Language and Access to Health Care: 

Easing Barriers in New Hampshire 

New Hampshire Advisory Committee to 

the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 

June 2005 

This report of the New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the United States Commission 

on Civil Rights was prepared for the information and consideration of the Commission. 

Statements and viewpoints in the report should not be attributed to the Commission, but 

only to the participants at the community forum, other individuals or documents cited, or 

the Advisory Committee. 
The United States Commission on Civil Rights 

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is an independent, bipartisan agency established by 

Congress in 1957, reconstituted in 1983, and reauthorized in 1994. It is directed to 

investigate complaints alleging that citizens are being deprived of their right to vote by 

reason of their race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or by reason of 

fraudulent practices; study and collect information relating to discrimination or a denial of 

equal protection of the laws under the Constitution because of race, color, religion, sex, age, 

disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice; appraise federal laws and 

policies with respect to discrimination or denial of equal protection of the laws because of 

race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of 

justice; serve as a national clearinghouse for information in respect to discrimination or 

denial of equal protection of the laws because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or 

national origin; submit reports, findings, and recommendations to the President and 

Congress; and issue public service announcements to discourage discrimination or denial of 

equal protection of the laws. 

The State Advisory Committees 

By law, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has established an advisory committee in 

each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The committees are composed of state 

citizens who serve without compensation. The committees advise the Commission of civil 

rights issues in their states that are within the Commission’s jurisdiction. More specifically, 

they are authorized to advise the Commission on matters of their state’s concern in the 

preparation of Commission reports to the President and the Congress; receive reports, 

suggestions, and recommendations from individuals, public officials, and representatives of 

public and private organizations to committee inquiries; forward advice and 

recommendations to the Commission, as requested; and observe any open hearing or 

conference conducted by the Commission in their states. 

ii 
Language and Access to Health Care: 

Easing Barriers in New Hampshire 

iii 
Letter of Transmittal 

New Hampshire Advisory Committee to 

the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 

Members of the Commission 

Gerald A. Reynolds, Chairman

Abigail Thernstrom, Vice Chair

Jennifer C. Braceras 

Peter N. Kirsanow 

Ashley L. Taylor, Jr. 

Michael Yaki 

Kenneth L. Marcus, Staff Director

The New Hampshire Advisory Committee submits this report, Language and 

Access to Health Care: Easing Barriers in New Hampshire, as part of its responsibility to 

advise the Commission on civil rights issues within the state. The report was adopted by 

the Advisory Committee by a 10 to 1 vote (non-response). Agency regulations require 

that if a SAC member fails to respond to a request for a vote, that person’s vote is 

counted as a “no.” 

The Committee identified access to health care by limited-English-proficient, 

deaf, and hard-of-hearing persons as an important civil rights issue in New Hampshire 

and held a community forum in Manchester on December 4, 2003 to gather pertinent 

information and to hear testimony. Presentations were made to the Committee from 12 

persons in three panels, which were designed to offer background information, health 

care provider perspectives, and client advocate perspectives related to language and 

communications issues affecting access to health care. 

This report is based on the panelists’ statements and additional research. Federal 

law requires that health care providers accommodate limited-English-proficient, deaf and 

hard-of-hearing persons. This report looks at how some health care providers in New 

Hampshire have responded to this requirement and offers recommendations for 

improvements. The Advisory Committee trusts the Commission and the public will find 

the material in this report informative. 

Sincerely, 

Andrew T. Stewart 

Chairperson 

New Hampshire Advisory Committee 

iv 
New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil 

Rights 

Andrew T. Stewart, Chairperson 

Enfield 

Sylvia F. Chaplain

Bedford 

Gregory W. Orr 

Sanbornton 

Antony J. Epaphras 

Manchester 

Ray R. Rodriguez

Hudson 

Patricia M. Gormley 

Newfields 

Lina Ruiz-Mingote 

Litchfield 

Cheryl L. Killam 

Newton 

Jibril Ali Salaam 

Dover 

Marie Metoyer 

Manchester 

Patricia Taylor 

Hooksett 

Acknowledgments 

The New Hampshire Advisory Committee thanks the staff of the U.S. Commission on 

Civil Rights. Aonghas St. Hilaire, social science analyst, provided assistance in planning 

for and conducting the community forum, performed follow-up research, and wrote the 

report. Ivy Davis, director of the Eastern Regional Office, edited the final report draft. 

Dorothy Pearson-Canty and Alfreda Greene provided production and distribution 

services. 

v 
Contents 

Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................1

Chapter 2: New Hampshire Demographics...................................................................5

Chapter 3: Federal and State Civil Rights Regulations and Policy ............................8

Chapter 4: Health Care Provider Practices and Perspectives...................................11

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services......................................12 

New Hampshire Hospital Association..........................................................................13 

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire .............................14 

Visiting Nurse Association of Manchester and Southern New Hampshire, Inc. .........15 

Manchester Health Department, Manchester, New Hampshire ...................................16 

Chapter 5: Client Advocate Perspectives ....................................................................18

Bienestar Mental Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill..............................19 

New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition .................................................................20 

Refugee Resettlement Program, Lutheran Social Services of New England...............20 

Granite State Independent Living.................................................................................21 

New Hampshire Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc............................................22 

New Hampshire Legal Assistance................................................................................22 

Chapter 6: Findings and Recommendations...............................................................24

Appendix 1: Resources..................................................................................................27

Federal and State Agencies ..........................................................................................27 

Selected Private Organizations.....................................................................................28 

vi 
Chapter 1: Introduction 

Health care providers in New Hampshire, like their counterparts across the United States, 

increasingly serve clients who communicate best in a language other than English. In 

New Hampshire, the challenges these clients face in getting linguistically appropriate 

services and the challenges health care providers face in delivering such services mirror 

those elsewhere in the country. 

Open communication between the health care provider and the client helps ensure that 

the client receives appropriate medical attention and treatment. Shared language and an 

understanding of cultural differences facilitate such communication. However, many 

people seeking health care in New Hampshire, as well as in the nation as a whole, do not 

communicate well or at all in English and have cultural backgrounds with which many 

health care providers are unfamiliar. These people include growing numbers of

immigrants of increasingly diverse national origins, as well as deaf and hard-of-hearing 

persons. When English-speaking health care providers and limited-English-proficient 

(LEP),1

 deaf, or hard-of-hearing clients meet, professional medical interpretation services 

are often the best suited to bridge communication gaps rather than untrained family 

members, bilingual staff persons, and others. 

Nevertheless, the use of professional interpretation services in health care settings is far 

from universal. In a number of studies, the language barrier between health care 

providers and non-English-speaking2

 clients is a frequently cited obstacle to health care 

for these clients.3

 Among Latinos, for example, one study found the language barrier as 

significant as a lack of insurance in predicting Latinos’ failure to use health care 

services.4

Failure to provide interpretation and translation to overcome barriers to communication 

can lead to adverse outcomes. Linguistic barriers are frequently the cause of delays in or 

denial of service, misdiagnosis, unnecessary tests, more costly or unnecessarily invasive 

treatment, errors in prescribing and using medication, and lowered client compliance 

with treatment. In extreme cases, failure to communicate effectively can result in the 

death of the client. 

The following examples highlight some of the dangers associated with failing to provide 

appropriate interpretation services in health care settings: 

 1

 The term “limited English proficiency,” as used in federal laws and policies, generally refers to

individuals whose native language is other than English. The Bilingual Education Act (20 U.S.C. § 7401-

7491 (2004) defines “native language” as (1) the language normally used by such individual, or (b) in the 

case of a child or youth, the language normally used by the parents of the child or youth (20 U.S.C. § 7011 

(11) (2004). 

2

 In this report, the term, non-English-speaking, is used to designate LEP, deaf, and/or hard-of-hearing 

persons indiscriminately. 3

 S. Woloshin and others, “Language Barriers in Medicine in the United States,” Journal of the American 

Medical Association, vol. 273, no. 9 (1995), pp. 724-728. 4

 Kathryn Derose and David Baker, “Limited English Proficiency and Latinos’ Use of Physician Services,” 

Medical Care Research and Review, vol. 57, no. 1 (2000), pp. 76-91. 

