Translators for Difficult Times: SFGH may lose half of interpreter staff
June 25, 2004
The two-hour wait for an interpreter at San Francisco General Hospital may take even longer as severe budget cuts threaten to reduce the number of full-time translators, a vital lifeline in the immigrant community that has been slowly diminishing in the past several years.
With only 14 interpreters left at SFGH, the Department of Public Health is looking to reduce that number down to eight. The only Tagalog-speaking translator at the hospital may be one of the six to lose their jobs. Currently, the Asian languages covered by interpreters at SFGH include Cambodian, Cantonese, Laotian, Mandarin, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese. There were 55,421 requests for interpreter assistance at SFGH in 2003, with 3,000 requests being unmet because of a staff shortage, according to hospital records. Of those 55,421 requests, 19,094 were for Cantonese; 3,041 for Vietnamese; and 2,639 for Mandarin.
“The professional interpreters are a vital part of the medical team,” said Mary Magee, an OB/GYN nurse at San Francisco General. “If the six staff positions are cut in the upcoming budget, the staff infrastructure of the department will be permanently and severely diminished.”
Rev. Norman Fong of the Chinatown Community Development Center said he remembers when he had to tell a mother and father that their 15-year-old son had been run over and killed by a Muni bus. His task was especially difficult because of language barriers.
“I’ll never forget that night. I got the call from the hospital that one of my boys from Cameron House got hit by a bus and I had to tell the parents because the parents couldn’t speak English,” Fong said. “But I couldn’t speak Vietnamese. It was the worst moment in my life when I had to tell them that their son died. The only way they understood was when I made a motion with my finger across my neck indicating that he died on the operating table. I was so embarrassed. “It was the worst moment of my life.”
More than half of all San Franciscan households speak a language other than English, and 185,000 residents over the age of 5, or 25 percent of the population, do not speak English fluently, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
“Under federal, state and local laws, immigrants are entitled to have equal access to public health services regardless of how well they can speak English, and it is this fundamental right that is at stake in this budget debate,” said Ted Wang, policy director for Chinese for Affirmative Action. “Even with its current staff, San Francisco General faces a serious shortage of interpreters.”
Assessor-Recorder Mabel Teng said her office successfully defended $23 million in property taxes and is working with the controller’s office to certify and release the funds.
“I would like to dedicate these additional funds to restoring the interpreter staff and other vital programs for the community,” Teng said. “When interpreters are not available, immigrants must rely on their children or family members to interpret — or even worse, not be able to communicate at all with their health care providers. This will be a violation of the Equal Access to Services Act policy adopted by the Board of Supervisors.”
There are some who believe the presence of children or other family members during hospital visits is important to non-English-speaking Asian Pacific American families, since patients may not understand the doctors’ or translators’ medical terms or feel comfortable enough around them to talk about their symptoms.
But David Dao, an on-call certified medical interpreter at SFGH, said he and the other interpreters are trained to not only translate the medical terms into laymen terms, but also to explain procedures and diagnoses in a way that the patients can comprehend. He said as an interpreter, he understands the patients’ language as well as their fears and concerns.
“Interpreters are more than just conduits between the doctors and the patients. We try to help patients who aren’t familiar with Western medicine,” said Dao, who received full-time formal training at City College San Francisco and Kaiser Hospital. “I know that many Asian and Pacific Islander cultures have different approaches to health and medicine and I take that into account when I translate for them.”
“Many of these patients are scared because they’re in an unknown and unfamiliar place, but I want them to know that they can get help at the hospital and that we’re here for them.”
Rosalio Gomez, a medical interpreter at SFGH, said if hospitals can’t provide interpreters for certain communities, then the community will get the message that they’re not wanted.
“Things are different in San Francisco, and there are so many cultural differences here,” Gomez said. “It’s important for patients to see people of their own culture, to hear their own language. It will take a while for them to develop a trusting relationship so they will feel comfortable enough to come back to the hospital and not be afraid if they have a medical problem. You can’t just use anybody to interpret.”
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