Launch with Exclusive Partner Polyglot Systems Enables Touch-Button Medical Translations

Monterey, CA ? (February 07, 2007) ? Language Line Services, the world?s leading provider of language-based services, today announced the general availability of Language LineŽ HealthPort, a software-based medical interpretation solution that facilitates communication between health care providers and their limited English proficient patients.

The application delivers a user-friendly system of best-practice, interactive communication processes designed to manage all steps of the patient lifecycle, from admission to diagnosis to discharge, in the patient?s preferred language.

Language LineŽ HealthPort was designed by Charles Lee M.D. and Ed Kavanagh, principals of the software technology company Polyglot Systems, Inc. as a means to augment the highly constrained in-person medical interpreter staffs.

?For a number of reasons, many health care facilities simply don?t have enough in-person interpreters to meet the increase in demand,? explains Charles Lee, President and Founder of Polyglot. ?And, as a result, we have seen a steady increase in the frequency and severity of language-related medical incidents ? some of which have resulted in life-threatening events.?

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Or write to healthletter@languageline.com.

Though many of us might think of the Lunar New Year as being a Chinese celebration, in fact many Asian countries - and U.S. immigrants from those countries - celebrate the new year.

The following articles were produced by Channel A - an Asian American web magazine that no longer is publishing.

These articles were written between 1996 and 1998 for the Lunar New Year celebration.

We think you will find them very entertaining and helpful as you work with limited English proficient patients from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and other fascinating places and cultures.

Phoenix, AZ ? (February 23, 2007) ? Health care leaders expressed their concerns about Arizona?s ability to effectively serve the state?s growing population of limited English speaking residents at a health care language access forum yesterday.

Hosted by Language Line Services, the leading provider of language services, Banner Health, and Arizona State University, the forum explored the impact of language diversity on the delivery of health care services at Arizona hospitals.

The forum featured public health, medical and cultural diversity experts from across the country and represented one of the most in-depth public examinations of the effect of limited English proficient (LEP) patients on the Arizona health care system.

Click here to read more.

To learn how your organization might host a future educational forum, write to healthletter@languageline.com.

These three American Community reports present a portrait of racial and ethnic population groups in the United States based on data from the 2004 American Community Survey.

Each report provides information on a number of characteristics (e.g., education, household type, income, commuting, etc.). Data are presented in tables, figures, and maps.

In addition, the Asian and Hispanic reports present data for selected detailed groups (Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese for Asians; Guatemalans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, and Peruvians for Hispanics).

Two additional reports on the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population and the American Indian and Alaska Native population will be released later this year.

See the reports here:

The American Community ? Hispanics: 2004

The American Community ? Blacks: 2004

The American Community ? Asians: 2004

Contributed by the Kansas Rural Health Information Service (KRHIS).

The National Heart Lung Blood Institute combined elements from the "Act in Time to Heart Attack Signs" and the "Your Heart, Your Life" campaigns to develop this Heart Attack Survival Discussion Kit for Spanish Speakers.

The kit's format is primarily for a Spanish speaker to present to a Spanish speaking audience, but also contains English language materials for enhanced usage.

Use the Heart Attack Survival Discussion Kit as part of a Promotores/Lay Health Educators Training Refresher or with churches and other groups in the Latino community.

Order item #KT-025 at the NHLBI store for ONLY $7.50 each.

This link takes you to a web page to order the kit. If you want to see the actual items from the toolkit, see the see the NHLBI publications for Latinos page.

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