1 
A migrant worker from southern Mexico was committed to 

an Oregon state psychiatric hospital where he was 

diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. When psychiatrists 

spoke to him in Spanish or English, the man became 

agitated, waving his arms wildly. The psychiatrists 

concluded that the man must have been hallucinating. After 

being detained for two years, it was discovered that the 

man spoke only Trique, an indigenous language in Mexico. 

With the help of a Trique interpreter, psychiatrists finally 

diagnosed him as mentally sane and had him discharged. 

More than $100,000 was wasted in unnecessary treatment.5

The Hmong language has no word for cancer, or even the 

concept of the disease. “We’re going to put a fire in you,” 

is how one inexperienced interpreter tried to explain 

radiation treatment to the patient, who, as a result, refused 

treatment.6

In many instances, and when they are available, health care providers ask relatives of 

LEP, deaf, or hard-of-hearing clients—often their children—to serve as interpreters. 

However, this practice is fraught with problems. Frequently, relatives of non-Englishspeaking clients—especially children—do not master the clients’ language and, 

importantly, do not have the linguistic knowledge to translate medical terms critical to 

the clients’ understanding of their diagnosis and proper treatment. In addition, use of 

relatives as interpreters undermines confidentiality, and may be a source of 

embarrassment to clients with sensitive health care issues.7

 Many argue that the use of 

family members as interpreters is inappropriate, especially in the area of mental health.8

Research has confirmed that use of non-professional interpreters—whether family 

members or untrained health care staff—is a potentially dangerous practice, with 

miscommunication between the health care provider and the client a common occurrence. 

In one study conducted using taped exams of 70 Spanish-speaking children in emergency 

rooms and clinics, for example, researchers found dozens of problems arising from

inaccurate translations, some of which had potentially serious negative consequences.9

 5

 Yolanda Vera and Jane Perkins, “No Habla Inglés: Ensuring Linguistically Appropriate Health Care,” 

Clearinghouse Review (May 1995, p. 36). 6

 Ann Morse, “Language Access: Helping Non-English Speakers Navigate Health and Human Services” 

(report by the National Conference of State Legislatures Children’s Policy Initiative, January 2003, p. 1). 7

 Markian Hawryluk, “Lost in the Translation: Ways to Afford Speaking Your Patients’ Languages,” 

AMNews, December 2, 2002. 8

 Annie Steinberg and Louise Montoya, “Deaf Patients Lead Psychiatrists to New Landscapes,” Psychiatric 

Times, May 1, 2003, p. 78. 9

 Mike Conway and Ken Carlson, “Language Barriers, Translation Errors a Concern: Hospitals Try to

Bridge Gaps with Patients Who Cannot Speak English,” Modesto Bee, September 6, 2003, p. A1. 

2 
In a study of uninsured persons seeking health care at 23 hospitals in 16 U.S. cities in 

2000, less than half of the LEP clients surveyed were able to get the services of an 

interpreter when needed. This same study found that a significant proportion of these 

clients reported leaving the hospital without understanding how to take prescribed 

medications.10 Another study conducted in Rhode Island between 1999 and 2001 found 

that half of American Sign Language (ASL) users never had an interpreter at doctors’ 

appointments. Many deaf and hard-of-hearing clients have to bring a relative or friend to 

interpret, or pay a professional interpreter themselves.11

In response to the problem of linguistic barriers, health care professionals and community 

advocates in New Hampshire,12 as in the nation as a whole,13 are increasingly aware of 

the need for health care providers to be prepared for those clients who do not 

communicate proficiently in English. Many argue that the availability of appropriate 

interpretation services in health care delivery is essential for LEP, deaf, and hard-ofhearing clients to receive quality care.14 In one of its publications, the U.S. Commission 

on Civil Rights reported: 

...it is clear that the national health care system is not 

adequately meeting the interpretation needs of the limitedEnglish-proficient Asian American population. The 

bilingual family members and other untrained interpreters 

frequently used by health care providers are a poor 

substitute for trained health care interpreters... The 

shortage of interpretive services seriously limits the access 

of many Asian Americans to health care.15

This finding is also applicable to LEP people of other national origins,16 and to the deaf 

and hard-of-hearing.17

 10 Dennis Andrulis, Nanette Goodman, and Carol Pryor, “What a Difference an Interpreter Can Make” 

(Boston, MA: The Access Project, 2002). 11 Victoria A. Wilcox, “At a Loss for Words,” Providence Journal-Bulletin, September 29, 2002, p. M-01. 12 New Hampshire Child Advocacy Network, “2003 Children’s Agenda: End of Legislative Session 

Report” (Concord, NH: New Hampshire Child Advocacy Network); Terry Linehan, “Comprehensive 

Statewide needs Assessment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Citizens of New Hampshire: Final Report, June 

2003 (Concord, NH: Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services). 13 M. Lillie-Blanton and J. Hudman, “Untangling the Web: Race/Ethnicity, Immigration, and the Nation's 

Health,” American Journal of Public Health (2001, vol. 91, pp. 1736-8); Andrulis, Goodman, and Pryor, 

“What a Difference an Interpreter Can Make”; Mara Youdelman and Jane Perkins, “Providing Language 

Interpretation Services in Health Care Settings: Examples from the Field” (report by the National Health

Law Program, 2002); Brian Smedley, Adrienne Smith, and Alan Nelson, eds., Unequal Treatment:

Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care (Washington, DC: The National Academies 

Press, 2003). 

14 Andrulis, Goodman, and Pryor, “What a Difference an Interpreter Can Make.” 15 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Civil Rights Issues Facing Asian Americans in the 1990s

(Washington, DC: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1992, p. 163). 16 Lillie-Blanton and Hudman, “Untangling the Web,” pp. 1736-8; “State-Specific Trends in U.S. Live 

Births to Women Born Outside the 50 States and the District of Columbia—United States, 1990 and 2000,” 

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (December 6, 2002, p. 1091). 

3 
 17 Wilcox, “At a Loss for Words,” p. M1. 

4 
Chapter 2: New Hampshire Demographics 

In the United States the majority of LEP persons live in the traditionally high immigrant 

magnet states of California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey. 

However, figures from the U.S. Census reveal a growing dispersion of non-English 

speakers to other states.18 Even in predominantly rural states, the U.S. population is 

becoming more linguistically diverse.19 New Hampshire is no exception to the national 

trend. Although the absolute numbers remain small, between 1990 and 2000 immigrants 

to New Hampshire from Asia nearly doubled, those from Latin America increased by 136 

percent, and those from Africa tripled.20

In large urban areas in the United States, health care providers have become relatively 

accustomed and adept at dealing with and treating diverse non-English-speaking clients. 

Hospitals in urban areas with many immigrants, for instance, often have interpreters on 

staff.21 However, as more immigrants, speaking increasingly diverse languages, move to 

less urbanized states and areas such as New Hampshire, health care providers often find 

themselves ill-equipped to understand and to make themselves understood by nonEnglish-speaking newcomers in need of health care.22

According to the 2000 Census, 96,088 New Hampshire residents over the age of four 

lived in homes in which a language other than English was spoken.23,24 This number 

represents 8.3 percent of all New Hampshire residents in this age category. In contrast, 

for the U.S. as a whole, 17.9 percent of all residents over the age of four lived in homes 

where a non-English language was spoken.25

As Table 1 indicates, the most commonly spoken non-English language in New 

Hampshire is French—primarily a result of earlier French Canadian immigration.26 The 

French-speaking population in New Hampshire is predominantly elderly. Between the 

 18 Ninez Ponce and Luella Penserga, “Language Access in Health Care: Why the Policy and Practice 

Inertia?” Harvard Health Policy Review, vol. 3, no. 2 (2002). 

