CHIA
UPDATE - June 2003
| June 27 |
| June 23 |
| June 11 |
June 27, 2003
NEW INTERPRETING RESOURCES FOCUS OF LA
CHAPTER MEETING — CHIA’s Los Angeles Chapter will learn about the Connect
Worlds interpreter training program at a meeting set for
6 – 8:30PM Tuesday, July 15, in San Diego. The
location is the San Diego State University City Heights Community Technology
Center, 4283 El Cajon Blvd., Ste. 200, San Diego.
[click here for MapQuest Directions]
Maria Cruz Smith, an interpreter trainer with Connecting Worlds, will discuss
the group’s free, 40-hour intensive training course for public health and social
service staff who serve Latinos in San Diego County. The training, which
incorporates CHIA’s California Standards for Healthcare Interpreters, was
developed through funding from The California Endowment.
Also on the agenda is a presentation from Carmen Lilia Rodriguez, who will
discuss online resources available for healthcare interpreters that includes
medical references and research, patient education tools, and multi-lingual
health information. In addition, Carola Green will report on the joint CHIA/MMIA
pilot certification testing program now underway in Merced.
CHIA is hosting the meeting in collaboration with
Vista Community Clinic’s
Cultural Awareness Program. Please RSVP to Marianne Hamilton, (760) 407-1220
ext. 158, or by email,
mhamilto@vistacommunityclinic.org. Refreshments will be provided.
Event is free to members, $10 donation for non-members.
ELIMINATING HEALTH DISPARITIES BROADCAST — The California Distance
Learning Health Network (CDLHN) is sponsoring a two-hour satellite broadcast,
Eliminating Health Disparities, to help train public health outreach workers on
the latest strategies and optimize immunization outreach campaigns in various
communities. The broadcast will run from 9 – 11 a.m. Thursday, July 10.
The panel of experts will focus on healthcare disparities in the
African-American, Latino, and Asian/ Pacific Islander communities. Panelists
include Cassandra Hernandez-Vives, Supervisor, Community Health Education, La
Clinica de La Raza; Dr. Samuel So, Professor of Surgery, Director of Asian Liver
Center and Liver Cancer Program, Stanford School of Medicine; and Carole Norman,
San Diego County Immunization Program.
Viewers should visit the CDLHN website,
www.cdlhn.com, to select a
downlink site or register a downlink link. Questions can be directed to
cdlhn@projects.sdsu.edu, or (619)
594-3348.
June 23, 2003
TEST ADMINISTRATORS PREPARE FOR PILOT TEST — CHIA board members Betty
Moore, Beverly Treumann, and Paulo Pereira participated in a two-day training
session on June 7 and 8 in Merced conducted by Maria Paz Avery of the
Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association (MMIA). Avery flew in to train
administrators for two-weekends of testing 45 beginning, intermediate, and
advanced interpreters starting June 21 as part of a pilot testing program CHIA
and MMIA are carrying out under the National Council on Interpreting in Health
Care with funding from the HHS Office of Minority Health.
The goal, Avery explained, is not so much to test the participants but “to test
the test.” The results of the pilot will ultimately be used to help develop a
statewide certification test.
CHIA member Tatiana Vizcaino-Stewart of Healthy House and Board member Moore
organized the two-day session. Other administrators included Alberto Molina,
David Peschard, Azucena Puerta-Diaz, Maria Elena Solorzano, Carola Green, Rita
Bohmler, Natalia Becerra, Manuel Hernandez, Luzie L. Harville, and Emma
Dominguez.
The collective work experience of this group includes: Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles; UCLA Medical Center; Cedars Sinai; Vista Community Clinic; Healthy
House Within A Match Coalition; Santa Clara Valley Hospital System; Stanford
Hospital and Clinics; Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital; Managed Risk Medical
Insurance Board; Central Valley Regional Center, Merced; Merced County Mental
Health and independent contracting. The administrators’ countries of origin
include Mexico, Argentina, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil, Guatemala, Spain and
the US.
