County of Monterey expands indigenous interpreter services
By Jacquelyn Quinones
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SALINAS, California (KSBW) — The County of Monterey is enhancing health care access for indigenous communities by training interpreters and expanding services in local hospitals, with Natividad Hospital leading the initiative.
For years, the county health department and Natividad Hospital have partnered to train indigenous language interpreters to ensure patients can communicate clearly and receive better care.
Natividad Hospital is one of the first hospitals to provide interpreter services for the indigenous population, and as of today, the hospital has about 20 indigenous interpreters and is actively seeking more.
Monterey County is home to a large Hispanic and indigenous population, and that diversity is driving a push for more indigenous language interpreters, especially in local hospitals.
“They are different communities that identify with certain language groups, and for more than a decade we’ve realized that there weren’t suitable services for language access,” said Victor Sosa, the Interpreter Services Manager at Natvidad Medical Center. “Generally, some of the community would interpret for their parents, and that just wasn’t appropriate and didn’t really give families access to health care.”
Staff at Natividad Hospital decided to take action by creating a pipeline to train and certify interpreters from indigenous communities.
In 2017, Sosa co-authored the indigenous interpreter textbook, a first-of-its-kind resource.
“In using that, we’ve trained over 200 interpreters that identify belonging to indigenous communities, and some work here in the hospitals and others work throughout Monterey County,” said Sosa.
Natividad Hospital was also recognized for its OB-GYN department, which has improved the birthing experience for both Latina and indigenous mothers.
“They went out to the communities, provided more research and training so that when moms got appropriate prenatal care, they came to the hospital and had a better birthing experience,” said Sosa.
The county’s health department has also partnered with Natividad and other groups to expand interpretation services into mental health programs.
“Many of our indigenous women in South Monterey County, specifically Soledad, Greenfield, and King City, may not be comfortable accessing mental health services,” said Elsa Jimenez County of Monterey Director of Health Services. “So we’ve partnered with CBDIO out of Greenfield to develop a community-based program.”
The health department is partnering with Natividad and, pending board approval, plans to hire a full-time indigenous interpreter who would be based at the Alisal Health Center.
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