19 Youdelman and Perkins, “Providing Language Interpretation Services in Health Care Settings”; 

ACORN, “Speaking the Language of Care: Language Barriers to Hospital Access in America’s Cities” 

(Washington, DC: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, 2004). 20 Dale Vincent, “As the State Grows, We Become More Ethnically Diverse,” New Hampshire Sunday 

News, July 28, 2002. 21 Barry Newman, “For Ill Immigrants, Doctors’ Orders Get Lost in Translation,” The Wall Street Journal, 

Jan. 9, 2003, p. A1,8. 

22 ACORN, “Speaking the Language of Care.” 23 Of this number 28,073 persons do not speak English very well, and 13,830 live in households where no 

one member over 14 years old can communicate in English (U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, Summary

File 3, Tables P19, PCT 13, and PCT 14). These persons are at greatest risk of not having their health care 

needs adequately met because of linguistic barriers. 24 According to the 1990 Census, in contrast, 88,796 people older than four years of age lived in New 

Hampshire homes in which a non-English language was spoken (see 

http://www.census.gov/population/socdem/language/table1.txt). 25 “Table 5. Detailed List of Languages Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over by State:

2000,” U.S. Census Bureau. 26 See http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/readings/leaving.htm.

5 
1990 and 2000 Censuses, the number of French speakers in the state declined from

51,284 to 39,551, or 22.9 percent, while the total number of speakers of non-English 

languages rose by 8.2 percent. The data suggests that the non-English-speaking 

population of New Hampshire is becoming increasingly diverse (see Table 1 for a 

breakdown of the number of speakers for each non-English language spoken by at least 

1000 New Hampshire residents in 2000). The number of Spanish speakers, for example, 

nearly doubled from 9,619 in 1990 to 18,647 in 2000.27

Table 1. Detailed List of Languages Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and 

Over in New Hampshire: 200028

Language Totals

French 39,551

Spanish 18,647

German 4,788

Greek 3,411

Chinese 3,268

Italian 2,649

Portuguese 2,394

Polish 2,094

Arabic 1,462

Vietnamese 1,449

Korean 1,228

Serbo-Croatian 1,182

Russian 1,009

Other 12,956

The distribution of immigrants and refugees throughout New Hampshire is uneven. At 

the state level in 2000, 4.4 percent of the population was foreign born. In Manchester 

(pop: 107,006) and Nashua (pop: 86,605), the state’s two largest cities, the foreign-born 

population represented 9.4 and 10.1 percent of each respective city’s total population in 

2000. During the intercensus period, the growth in the foreign-born population accounted 

for 43.9 and 46.1 percent of the total population growth of Manchester and Nashua, 

respectively, while accounting for only 10.2 percent of total population growth 

statewide.29

The U.S. Census does not report demographic data relevant to persons who are deaf or 

hard-of-hearing and communicate through ASL. However, some sources estimate the 

number of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons to be 8.3 percent of the U.S. population, and 

at 109,655 in the state of New Hampshire.30

 27 See http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/language/table1.txt for 1990 Census statistics on 

language. 28 Adapted from “Table 5. Detailed List of Languages Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and 

Over by State: 2000,” U.S. Census Bureau. 

29 See www.fairus.org/html/042nhins.htm. 30 Linehan, “Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Citizens of New 

Hampshire.” 

6 
Although the Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group ranked New Hampshire first among 

the fifty states in terms of the overall health of its state population in 2000, it identified 

language barriers between health care providers and immigrant clients as a problem, 

particularly in that state’s large urban centers.31 The growing and increasingly diverse 

LEP communities and the presence of thousands of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons in 

New Hampshire highlight the need for health care professionals in the state to have in 

place policies and practices to effectively bridge language-based communication gaps as 

they arise. 

 31 Mark Haywood, “Granite State Gets a (Mostly) Clean Bill of Health for the Year,” The Union Leader, 

November 15, 2000, p. A1. 

7 
Chapter 3: Federal and State Civil Rights Regulations and Policy 

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that “No person shall on the ground of 

race, color, or national origin, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination 

under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”32 Recipients of 

federal funds, including Medicaid, may not, based on national origin, deny services, 

financial aid or other benefits; provide a different service, financial aid or other benefit, 

or provide them in a different manner from those provided to others under the program; 

or segregate or separately treat individuals in any matter related to the receipt of any 

service, financial aid or other benefit.33 Failure to provide linguistically appropriate 

services to remove barriers to health care may constitute discrimination by national 

origin.34

In August 2000, President Clinton signed an Executive Order directing federal agencies 

to provide guidance on how to improve accessibility to federally-conducted or federallyfunded programs for LEP persons.35 To implement this Order, the U.S. Department of 

Justice (DOJ) issued a policy guidance document clarifying existing Title VI 

responsibilities and stating that all recipients of federal funds “must take reasonable steps 

to provide meaningful access.”36

Based on DOJ’s initial policy guidance document in 2000 and subsequent modifications 

in 2002,37 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil 

Rights issued its own guidance specifically for HHS-funded activities, that affects a wide 

variety of health care providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, home health 

agencies, managed care organizations, universities and other entities with health research 

programs, state, county, and local health agencies, state Medicaid agencies, public and 

private contractors, subcontractors and vendors, and physicians.38

Recipients of federal funds must provide language services free of charge. These services 

may be provided by oral interpretation in person or via telephone and/or by written 

translation. Appropriate interpretation options include hiring bilingual staff or 

professional staff interpreters; contracting for interpreters; using telephone interpreter 

services; using community volunteers; and using family members or friends, if so desired 

 32 42 U.S.C. § 2000d (2004). 33 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “OCR Fact Sheet: Your Rights under Title VI of the 

Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Washington, DC, June 2000). 34 Exec. Order No. 13,166, 65 Fed. Reg. 50,121 (2000) (to be codified in 3 C.F.R.) (hereafter cited as 

Executive Order 13,166). 35 Executive Order 13,166. 36 U.S. Department of Justice, “Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—National Origin 

Discrimination against Persons with Limited English Proficiency; Policy Guidance,” 65 Fed. Reg. 50,123 

(2000). 

37 U.S. Department of Justice, “Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients Regarding Title VI 

Prohibition against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons,” 67 Fed. 

Reg. 41,455 (2002). 38 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients

Regarding Title VI Prohibition against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English

Proficient Persons,” 68 Fed. Reg. 47,311 (2003). 

8 
by the LEP patient. However, HHS guidance raises the issues of competency, 

confidentiality, and privacy if the patient chooses to use friends or family members to 

interpret.39

HHS guidance outlines four steps for the health care provider receiving federal funds to 

consider when assessing what services are appropriate for LEP clients. The first is to 

identify the number or proportion of LEP clients eligible for services or who are likely to 

be affected by the program. The second is to identify the frequency with which LEP 

clients come into contact with the health care provider. The third is to ascertain the nature 

and importance of the program or service. The fourth is to identify the resources at the 

health care provider’s disposal and the costs of accommodating LEP clients. 

Accommodation to LEP clients naturally differs from community to community, 

depending to a large extent on the size and diversity of LEP populations. Health care 

providers in linguistically, culturally, and ethnically diverse Boston, for example, face 

different sets of expectations than health care providers in predominantly rural New 

Hampshire.40

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504)41 and the Americans with 

Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)42 prohibit certain entities from discriminating against 

persons with disabilities in the provision of benefits or services or the conduct of 

programs or activities on the basis of their disability. Section 504 applies to programs or 

activities that receive federal funds. Title II of the ADA applies to all services, programs 

and activities conducted by public entities, such as state and local governments, 

departments, and agencies. The protections of Title II apply regardless of the receipt of 

federal financial assistance.43

Entities covered by the provisions of Section 504 and the ADA must provide services and 

programs in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals 

with disabilities; make reasonable modifications in their policies, practices and 

procedures to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability; and provide auxiliary aids to 

individuals with disabilities, at no additional cost, where necessary to ensure effective 

communication with individuals with hearing, vision, or speech impairments. Auxiliary 

aids include such services or devices as qualified interpreters, assistive listening headsets, 

television captioning and decoders, telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDDs), 

videotext displays, readers, taped texts, brailled materials, and large print materials.44 

 39 Ann Morse, “Language Access: Helping Non-English Speakers Navigate Health and Human Services” 

(report by the National Conference of State Legislatures Children’s Policy Initiative, January 2003, p. 7). 40 Donna Gartelman, Equal Opportunity Specialist at HHS’s Office for Civil Rights in Boston, testimony

for the New Hampshire Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, community forum,

Manchester, New Hampshire, December 4, 2004, transcript, pp. 8-9 (hereafter cited as Forum Transcript). 41 29 U.S.C. § 794 (2004). 42 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213 (2004). 43 42 U.S.C § 12132 (2004). 44 Ibid. 

