Oral interpretation and culturally appropriate care is provided to Health Department clients through a combination of permanent and extra-help interpreters. Actual scheduling of interpreters is done by the individual district offices and clinics. There are currently over 100 interpreters, speaking a total of more than 40 languages and dialects, the top three being Spanish, Vietnamese, and Russian. Health Department employees can then call upon any of the interpreters from the list as needed. Interpreters can be prescheduled or called upon for immediate and telephone interpretation.
Most interpreters carry pagers to facilitate access.
The project provides field testing information and techniques, helps health care providers communicate health information in a culturally appropriate manner that respects and values the clients' cultural differences, develops culturally appropriate education materials, and develops criteria for quality assurance of written translations. The Refugee Health Screening Program continues to provide free screening and referral services for all newly arriving refugees and for immigrants and humanitarian parolees with Class A or Class B medical conditions. Using a multidisciplinary, linguistically appropriate health team, and often drawing upon specially trained members of the interpreter list, the clinic coordinates scheduling with the sponsoring voluntary agency to ensure that all refugees are screened. The health screenings take place at least twice a week at two health department clinic sites. All Limited English Proficient clients of any service offered by the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health.