Breakout Room 4 Notes

Language Access Work Group

Notes from 

Meeting 5 Breakout Room 4

September 19, 2023

Breakout Room 4 Participants                                       Breakout Room 4 Facilitator

Milena Calderari-Waldron                                                              Tony Rice

Tony Griego

Theresa Powell

Cindy Roat

Yvonne Simpson

James Wells

 

Homework: Please share what you would like to see in a draft recommendation, or what you have already shared in a draft recommendation, regarding prerequisites and screening, test content, and test quality. For:

 

  • Strategies for increasing access to language access providers in rural communities and for languages of lesser demand,

  • Strategies for workforce resiliency including adequate workload and compensation, and

  • Standards of ethics and professional responsibility.

 

  • Remote interpreting would be very impactful.

  • Provide financial incentive to language providers who provide services to languages of lesser demand.

  • Help hospitals identify when it is crucial to provide in-person services versus video interpretation.

  • Very little information is available regarding which language services are being provided. Now that we have the data, we are seeing an increase in requests for services. Education is a key concern regarding barriers associated with bringing someone to an appointment.

  • Milena of Interpreters United, WFSE/AFSCME Local 1671, shared a link:

  • Research is needed to determine what is effective, given the complexities associated created during the pandemic.

  • Provide space for in-person services in rural communities.

  • Access to online computers – computer banks.

  • Compensation for travel to rural areas.

  • The pandemic is causing interpreters to have increased expenses.

  • When can on-demand service be used?

  • Establish standards (e.g., interpreter services while driving)

  • When the pandemic occurred, and family members could not attend, there was an increase in interpreter requests. What can be done to ensure compliance when service is provided?

  • What can the state do in situations where the provider is not providing adequate services? Answer: contracts.

Due to the facilitator’s insufficient time to share Yvonne Simpson’s thoughts, she later emailed them to the Language Access Work Group team. Yvonne’s recommendations are shared below:

  • Would there be a way for DSHS to assist in proactively looking for interpreters from languages of lesser demand? Would it be possible to incentivize these communities to get certified by partnering with 3rd party testing organizations to reduce costs for certifying languages of lesser demand? Regarding improving access to rural communities, in my role with University of Washington/Harborview Medical Center we have found it helpful to have contracts with multiple interpreter agencies so that if one agency does not have access to language X, possibly a secondary organization may have that language available.

  • Regarding compensation, recommended to do a survey of current industry standards for pay. Is there pay differential for years of experience, amount of training, location (mileage - especially for rural areas), and shift differential (night/weekend/holiday pay)? Additionally, consider the vast difference in compensation between sign language interpreters spoken language interpreters - the job is the same, even if the community and modality are unique. Regarding workload, that may vary greatly when comparing staff interpreters and freelancers, the latter of whom make up the vast majority of interpreters in the community. For freelancers, how would it be possible to limit the number of hours worked? Yes, it would be beneficial for their personal health, but if there is a need for a language of lesser demand and there are limited interpreter resources, would a cap truly be placed on that individual?

  • Regarding ethics, from my perspective and understanding the NCIHC has national standard for healthcare interpreters and I believe that there is something similar for courts. As noted by Ms. Theresa Powell, there is need to consider certification for K-12 education interpreters, tax law, contract law, etc. There may be a need for a variance in standards of ethics and responsibility for those fields as they may have needs different from courts and other community interpreter practices.