Translators help make hospital visits easier

Speaking to a physician can feel like being in a foreign land.

Amid the gobbledygook of medical terms, anatomical parts, acronyms and the worried voices in your head, sometimes all you want to know is whether you're going to be OK.

And that's if you speak the language of your doctors and other medical staffers.

Like many people in our area, English is not my native language. Trying to fit into a social system when you have difficulty communicating is intimidating enough. Throw in the fear of losing control of your own body and health, and things can start to feel hopeless.

In Marion County, about 24 percent of residents 5 years and older don't speak English at home, according to the 2006-2010 American Community Survey. When one of those people land in the Salem Hospital emergency department or any Salem Health unit or clinic, an interpreter from the 12-person Language Access team is dispatched to translate.

Interpreters have been around in Salem Hospital for 20 years, but the profession has grown and is becoming more formalized. In December 2009, national certification became available for medical interpreters.

Now, eight of 12 Salem Health interpreters are certified, with the rest working toward certification. According to the Registry of Certified Medical Interpreters, only 10 more are certified in Oregon, for a total of 18.

Oliva Rodriguez Baltazar sat July 12 in a hospital room of the Cardiovascular Care Unit, her right arm linked to an IV.

A medical staffer walked in and asked about her medications and how she takes them. Interpreter Carmen Villa stood close by, translating in Spanish.

The woman had come to the hospital through its emergency department the day before. She had felt something hot in her chest and felt faint, she said through Villa. She already takes medications for heart problems.

Tests were under way, she said, but the doctor hadn't told her anything.

Rodriguez Baltazar said she was happy to have the help of interpreters, as medical staffers try to find out what's going on. I asked her if coming to the hospital was scary because she doesn't speak English.

"Of course," she said. "They talk, and you don't know what they're saying."

The Language Access team on average responds to 23 calls per day, which stretches from 7 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Several interpreters are full time and others are part time or on call.

There are two Russian speakers and the rest are Spanish speakers. When other languages, including American Sign Language, are requested, Salem Health brings in an outside interpreter, supervisor Samuel Pino said.

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Common languages are Punjabi, Marshallese, Cantonese and Mandarin, he said.

These interpreters get the front-row seat to some of these patients' most personal moments. Sometimes, they have to deliver bad news. Sometimes, they get to witness the pure joy and happiness of babies being born.

Medical interpreters are trained to communicate only what's being said by the patient and the medical staff. If the patient is being told he or she has cancer, the interpreter isn't supposed to soften the blow by adding euphemisms that the doctor didn't use.

When emotions are high, the interpreters' emotions don't count, although they're real.

Two weeks ago, Pino was in an operating room at a high-risk delivery. The mother was having twins, but one of the babies was poised to come out feet first, so stress was high.

Pino said the baby ended up correcting course, and the twins were born without further conflict. His happiness that day certainly was real.