9 
Federal guidelines stipulate that information provided orally for hearing patients must 

also be available through an ASL interpreter or other forms of effective communication 

for deaf or hard-of-hearing clients as long as it does not cause a fundamental alteration in 

the program or does not result in undue financial or administrative burdens.45

In addition to federal legislation against discrimination, New Hampshire has its own state 

regulations prohibiting discrimination. The New Hampshire Commission for Human 

Rights enforces New Hampshire’s statute against discrimination, RSA 354-A, in the 

areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations, which include health care 

providers. Both national origin and disability status are protected bases under New 

Hampshire’s law against discrimination. As such, LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing persons 

seeking health care are protected by state law against discrimination in places of public 

accommodation.46

The State of New Hampshire receives federal matching funds for providing language 

services to LEP applicants and recipients of Medicaid and the State Children’s Health 

Insurance Program.

47 

 45 See http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/requirec.htm. 46 Katharine Daly, Executive Director, New Hampshire Commission on Civil Rights, Forum Transcript, pp. 

31-41. 

47 NGA Center for Best Practices, “Helping Non-English Speakers Navigate Health and Human Services,” 

at < www.nga.org/center/frontAndCenter/ 1,1188,C_FRONT_CENTER%5ED_5323,00.html>, April 10, 

2003. 

10 
Chapter 4: Health Care Provider Practices and Perspectives 

Although health care providers in U.S. cities with large non-English-speaking 

populations view the issue of accommodating linguistic minorities within the health care 

system as important,48 federal guidance encouraging the use of professional interpreters 

has led some to express concern about the costs, feasibility, and desirability of such a 

practice. In one study of service delivery to Spanish speakers, more than half of surveyed 

health care professionals identified cost as the most significant factor mitigating against 

providing linguistically appropriate accommodation.49 Although private interpretation 

services are available to health care providers in many communities, many insurers will 

not pay interpretation fees, leaving individual practitioners and institutions in the health 

care industry to pay for these services. 

The American Medical Association has protested that the cost of professional 

interpretation would place a heavy burden on doctors. Moreover, some argue that many 

clients would rather rely on a close family member than an unknown professional to 

interpret for them. However, incomplete grasp of the languages involved, including 

specialized medical terminology, render reliance on family members as interpreters a 

potentially dangerous practice.50

In addition, recipients of federal funds, such as local Medicaid agencies, hospitals, and 

managed care organizations have expressed concern about being responsible for 

providing interpreters, but not receiving reimbursement.51 However, the U.S. Office of 

Management and Budget estimates that providing language services would result in only 

a 0.5 percent increase in the cost of the average health care visit.52

The rate for staff interpreters and language banks ranges from $25 to $60 per hour.53 To 

help keep costs down, hospitals frequently rely on telephone translation services. In 

Chicago, for example, health care providers have access to dial-up interpreter services, 

which offer interpretation within five to seven minutes for approximately 150 

languages.54 These services help meet the needs of small and fluctuating immigrant 

populations. For larger and more established immigrant populations, bigger health care 

organizations frequently hire permanent staff to serve as interpreters. For deaf and hardof-hearing clients, health care providers often use two-way televisions accessible within 

10 minutes for ASL interpretation.55 However, in 2002 technological solutions such as 

 48 Wirthlin Worldwide, “Hablamos Juntos: We Speak Together” (Report by Wirthlin Worldwide, 

December 2001), p.3. 

49 Ibid., p. 10. 

50 Newman, “For Ill Immigrants, Doctors’ Orders Get Lost in Translation,” p. A1. 51 Youdelman and Perkins, “Providing Language Interpretation Services in Health Care Settings.” 52 Office of Management and Budget, Report to Congress: Assessment of the Total Benefits and Costs of 

Implementing Executive Order No. 13166: Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English 

Proficiency, March 14, 2002. 53 Morse, “Language Access,” p. 9. 

54 Tona Kunz, “Open to Interpretation: Local Health Providers Seeking to Meet Community’s Diversity

Needs,” Chicago Daily Herald, August 1, 2004, p. 1. 55 Kunz, “Open to Interpretation,” p. 1. 

11 
telephone and videoconference services were at a cost of $2 to $3 a minute.56

Reimbursement from Medicaid is frequently insufficient to cover the costs of such 

interpretation services.57

Moreover, in office visits and in psychotherapy phone translation services can be clumsy, 

as well as costly. Many doctors refuse to make appointments with non-English-speaking 

clients if they do not bring their own interpretation help.58 Other physicians have turned 

to volunteers and community-based programs to meet the needs of their patients who do 

not communicate well in English.59

In New Hampshire, as in the nation as a whole, health care providers are often resistant to 

hiring professional medical interpreters because of the expense.60 However, New 

Hampshire’s Medicaid program contains provisions for reimbursement for medical 

interpretation, which eases costs for services rendered to Medicaid recipients only. 

Recently, the amount of reimbursement for health care providers using medical 

interpreters has increased. Nevertheless, the interpretation needs of non-English-speaking 

clients in the Medicaid-related health care system are still not fully being met in New 

Hampshire.61 This is also the case in the non-Medicaid-related health care system in the 

state. 

Health care providers in New Hampshire have developed approaches to service delivery 

for LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients on an institution by institution basis. The 

examples below illustrate the evolutionary character of the development of linguistically 

appropriate access to health care in the state. The examples also illustrate the commonly 

held view among New Hampshire health care providers of the importance of meeting the 

needs of non-English-speaking clients.62

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services 

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) is 

responsible for many of the regulatory, programmatic, and financial aspects of New 

Hampshire’s health care system. As such, the agency plays a key role in the planning, 

delivery, and financing of health care in the state. It provides social and support services 

to families with chronically ill or disabled members and a range of economic support 

programs to improve access to medical care by New Hampshire residents. The agency 

provides its services through 12 District Offices across the state.63 As a leader in health 

 56 Hawryluk, “Lost in the Translation.” 

57 Ibid. 

58 Newman, “For Ill Immigrants, Doctors’ Orders Get Lost in Translation.” 

59 Hawryluk, “Lost in the Translation.” 

60 Susan Wolf-Downes, Executive Director, Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc., Forum

Transcript, p. 45. 61 Bill Walker, Director, Minority Health Office, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human

Services, Forum Transcript, p. 42. 62 Panelists’ presentations were summarized from a transcript of the New Hampshire Advisory 

Committee’s December 4, 2003, community forum in Manchester, New Hampshire. The transcript is on 

file with the Eastern Regional Office of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. 63 See http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/DHHS/DHHS_SITE/ABOUT+DHHS/default.htm.

12 
care delivery in the state, the provisions NHDHHS makes to accommodate non-Englishspeaking clients helps set the tone and standards for health care providers across the state. 

