Language access activists and medical interpreters from all over the United States rallied in Washington DC on April 30th, raising awareness about medical interpreting as a PROFESSION. Monica Silva, a staff interpreter at Alegent Health, Anna Odipo, a Swahili interpreter and employee of Lutheran Family Services, and Janet Bonet, a freelance interpreter and translator, were the Nebraska team. And what team we were!! We met with Senator Ben Nelson, Senator Mike Johanns and Representative Lee Terry to lobby for Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement of interpreter services and to help them build their knowledge base about the need for qualified language access service providers in healthcare. After meeting with the congressional delegation, we joined our colleagues to on the capital green across the street from the Supreme Court. It was an enthusiastic group shouting through or blue megaphones and standing in neon green t-shirts waving signs calling for recognition of our profession as indispensible for equitable access to healthcare for the limited English proficient populations in the United States.

 In the near future we will be posting some photos from this historic event and telling you more about the Government Taskforce formed at the National Medical Interpreters Forum on May 1st. Monica, Anna and I all feel it was entirely worth our time and effort to attend. Come to the NATI conference August 5-7 on the UNL campus in Lincoln, Nebraska and learn more about what we accomplished in DC.

SEE YOU AUGUST 5-7 IN LINCOLN!

First ever “National Advocacy Rally for Medical Interpreters” in Washington, DC on April 30^th, 2010

The link is a short video montage of the events. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU3YG4Qyrm0&feature=youtu.be 

This event involved participants from every stakeholders within the field, including interpreters, trainers, educators, language service providers, interpreter associations, advocates and many others, came from 26 states to lobby on the Hill for the limited English proficient patients, Medical Interpreter Certification and the reimbursement of language services.  The coordinating committee of the May 1^st event the “National Medical Interpreter Certification Forum” included, Language Line Services, International Medical Interpreter Association (IMIA) members and State Representatives, Cardinal Group, Global Advisory Council Members, AHEC CT., Nebraska Association of translators and Interpreters (NATI), Medical Interpreting Network of Georgia (MING), Interpreters  and others, scheduled over 200 meetings with congressional members so the participants themselves could actually attend and advocate.  The Spanish channel Univision attended the rally and interviewed several participants.

Photos have been posted to the Facebook page with kind permission from the May 1^st NMIC Forum at http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/?act=55495433#!/pages/National-Medical-Interpreter-Certification/160628377797 which now has over 670 fans. There are some wonderful comments being posted – feel free to visit and add your own comments