge of it since 2001 has “raised the
bar in our state with interpreters,”
Michalczyk says. She only knows
of three other states—Washington,
Massachusetts and Rhode Island—
that have some type of certification
law for healthcare interpreters.
As an appointee to the Oregon
Health Care Interpreting Council
in 2002, Michalczyk visited rural
and urban hospitals and learned
of the consequences of unqualified
interpreters. She recalls one case
where a patient in a rural area
could not find a qualified interpreter.
The patient was transferred to a
major hospital where there were
interpreters, but it was too late.
“You think you solved the
problem, then you hear horror
stories and it just makes you cry,”
Michalczyk says. “If you try to
separate the cultural and linguistic
issues, it really ends up being a
consumer-protection issue.” DI