In November 2000, NHDHHS began collecting data on clients whose primary language 

is other than English, including those clients who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. For that 

month, NHDHHS tracked seven languages among 145 clients using agency resources. In 

May 2001, the agency served 162 clients speaking 12 languages, and several months later 

in July of the same year, 214 clients speaking 16 languages. During the month of May 

2002, the NHDHHS served 556 clients speaking 25 languages. In January 2003, 835 

people speaking 37 different languages sought service at one of the agency’s District 

Offices. In response to the increasing demand, NHDHHS has taken steps to make its 

services more accessible to LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients, translating 

documents, putting contracts in place for interpreters in the District Offices, and 

improving its telephone access services.64

New Hampshire Hospital Association 

The New Hampshire Hospital Association (NHHA) works to preserve regulatory and 

business climates that support both the clinical and economic performance of health care 

organizations, expand access to coverage and care, enhance the future viability of 

essential community providers, and improve public confidence in hospitals and health 

care statewide.65 

NHHA members have varying levels of sophistication in terms of providing linguistically 

attuned services to LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients. Across the board, however, 

members of the association express meeting the needs of the client as their primary 

concern. Health care providers are concerned that clients understand diagnosis and 

treatment and are able to carry out instructions once at home.66

NHHA members also place emphasis on client choice. Health care provider staff at 

institutions affiliated with the association generally seek to accommodate the desires of

non-English-speaking clients in determining how to best bridge communication gaps. 

Some clients, for example, do not want interpreters present in person because of 

confidentiality or cultural concerns, even though it is frequently difficult to convey such 

personal issues as one’s medical condition over a telephone device—a method sometimes 

used to uphold the confidentiality of the patient.67

There is great geographic diversity in New Hampshire, which affects the readiness of 

health care providers in different parts of the state to meet the needs of non-Englishspeaking clients. What may be appropriate in Manchester or Nashua given the 

demographic diversity in those cities may not be feasible in more rural Woodsville or 

 64 Walker, pp. 19-21. 65 See http://www.nhha.org/nhha/about. 66 Leslie Melby, Vice President for Government Relations, New Hampshire Hospital Association, Forum

Transcript, pp. 81-82. 67 Ibid. pp. 82-83. 

13 
Lancaster.68 In the northern part of the state, for example, most LEP residents have 

traditionally been French speakers—older residents of French Canadian origin. However, 

in recent years the LEP population speaking other languages has grown. At the 

Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin, for example, administrators have recently been 

challenged with providing medical interpretation and translation in Spanish to better 

communicate with LEP Latinos moving to the area from Massachusetts.69

Different hospitals have adopted varying practices to respond to situations unique to their 

institution. For example, one hospital with a large Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking 

clientele with questions about billing and financial assistance designated two interpreters 

to deal with these questions. The hospital has done this for three years. Word has spread 

in the community about this hospital’s practice, which, in turn, has served to attract even 

greater numbers of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking clients to the hospital.70

NHHA members have access to an Emergency Referral System, which is available 24 

hours a day and seven days a week, to access interpreters. Many members also have the 

AT&T Language Line, which offers interpretation in 150 languages, and Deaf Talk TV, 

which offers ASL interpretation. Many health care providers in New Hampshire rely on 

these services when in-person interpreters are not available or feasible. Some NHHA 

members also have bilingual staff identified to serve as medical interpreters when 

needed.71,72

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire 

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon (DHMC) offers an example of how a 

New Hampshire-based hospital is working to meet the challenges to providing 

appropriate services to LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients. DHMC is an ambulatory 

clinic, as well as an inpatient medical center, providing primary and tertiary care. 

Lebanon is a relatively small community in rural New Hampshire north and west of the 

state’s large urban centers of Manchester, Nashua and Portsmouth. As such, the 

challenges faced by DHMC may be indicative of challenges faced by other health care 

providers in rural areas of the state. 

DHMC has provided interpretation for LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients for years. 

Although the hospital has had some success in providing interpretation services to deaf 

and hard-of-hearing clients, challenges remain in this area. In addition, one of the 

primary challenges DHMC faces is finding foreign language interpreters. Historically, 

the hospital has used on-call staff to serve as interpreters in emergency situations, and for 

outpatient and inpatient visits. In relatively rural Lebanon, foreign language interpreters 

 68 Ibid., p. 87. 

69 Ibid., pp. 83-84. 70 Ibid., pp. 88-89. 71 Ibid., pp. 89-90. 72 It is important that interpreters be trained to fully handle complex medical situations in the two

languages. Untrained interpreters are frequently not able to translate the range of medical terms in a typical

health care setting, thereby putting the patient at risk (Lina Ruiz-Mingote, New Hampshire Advisory

Committee member, email communication, September 3, 2004). 

14 
external to DHMC frequently live two hours or more from the hospital. To remedy the 

difficulty in procuring live interpreters in cases of emergency and for routine 

appointments, the hospital uses telephone interpretation services as a safety net, and 

recently acquired a video deaf and foreign language interpretation unit primarily for its 

emergency room as well.73 The hospital uses Deaf Talk Plus, a video sign and foreign 

language service, that provides access to ASL interpreters as well as interpreters in 20 

foreign languages within five to ten minutes of a client’s arrival at the emergency 

department.74

Internally, DHMC has encountered some resistance from its staff members to using the 

telephone and video interpreter systems. Hospital staff prefer in-person interpreters. 

However, due to an extreme shortage of foreign language interpreters, particularly for 

less common immigrant languages, the use of in-person interpreters is not feasible in 

many instances.75

Although the need is growing, there are no resources north of Concord, New Hampshire 

that coordinate foreign language interpreter services. DHMC has entered into 

collaboration with the Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center to test the 

English and non-English language competence of those hospital staff members providing 

medical interpretation services. The hospital also has plans to work with Dartmouth 

College to train students attending the college and residents of the community who speak 

a foreign language to interpret at DHMC.76

Visiting Nurse Association of Manchester and Southern New Hampshire, Inc. 

The Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) does home visits in and around Manchester, New 

Hampshire. VNA’s clients speak many different languages and represent many different 

cultures. To accommodate some of these clients, VNA has bilingual staff and offers 

interpretation services.77

However, in many instances, VNA’s clients prefer to have family members or friends 

present and to translate for them. VNA staff often have to teach family members or 

friends how to care for the clients when staff is not present in the home. For example, 

VNA staff have had to train caregivers how to do wound dressings. In this and other 

instances, VNA finds that using family or friends as interpreters works best.78

The cost of hiring a professional interpreter can be prohibitive. VNA pays from 60 to 100 

dollars per home visit for interpretation services, which is more than VNA gets in 

 73 Michele Blanchard, Senior Care Manager, Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, Forum Transcript, pp. 

65-68. 

74 Michele Blanchard, email communication, January 9, 2004. 75 Blanchard, Forum Transcript, pp. 65-68. 76 Michele Blanchard, faxed communication, August 26, 2004. 77 Dottie Gove, Director of Development and Community Relations, Visiting Nurse Association of

Manchester and Southern New Hampshire, Forum Transcript, p. 77. 78 Ibid., p. 78. 

15 
reimbursement for the whole home visit service. To avoid the expense and to meet client 

needs, bilingual staff often work extra hours.79

Prohibitive costs notwithstanding, Dottie Gove, VNA’s Director of Development and 

Community Relations, highlights the role of cultural broker interpreters can play in the 

health care setting. Ms. Gove recounted an incident of a crying baby in VNA’s Child 

Care Center and Parenting Education Program. A woman who is originally from Sudan 

took the crying baby, which was not her own, and nursed it, comforting and calming the 

child. One staff member objected. However, someone at the Center who understood this 

aspect of Sudanese culture was able to explain that in many communities in Sudan it is 

common practice for a nursing woman to pick up another woman’s baby and nurse it 

when needed.80

Manchester Health Department, Manchester, New Hampshire 

The Manchester Health Department’s (MHD) mission is to improve the health of 

individuals, families, and the community through disease prevention, health promotion, 

and protection from environmental threats.81 MHD serves clients from a wide variety of 

national origin backgrounds, including both immigrants and resettled refugees.82 

With resettled refugees, MHD works closely with Lutheran Social Services and the 

International Institute of New Hampshire, two resettlement agencies active in the state. 

