Join us for the annual National Medical Interpreter Certification - Open Forum with your colleagues and stakeholders to discuss the important topic of national medical certification. Hear from guest speakers who will share important updates and relevant information.

The forum consists of presentations by national and international speakers and subject matter experts, round table sessions and an expert panel.

Past presentations have included speakers from: The Monterey Institute of International Studies, Lidget Green Pyschometricians, International Medical Interpreter Association, Language Line University, National Council on Interpreting in Healthcare, American Translators Association, National Foreign Language Center, and the Office of the Multicultural Health...

And from the Institute for Health professionals, Departments of Health (NY), various state representatives who have implemented or are working toward certification (KY, OK, OR, WA), international speakers from Australia and many others.

Past attendees have included interpreters, providers, associations, state officials, advocates and policy makers, language service providers, educators, trainers and international representatives.

The program this year is hosted by Language Line University, the International Medical Interpreters Association and PSI Services Inc.

The agenda and format will be developed in collaboration with the Global Advisory Council.

This is an open collaboration that crosses state lines and industry sectors to enable a broader perspective - all are welcome to participate.

Consistent with previous years, this open forum is funded through a grant from Language Line University. To help prevent cost from being a barrier to participation: There is no registration fee to attend this event and food and beverages will be provided.

Space is limited, so please contact janders@languageline.com immediately to register if you wish to attend.

To allow attendance from as many stakeholders as possible, organizations are asked to limit registration to one representative.

To register, please send an email to Jeanette Anders at janders@languageline.com and provide the following:

• Your Name
• Title
• Organization
• Address
• Email
• Phone
• Advise of special needs or requirements

Again, please email your contact information to janders@languageline.com.

Thank you!

Increasingly, medical interpreters are regarded as indispensable

Though not listed in job descriptions, the tasks completed each day by some hospital staffers are critical to patients' health.

A growing number of patients speak little English, making bilingual employees a valuable resource. They're often the go-between in interactions between doctor or nurse and patient.

While they may be aware of patient privacy laws, many of these bilingual staffers don't have a medical background. In fact, they might work in the billing, scheduling or custodial departments.

Medical interpreters are important for both patients and medical staff, said Dr. Alice Chen, medical director of the General Medicine Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital and an expert on the issue.

With no interpreter, doctors facing a patient who speaks a different language can feel like they're "seeing a foreign movie without the subtitles," she said.

"In the end, you don't have a nuanced idea of what the problem is," Chen said.

Read the rest of this DelawareOnline story here >>>

Tucson Office Opens to Help Local Healthcare Institutions and Government Agencies Meet the Needs of Their Multicultural Constituents

Monterey, CA - (March 23, 2009) Local healthcare institutions and government agencies now have a new option for improving access to quality care and customer service for their multilingual patients and clients thanks to a Tucson, AZ, expansion by leading global provider of language solutions, Language Line Services.

The company, which just opened a new Southwest region headquarter facility in midtown Tucson at 5151 E. Broadway Boulevard, founded the over-the-phone interpreting industry more than 26 years ago.

Today it provides a full array of language solutions consisting of video, telephone and face-to-face interpreting, as well as translation, localization and training/certification services, for thousands of healthcare and government organizations, and nearly 90 percent of the nation's 911 call centers.

Read the rest of this press release here >>

As part of Language Line Services' Tucson expansion, we are conducting a job fair:

Language Line Services is currently recruiting 200 interpreters for Spanish, Native American languages, American Sign Language, and other languages for work-at-home opportunities in the Tucson area.

For more information about career opportunities with Language Line Services, visit www.languageline.com/careers.

By Laurie Larson

A large part of a hospital's provision of culturally competent care means providing adequate language services for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP).

To be truly culturally competent, hospitals must face the fact that roughly 23 million people living in the United States have LEP-and a good share of them will be coming through their doors.

"Diversity is here to stay," says linguistic consultant and interpreter trainer Linda Joyce.

"Our nation is becoming more diverse, more spread out over the whole country. If hospitals are interested in safety and quality, language and culture need to be addressed in every department; it has to be part of hospitals' goals and strategy. It can't be an ancillary service; it must be a funded core service."

Read the rest of this Trustee Magazine article here >>

The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, released updated statistical profiles of the Latino and foreign-born populations in the U.S.

Derived from the 2007 American Community Survey, these profiles feature downloadable data on detailed characteristics of the Latino and foreign-born populations at the national level.

The Center is simultaneously releasing demographic profiles of the Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations at the state level for 2007.

For more information, visit

Statistical Portrait of Hispanics in the United States, 2007

Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2007

State and County Databases

Progress toward a National Medical Interpreter Certification Continues with Establishment of Independent Governing Board and Certification Web Site.

National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters and www.certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org provide oversight and give medical interpreters ownership of the certification process

MONTEREY, CA - (March 31, 2009) - In a continuation of the efforts by the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) and Language LineŽ University to launch a joint National Medical Interpreter Certification, the two industry leaders, along with other third-party supporters, today announced the establishment of the "National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters" to provide independent oversight for the certification process.

Correspondingly, a new Web site, www.certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org will house all information regarding National Medical Interpreter Certification and provide an online center for medical interpreters to begin the certification process.

The National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters is a non-profit organization, formed from an independent group of industry professionals that represent all key stakeholder groups including professional medical interpreters, trainers, employers, and regulators.

Read the rest of this news release here >>

Servicing emergency calls can be very challenging and stressful to the interpreters. Such calls frequently involve life and death situations and frantic callers.

Unfortunately, interpreters of emergency calls most likely never learn the outcome of the situations and, because of this, often lack a sense of closure.

Several years ago, Language Line Services established a Peer Support Debriefing Program to help interpreters deal with the stress resulting from handling emergency calls.

This past March 6th-7th, Language Line Services sponsored another Critical Incident Stress Management training session.

One of the objectives of the training was to increase the number of "debriefers" serving our interpreters.

Previously the training was offered only to interpreters. However, we have now expanded it to include personnel from other departments that can directly support the interpreter force.

Language Line Services partnered with Kevin Willet, of Public Safety Training Consultants, to deliver the training to 65 global participants. Kevin is an active 911 dispatcher, which makes him an ideal trainer for the debriefers.

Because of Kevin's background, the participants had the added benefit of understanding how to work with emergency response personnel.

The training was coordinated by Aurora Unshelm, Training Manager for Language Line Services.

To learn more about this training and why it is such an important part of our company's interpreter support, write to Aurora here.

Language Line Services, the leader in over-the-phone interpretation, is seeking to increase its interpreter team in many languages.

If you have excellent proficiency in English, with strong listening and comprehension skills as well as good customer service skills, you can become an interpreter for Language Line Services.

If you would like to work from home and are proficient in English and a Second Language this job is for you!

We also have corporate positions available to start right away. We are currently seeking a Payroll Manager, an HR OnBoarding Manager, an HR Compliance Manager, an Accounting Manager, a Marketing Intern and a Telecommunications Administrator.

If you are bilingual, or know someone who is, or you are seeking a corporate career, visit www.languageline.com/careers

Thank you!

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