CHIA wishes to thank the administrators who will be donating two to three
weekends this endeavor and who will be traveled from San Diego, Los Angeles,
Oakland, Palo Alto and Sacramento at their own expense.
CHIA’s 501(c)(3) STATUS CONFIRMED —In 1998, CHIA became a 501(c)(3)
public charity for an advance ruling period of five years. The Internal Revenue
Service completed a review of CHIA’s status following the close of that period,
and on June notified CHIA that are 501(c)(3) status will continue. The ruling is
significant for several reasons:
• 501(c)(3) status allows CHIA to continue receiving foundation funding;
• Donations to CHIA remain fully tax deductible.
Kudos to Niels Agger-Gupta, former CHIA executive director, for starting to
address this issue more than a year ago when it became evident that CHIA’s mix
of donations was not broad enough to guarantee continued public charity status.
(The main concern was the $325,000 in grants CHIA received from The California
Endowment, which dramatically altered CHIA’s revenue mix). In 2002, CHIA
concentrated on bringing in additional public donations, and thanks to CHIA
members, dues and other donations were enough to achieve the mix needed to
preserve CHIA’s status.
CHIA Meets with The California Endowment
CHIA Executive Director Tom Riley met Friday with Ignatius Bau, Program Director
for The California Endowment, to discuss areas in which the two organizations
can work together in the future. Together they explored ideas such as CHIA
conducting assessments of hospitals’ interpreter services, and repackaging the
CHIA Standards (whose creation The Endowment funded) to distribute to various
professional provider organizations.
June 11, 2003
CHIA STANDARDS SHIPPED AND AVAILABLE — Backlogged copies of CHIA’s
California Standards for Healthcare Interpreters have all been shipped, and CHIA
regular and organizational members should be receiving a copy of the booklet in
the mail. If you are non-student member and have not received a copy by June 20,
please let us know by e-mail, triley@amgroup.us. Additional copies are available
for $5 each (to cover shipping and handling). Please send a check with a note
and your shipping address to: CHIA, One Capitol Mall, Ste. 320, Sacramento, CA
95814.
CHIA MEETS WITH PATIENT ADVOCATE — CHIA Executive Director Tom Riley and
Board Member Dr. Martha Bernadett last week discussed legislative and regulatory
issues regarding healthcare interpreting with Ed Mendoza, acting director of the
Office of the Patient Advocate (OPA), an independent state office charged with
providing advice and information to California HMO enrollees.
The OPA has just released a report, HMO Services in Other Languages: A Portrait
of California Health Plans and Linguistic Services for Limited English
Proficient Members following a survey of HMOs on what services they currently
provide. Here’s a link to the report: HMO Services in Other Languages.
The OPA website also includes a link to a newly released policy brief from the
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research titled, California’s HMO Enrollees:
Diversity in Language and Education Poses Challenges for Health Plans. The brief
discusses many shortcomings of current measures to address the needs of the
state’s managed care LEP enrollees, including the use of translated materials
that are overly complex and difficult for LEP enrollees with limited education.
Among other recommendations, the report encourages the OPA to develop standards
for health plans as to what level of education translated materials should be
targeted.
The OPA also publishes an annual report card of HMOs that lists what language
services are available when a member calls an HMO or visits one of its
contracted doctors, in which languages written materials, and in which languages
an HMO’s bilingual doctors are proficient. Here’s link to the OPA’s 2002 HMO
Report Card.
Riley, Dr. Bernadett, and Director Mendoza discussed a range of issues,
including SB 853 (Escutia), which has cleared the State Senate and is now in the
Assembly. The bill would require regulations to be developed (very likely at the
direction of OPA) requiring health plans and insurers to offer adequate
linguistic and culturally appropriate services. CHIA and the OPA agreed to work
together to help California HMO patients overcome cultural and linguistic
barriers to access.
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