MHD sees all refugees coming into the Manchester area for tuberculosis testing, to 

conduct brief health assessments, and to provide a health orientation. The two 

resettlement agencies provide interpreters for the initial assessments.83 

In addition to interpretation services offered by the resettlement agencies, MHD has four 

interpreters on staff, who speak Spanish, Bosnian, Russian, and Vietnamese. However, 

MHD currently serves a clientele speaking many different languages. For less commonly 

spoken languages, the agency does not have interpreters on hand, and frequently uses the 

services of interpreter banks in the region. However, although MHD does receive some

grant funding for interpretation services, it is often not sufficient to meet the need.84 

Earlier in its history, MHD staff relied on pantomime to communicate with non-Englishspeaking patients. They later made up flashcards based on frequently asked questions, 

translated from English to the targeted language. The agency then went on to use 

electronic translators, and translation via the Internet. However, for clients who have 

visual impairment or who have limited literacy, these means of bridging the 

communications gap do not work. MHD has found trained interpreters the best way to 

 79 Ibid., p. 79. 

80 Ibid., p. 81. 

81 See http://216.204.100.81/CityGov/HLT/Home.html. 82 Irene Proulx, Public Health Specialist, Manchester Health Department, Forum Transcript, pp. 69-70. 83 Ibid., p. 70. 

84 Ibid., pp. 71-72. 

16 
communicate with non-English-speaking clients and currently uses this method whenever 

possible.85

MHD recognizes and values the role interpreters play as cultural brokers. Irene Proulx, 

public health specialist at MHD, defined cultural competence as, “The ability of

individuals and systems to respond respectively and effectively to people of all cultures. 

This consists of tailoring delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs.” 

Interpreters help bridge the gap in cultural understanding between the health care 

provider and the client, in addition to the linguistic gap.86

In addition to oral interpretation, MHD has had written materials translated into targeted 

immigrant and refugee languages. For example, the agency translated its manual on 

tuberculosis into nine languages. However, agency staff find it is often the tenth language 

they need, but cannot find, thus pointing to the ongoing challenges of providing 

appropriate care to LEP clients whose nature and diversity are in continual flux.87

 85 Ibid., pp. 72-74. 86 Ibid., p. 75. 

87 Ibid., pp. 75-76. 

17 
Chapter 5: Client Advocate Perspectives 

In New Hampshire, language barriers continue to be a problem in spite of steps taken by 

health care providers to make their services more accessible to LEP clients. A Spanishspeaking LEP mother of a one-year-old with a congenital birth defect, for example, 

experienced difficulty getting linguistically appropriate services from a hospital in 

northern New Hampshire. Each time this client visited the hospital, professional 

interpretation services were not provided. On one occasion, however, hospital staff 

brought someone up from the cafeteria to interpret for the client. On another, the client’s 

daughter had to spend the night in the hospital. The client did not know what was wrong 

with her daughter until three days later, when her pediatrician in Manchester contacted 

the hospital. She was afraid that there may have been a change in the direction of her 

daughter’s treatment without her being informed of this change.88

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, deaf and hard-ofhearing people seeking health care still face considerable barriers to communication with 

health care providers. Sometimes the fault is with health care professionals, while many 

deaf and hard-of-hearing people shun needed care because they dread trying to 

communicate.89

Members of deaf communities, like some members of other minority groups, share a 

culture that is distinct from that of the majority.90 Differences between hearing and deaf 

culture, life experiences, and the dimensions of language that capture these experiences 

can be difficult to bridge in health care settings without linguistically appropriate 

accommodations.91

In a statewide needs assessment of deaf and hard-of-hearing residents of New Hampshire, 

issues related to access were foremost on people’s minds. Communication barriers 

abound for deaf and hard-of-hearing persons in hospitals and health care facilities. One 

informant in the needs assessment stated summarily, “It is a living hell if you can’t 

communicate.”92

The needs assessment report observes that health care facilities should have assistive 

listening devices and TTYs and that staff should know how to access and use the 

equipment.93 A majority of deaf assessment participants expressed the need for more 

 88 Gregory Orr, New Hampshire Advisory Committee member, Forum Transcript, pp. 93-94. Mr. Orr had 

contact with the mother of the child. 89 Wilcox, “At a Loss for Words,” p. M-01. 

90 The term “deaf” indicates those persons who identify themselves with the deaf community based on a 

shared culture and communication mode, i.e. ASL. However, not all individuals with a profound hearing 

loss identify with the deaf community (see Linehan, “Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment for 

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Citizens of New Hampshire”). 

91 Steinberg and Montoya, “Deaf Patients Lead Psychiatrists to New Landscapes,” p. 78. 

92 Linehan, “Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Citizens of New 

Hampshire,” p. 19. 

93 Ibid., p. 20. 

18 
skilled, certified interpreters to overcome all too frequent linguistic barriers when seeking 

health care and other services.94 

In New Hampshire, many deaf or hard-of-hearing persons seeking health care bring 

family members along to serve as interpreters. Susan Wolf-Downes of Northeast Deaf 

and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. stresses that this practice should be avoided because 

the average lay person does not know medical terminology the way a certified or licensed 

interpreter would. In her own experience, Ms. Wolf-Downes finds that the presence of a 

professional interpreter makes it much easier for her and her physician to communicate 

during office visits.95

New Hampshire organizations representing LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients of 

institutions of health care point to the continued need to improve access to health care for 

these clients. In New Hampshire, there is still much to be done to raise the consciousness 

of health care providers about the importance of these issues so that non-Englishspeaking clients get the care they need. However, these and other advocacy groups have 

taken proactive steps to ease barriers to health care for New Hampshire residents who do 

not communicate well in English. 

Bienestar Mental Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill – New Hampshire 

The Bienestar Mental Program of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of New 

Hampshire (NAMI) is aimed at ensuring that members of the various Spanish-speaking 

communities of Nashua, New Hampshire have access to appropriate mental health care. 

In the area of mental health, where there is stigma attached to those with mental illness, 

cultural and linguistic competence are especially important. Failure to bridge the 

communication gap, which is both linguistic and cultural, could lead to inappropriate 

diagnosis and treatment. Mental health care, perhaps more than any other field of health 

care, is language bound. Existing language barriers impede LEP clients from necessary 

access to mental health care.96

Confidentiality is particularly important when interpreters are used in a mental health 

care setting. For example, a Spanish-speaking man who was suffering from severe 

depression went to a mental health center in New Hampshire with his daughter. The 

mental health center had no interpretation services and asked the daughter to interpret for 

center staff and her father. The practice of using family members, especially a child of 

the patient, to interpret seriously undermines the ability of non-English-speaking clients 

to get the care they need. In the presence of their children or other family members, 

clients may withhold information vital to their diagnosis and treatment.97

Moreover, when a professional interpreter is available and used, it is important that the 

interpreter is appropriately trained to work in mental health settings. Interpreters in 

 94 Ibid., p. 23. 

95 Wolf-Downes, pp. 30-31. 96 Aida Cases, Project Coordinator, Bienestar Mental Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill –

New Hampshire, Forum Transcript, pp. 124-25. 97 Ibid., pp. 128-29. 

