Language Access Work Group
Notes from
Meeting 3 Breakout Room 4
August 22, 2023
Breakout Room 4 Participants Breakout Room 4 Facilitator
Larysa House Morgan Olson
Theresa Powell
Joana Ramos
Sandy Yang
Homework: Please share what would you like to see in a draft recommendation, or what have you already shared in a draft recommendation, regarding the first two main components of the Preliminary Elements of Medical Interpreter Testing and Certification information sheet: testing entities and technology.
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Have valid, accredited tests. This will uphold a baseline for all interpreters who are getting certified.
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Prerequisites courses are often put in the continuing education portion, not in a separate academic section for medical interpreters to have their own pathway to the workforce.
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Contract with community colleges for resources like labs, computer rooms, technology, proctoring.
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Accessible test centers: location, time, and individuals there to support.
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Workforce equity issue: accessibility and resources to succeed.
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Medical interpretation needs additional knowledge and terminology courses.
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Community colleges could offer prerequisites and courses.
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Revise and add prerequisites for testing so that more people can pass the exam.
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There needs to be a certificate medical interpreter pathway (consider community college option) – connected to medical education and cultural education.
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For medical interpretation, take a medical course as a prerequisite alongside interpretation.
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Technology in general is a barrier; the in-person element provides accessibility for more people.
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Provide a link or site for people to volunteer/offer to be a proctor; a barrier is that they have to be contracted and screened.
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The healthcare system must be more fully invested because it effects so much of this population.
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Look at Massachusetts for recommendations on medical interpreters and programs.
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Walla Walla Community College designed a program for Spanish interpreters but lacked funding and ended.