19 
mental health settings must not answer for the patient, which is common practice among 

untrained interpreters, but must rather interpret what the patient actually expresses 

verbally.98

One of the major difficulties in making the use of professional medical interpreters more 

widespread in health care settings in New Hampshire is their cost. Most institutions of

health care delivery are not willing to pay the interpreters. Cost prevents them from

having full-time interpreters on staff. Instead, institutions contact interpreters on call, and 

generally at the last minute. However, many institutions also are reluctant to hire on-call 

interpreters, due again to their high cost.99

New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition 

The New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition (NHMHC) is a partnership of health care 

professionals, community-based organizations, state and local agencies, local companies, 

and private citizens, and has as its mission, “to identify populations in the state with 

barriers to accessing appropriate healthcare, to advocate for adequate and appropriate 

services and to empower these populations to be active participants in their own health 

care.”100

NHMHC has been working with the Medical Interpretation Advisory Board and the 

Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center, as well as various partners, 

including the Manchester Mental Health Center, Catholic Medical Center, Dartmouth 

Hitchcock Medical Center, Lutheran Community Services, New Hampshire Community 

Technical College, the Manchester Community Resource Center, and others to secure 

funding and to provide professional medical interpreter training so that health care 

providers in New Hampshire will be able to put into place systems to accommodate LEP 

clients.101

In the more than two years of its existence, the collaborative effort has trained 105 

individuals in medical interpretation, based in communities such as Manchester, Bedford, 

Nashua, Merrimack, Hudson, and Concord, and speaking more than 22 languages.102

NHMHC has also trained community members so that they better understand their civil 

rights when seeking health care.103

Refugee Resettlement Program, Lutheran Social Services of New England 

In many countries, where multilingualism is the norm, the provision of interpretation in 

health care settings is also the norm. However, in New Hampshire providing medical 

interpretation is not yet normalized. When the medical problem is obvious, such as a 

dislocated shoulder, language barriers are not so consequential. However, if the medical 

 98 Ibid., pp. 131-32. 99 Ibid., p. 168. 100 See http://www.nhhealthequity.org/aboutnhmh.html. 101 Jazmin Miranda-Smith, Executive Director, New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition, Forum

Transcript, pp. 137-38. 102 Jazmin Miranda-Smith, faxed communication, August 19, 2004. 103 Miranda-Smith, Forum Transcript, pp. 138-40. 

20 
condition is more internalized and the health care provider needs to ask probing questions 

to ascertain the nature of the condition, language barriers become more problematic, 

according to Dr. Mourad Lakhdari, Medical Case Manager of the Refugee Resettlement 

Program of Lutheran Social Services of New England (LSSNE).104

Language barriers have resulted in negative or potentially negative outcomes. For 

example, members of an entire family—all of whom did not speak English—had the 

same set of shots twice over three days during visits to a health care provider, when they 

were only supposed to receive one set of shots. This was due to miscommunication.105

In another instance, an LEP client had to go to the emergency room of a New Hampshire 

hospital for treatment. The hospital provided no interpretation services to this client, who 

had to rely on a family member whose command of English was also poor. For a year, 

the client thought she had her kidney removed because she misunderstood the health care 

provider’s diagnosis of her condition. It was only after going through her paperwork that 

she learned the hospital removed her gallbladder.106

As a further example, LSSNE’s school liaison caseworker received a call from a teacher 

of a young student who had been missing many days from school. The caseworker 

learned that the student was staying out of school to interpret for his mother, who was 

sick and needed the child by her side during her many medical related appointments. If 

the health care providers had interpretation services in place, the child would not have 

had to miss school to help his mother.107

Granite State Independent Living 

Granite State Independent Living (GSIL) is a private, non-profit organization committed 

to equal opportunity for all people with disabilities.108 GSIL works to remove physical, 

attitudinal, and social barriers to independence for people with disabilities by ensuring 

the availability of the broadest range of services, advocacy efforts, and social supports.109

GSIL offers a deaf services program, through which the deaf and hard-of-hearing and 

health care providers can secure ASL interpreters.110

In New Hampshire, there is a limited supply of ASL interpreters. Moreover, health care 

providers in the state frequently do not have ASL interpretation services on site. For 

these reasons, clients needing the assistance of an ASL interpreter are advised to make a 

request for such an interpreter and to follow up on the request a week before the 

appointment with the health care provider to ensure the interpreter’s availability.111

 104 Mourad Lakhdari, Medical Case Manager, Refugee Resettlement Program, Lutheran Social Services of 

New England, Forum Transcript, pp. 143-44. 105 Ibid., p. 145. 106 Ibid., pp. 147-48. 107 Ibid., p. 148. 108 See http://www.gsil.org. 

109 See http://www.gsil.org/Who.htm. 110 Claudia Nixon-Laquerre, Deaf Services/Communication Access Coordinator, Granite State Independent 

Living, Forum Transcript, p. 150. 111 Ibid., p. 152. 

21 
Failure to have the assistance of an ASL interpreter during visits with health care 

providers can lead to undesirable outcomes for deaf and hard-of-hearing clients. In a New 

Hampshire doctor’s office visit where no ASL interpreter was made available, for 

example, one deaf client with diabetes and very thin skin was instructed to apply a 

particular kind of tape to his skin. Not understanding the instructions, the client went out 

and bought adhesive tape from a local store, applied the tape, and subsequently tore off a 

large swathe of his skin. Had an ASL interpreter been present, the doctor’s message 

would have been properly communicated and the client could have avoided injuring 

himself.112

New Hampshire Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. 

There has been some progress in tailoring linguistically appropriate services to deaf and 

hard-of-hearing clients of health care institutions. New Hampshire Deaf and Hard of

Hearing Services, Inc. (NHDHHS), for example, has experienced a 500 percent increase 

in requests for ASL interpreters over the recent one year period.113

However, there is a lot of turnover among ASL interpreters, and training new interpreters 

is problematic. There is a need to work with graduates of interpreter training programs in 

New Hampshire to encourage them to stay and work in the state. One way to facilitate the 

training of future ASL interpreters is to set up a mentorship program so that veteran 

interpreters can work with new interpreters to keep them in the field.114

Debbie McKinney, advocate and case manager at NHDHHS, argues that the use of TV 

Talk in health care settings forces many deaf and hard-of-hearing clients to use that 

technology instead of a live ASL interpreter.115 In addition, health care staff often do not 

know how to set up the equipment so that it is even usable. Ms. McKinney argues that if 

a deaf person wants to have a live ASL interpreter present, such an interpreter should be 

made available.116

New Hampshire Legal Assistance 

New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA) has been working for a number of years on 

the issue of access to health care by non-English-speaking clients. NHLA has found that 

although many institutions of health care delivery have plans in place to meet the needs 

of non-English-speaking clients, it is generally only the upper management of such 

institutions who understand the plans and how they are to function. In many institutions, 

front office staff are not familiar enough with the plan or are not being encouraged or 

 112 Ibid., p. 155-56. 113 Debbie McKinney, Advocate/Case Manager, Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc., Forum

Transcript, p. 169. 114 Ibid., pp. 171-72. 115 TV Talk, providing quick, long-distance access to professional ASL interpretation services, relies on 

televison monitors and audio receivers and speakers to enable communication between health care 

providers and deaf and hard-of-hearing clients. 116 McKinney, Forum Transcript, p. 170. 

22 
trained to use it and get LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients the linguistically 

appropriate services they need.117

NHLA has found that many non-English-speaking clients of health care may get through 

the door to receive care, but are often told that their needs cannot be met and that they 

must come back later with their own interpreter. Moreover, when the client does bring an 

interpreter no effort is made to find out whether the interpreter has adequate linguistic 

knowledge to meet the demands of a medical setting.118

 117 Lynne Parker, Staff Attorney, New Hampshire Legal Assistance, Forum Transcript, p. 163. 118 Ibid., p. 164. 

23 
Chapter 6: Findings and Recommendations 

Among health care providers in New Hampshire, there is a growing awareness of the 

need to make services accessible to those clients who do not communicate well in 

English. However, in spite of this awareness, the need is only partially being met. Many 

LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing residents of the state continue to suffer from limited 

access to health care because of the failure of health care providers to make appropriate 

interpretation services available. 

Health care providers, clients, and client advocates tend to agree that in-person 

professionally trained medical interpreters represent the ideal means of overcoming 

language-based communication gaps. However, such professionals are expensive. 

Because of this and because of difficulties securing professionally trained interpreters of 

certain key languages, New Hampshire health care providers are turning to other ways of 

easing barriers to communication. 

Some New Hampshire health care providers, for instance, have identified bilingual staff 

to serve as interpreters when needed. Others rely on telephone and video services for 

their professional interpretation needs. Others still have entered partnerships with 

educational institutions in the state to provide training to students and community 

members who speak different non-English languages to increase the supply of 

interpreters. 

Based on information gathered at its community forum and additional research, the New 

Hampshire Advisory Committee makes the following recommendations concerning 

access to health care in New Hampshire by LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients: 

• Health care providers should conduct needs assessments to ascertain the extent to 

which LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients use their services and the extent to 

which they are able to appropriately accommodate this client population. 

• Health care providers should have plans in place which effectively address the 

needs of LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients, and staff at appropriate levels 

should be aware of the plans and be trained in how to implement them when a 

non-English-speaking client walks through the door. 

• Health care providers should continue to explore and develop cost-effective ways 

to remove the language barriers that prevent LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing 

clients from gaining access to health care of a quality on par with Englishspeaking clients. 

• Health care providers, client advocacy groups, and educational institutions 

training medical interpreters should work together to identify (1) areas of service 

delivery to LEP, deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients that need improvement, (2) 

methods of providing professional interpretation services that meet the needs of 

both health care providers and diverse non-English-speaking clients, and (3) how 

24 
to best provide training opportunities to ensure the availability of a sufficient 

corps of medical interpreters in the state and its regions. 

Health care providers, client advocates, and legislators in other states have also been 

grappling with how to remove barriers to access to health care by LEP, deaf, and hard-ofhearing clients. In terms of best practices implemented in other states, the National 

Governor’s Association for Best Practices lauded Massachusetts and Rhode Island for 

enacting legislation to require interpreters in emergency rooms and hospitals, 

respectively, and Oregon for creating a health care interpreters council.119 

Massachusetts’ law, which took effect July 1, 2001, requires interpreters in 

Massachusetts emergency rooms and calls for hospital designation of a coordinator of 

interpreter services, posting of notices and signage informing emergency room patients of 

their right to interpreter services, hospitals to perform an annual language needs 

assessment in their service areas, assurance by hospitals that interpreters have received 

appropriate training, and hospitals to refrain from encouraging the use of family members 

to interpret and using minor children to interpret.120

Rhode Island’s law requires hospitals in the state to provide a qualified interpreter, if an 

appropriate bilingual clinician is not available to translate, in connection with all services 

provided to every non-English speaker who is a patient or seeks appropriate care and 

treatment and is not accompanied or represented by an appropriate qualified interpreter 

who has attained at least 16 years of age. In addition, Rhode Island hospitals must 

conspicuously post notice of the above requirement in English and in at least three of the 

most common foreign languages used by the hospital.121

The Oregon Health Interpreter Council was created by state statute122 to develop testing, 

qualification, and certification standards for health care interpreters; to coordinate with 

other states on educational and testing programs; and to examine operational and funding 

issues. The state statute also requires that the Oregon Department of Human Services 

establish, subject to available funding, a program for the certification of health care 

interpreters for non-English-speaking clients.123

Based on best practices identified in other states, the New Hampshire Advisory 

Committee makes an additional recommendation: 

• New Hampshire health care providers and advocates of LEP, deaf, and hard-ofhearing clients should consider working together and with state legislators to 

 119 National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices, “Helping Non-English Speakers Navigate

Health and Human Services,” at < www.nga.org/center/frontAndCenter/ 

1,1188,C_FRONT_CENTER%5ED_5323,00.html>, April 10, 2003. 120 MASS. ANN. LAWS, ch. 111, § 25J (2004). 121 R.I. GEN. LAWS § 23-17-54 (2004). 122 OR. REV. STAT. § 409.619 (2003). 123 OR. REV. STAT. § 409.621 (2003). 

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explore options in the establishment of statewide standards for medical 

interpreters and on the use of interpretation services in health care settings. 

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Appendix 1: Resources 

Federal and State Agencies 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights 

(OCR) enforces certain federal civil rights laws that protect the rights of all persons in the 

United States to receive health and human services without discrimination based on race, 

color, national origin, disability, age, and in some cases, sex and religion. 

If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your race, color, 

national origin, disability, age, sex or religion by a health care or human services 

provider (such as a hospital, nursing home, social service agency, etc.) or by a state or 

local government health or human services agency, you may file a complaint with OCR. 

Complaints alleging discrimination based on disability by programs directly operated by 

HHS may also be filed with OCR. You may file a complaint for yourself or for someone 

else. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Office for Civil Rights 

Government Center 

John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Room 2100 

Boston, MA 02203 

617-565-3809 (voice) 

617-565-1343 (TDD) 

New Hampshire law protects against discrimination on the basis of national origin and 

disability in public accommodations, which includes health care providers. If you have 

questions about your rights under state law, you should contact the New Hampshire 

Commission for Human Rights. 

New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights 

2 Chenell Drive 

Concord, NH 03301-8501 

603-271-2767 (voice) 

800-735-2964 (TDD) 

humanrights@nhsa.state.nh.us (e-mail) 

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ (NHDHHS) Minority 

Health Office works to encourage the provision of culturally and linguistically 

appropriate services to New Hampshire residents by NHDHHS; maintains 

communication with racial, ethnic, and other medically underserved populations to create 

partnerships to address health disparities; and collaborates and partners with federal and 

other state minority health offices and New Hampshire health and community agencies 

regarding health disparity initiatives. 

Minority Health Office 

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New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services 

129 Pleasant Street 

Concord, NH 03301-3857 

800-852-3345, ext. 3986 (voice) 

800-735-2964 (TDD) 

Selected Private Organizations 

The following is a list of selected private organizations that may be able to provide help 

and information on the topics covered in this report. 

The Bienestar Mental Program of the National Association for the Mentally Ill – New 

Hampshire (NAMI NH) provides education, support, medical interpretation, and 

advocacy to the Latino community of Nashua. NAMI NH collaborates with the Nashua 

mental health system and school district, as well as the Minority Health Office of the 

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, to address the disparity of 

equal access due to cultural and language differences in mental health care. 

Bienestar Mental Program

National Association for the Mentally Ill – New Hampshire 

15 Green Street 

Concord, NH 03301 

800-242-6264 (voice) 

info@naminh.org (e-mail) 

The Disabilities Rights Center is dedicated to eliminating barriers existing in New 

Hampshire to the full and equal enjoyment of civil and other legal rights by people with 

disabilities.

Disabilities Rights Center 

18 Low Avenue 

Concord, NH 03302 

800-834-1721 (voice and TDD) 

Granite State Independent Living (GSIL) is a private, non-profit organization committed 

to equality of opportunity for all people with disabilities. GSIL is a statewide 

information, advocacy, and direct services organization run by and for people with 

disabilities who want to control their own destinies and make their own life choices. 

Granite State Independent Living 

21 Chenell Drive 

Concord, NH 03301 

603-228-9680 (voice) 

800-826-3700 (TTY/V) 

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New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition’s mission is to identify populations in the 

state with barriers to accessing appropriate healthcare, to advocate for adequate and 

appropriate services, and to empower these populations to be active participants in their 

own health care. 

New Hampshire Minority Health Coalition 

25 Lowell Street, 3rd Floor 

Manchester, NH 03101 

866-460-9933 (voice) 

Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. (NDHHS) seeks to empower, educate, 

and advocate for equal access and opportunity for deaf and hard-of-hearing residents of 

New Hampshire. NDHHS is committed to the provision of services in a culturally 

sensitive environment, which promote independence and productivity. 

Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. 

125 Airport Rd. 

Concord, NH 03301 

800-492-0407 (voice) 

866-634-4764 (TTY) 

New Hampshire Legal Assistance handles legal matters involving health care and 

provides free legal help to low-income persons who cannot afford a private attorney. 

New Hampshire Legal Assistance 

1361 Elm Street 

Manchester, NH 03101 

800-562-3174 (voice) 

naminh@naminh.org (email) 

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