Good news on breaking down language barriers for Hispanic patients? No, not really, according to a survey funded by a supplemental medical insurance provider, Aflac. In the national 2023 study of Spanish-speaking patients, a third of the 2,001 employed adults … Continue reading →
Here’s a chance to voice your opinions on health equity and optimal health outcomes — and in a way that’s more likely to result in change than simply mumbling around the water cooler. The Minnesota Department of Health is looking … Continue reading →
Translating health education materials is a step in the right direction. But if the material is difficult to understand in English, translation won’t make it better. Get insight on improving the usefulness of your communication at the virtual Health Literacy … Continue reading →
What’s does job security look like for interpreters in the face of recent advances in artificial intelligence? Get the low down from Middlebury Institute of International Studies associate professor Barry Olson, a conference interpreter with 25 years of experience. Olson … Continue reading →
Getting the language right in health communication is one thing, but placing the words in a relevant cultural context is another. Get insight from industry experts on creating a culturally appropriate environment in a Public Health Communications Collaborative webinar, Noon … Continue reading →
Here’s a dose of bad news from the Hastings Center on the failures of medical interpretation and the resulting harm to patients. In this recent essay, Medical Interpretation in the U.S. is Inadequate and Harming Patients, a team of writers observe that … Continue reading →
Those hazy days that result from distant fires raise an obvious question: what can I do to protect myself and my family both indoors and outdoors? Here’s information in Spanish and English that offers steps you and your patients can … Continue reading →
Are you or your co-workers worn down by the stress of trying to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee communities? Here’s information that can help, to be offered by the Metro Immigrant and Refugee Health Network in a WebEx … Continue reading →
Among the challenges for refugee youth: overcoming stress resulting from migration and resettlement. At worst they can be subject to abuse, exploitation and trafficking, but also routinely suffer from limited access to resources and the dislocation of existing as a … Continue reading →
What is a problem all too common for medical interpreters? When Kelly Henriquez asked that question at a panel on interpreter self-care at a national conference, the answer she got was, Loneliness. Henriquez, a dual-certified Spanish medical/healthcare interpreter working in … Continue reading →
It’s one thing to interpret with pauses allowed in the exchange between speakers. But as this amusing and instructive video explains, simultaneous interpretation is a more daunting and sophisticated task that requires years of preparation. The instance depicted by the … Continue reading →
Usually we’re here concerned with the utilitarian aspects of translation. How does a Hmong patient, for example, best learn more about foot care with diabetes, post-op care or child immunization schedules? This week let’s take a step off the path … Continue reading →
Take a look at this video that compares the efforts of two human interpreters against interpretation provided by the AI app, Kudo. The results? Less weighted against AI than you might think. The human interpreters found some of the language … Continue reading →
Navigating the medical, governmental and business structures of the US is a routine challenge for college-educated native English speakers. Now imagine attempting the same as a recent immigrant. And now take it a step further: you’re a child in an … Continue reading →
Get a handle on understanding the effect of traumatic stress on children who have been displaced and relocated by force in this free webinar, Traumatic Stress Among Refugee Children and Youth, set for noon to 1:30 pm, Wednesday, June 21. … Continue reading →
Get a look at a version of the future — here’s an AI-powered robot that switches with alacrity from English to German to Chinese to Japanese in a Q&A with an off-screen interviewer. A video of the conversation appears in … Continue reading →
A global study recently published in the magazine Nature reveals a solution to lowering death rates among women: make cash grants to them and their families. In countries making such payments, deaths among women fell by 20 percent, while deaths … Continue reading →
The New York Times recently took a crack at explaining the latest permutation of diversity training in this story: Why Some Companies Are Saying ‘Diversity and Belonging’ Instead of ‘Diversity and Inclusion.’ Reporter Jennifer Miller describes a new generation of … Continue reading →
Did your patients postpone well-child visits and immunizations during three years of worry about COVID-19? Here are reminders in Hmong, Spanish and Somali that explain why they should get back on track. This Minnesota Council of Health Plans website explains … Continue reading →
A recent Tip of the Week reported on research showing that more money and more education generally protects women from bad birth outcomes — except if you’re Black. Compared to the richest white mothers, the richest Black mothers and their … Continue reading →
Communicating health risks in an emergency to immigrant, refugee and migrant communities can be tricky. Get help via this best practices webinar, set for Tuesday, May 9, noon – 1:30 p.m., offered by the Minnesota Department of Health and the … Continue reading →
In case you missed it until now, here’s a lively online exhibition offered by the Smithsonian Institution. The Bias Inside Us sets out to: Help people understand and counter their implicit biases. Build capacity in communities to convene dialogue that … Continue reading →
Here’s another way of looking at the causes of health disparities. Thirty years ago, University of Michigan researcher Arline Geronimus advanced a theory that the stress of living in a racist society can lead to bad health outcomes for marginalized … Continue reading →
If you’re interested in the life span of languages, here’s an intriguing story in the New York Times, New Mexico Is Losing a Form of Spanish Spoken Nowhere Else on Earth. The piece describes the arrival of Spanish-speaking migrants who … Continue reading →
Here’s help on getting your health messages across in a way that most people can understand. Check out a new resource from the Public Health Communications Collaborative, Plain Language for Public Health. Clear communication helps beat back harmful health-related fabrications. … Continue reading →
Good news if you happen to be an athlete, bus mechanic, or short order cook. Those professions are judged to be least affected as artificial intelligence becomes, well, more intelligent, according to a paper published in March by University of … Continue reading →
Get a close look at the continuing deep economic disparities among Minnesota’s different cultural groups in “The Economic Status of Minnesotans 2023,” a new report by the Minnesota State Demographic Center. The report analyzes data points that compare the state’s … Continue reading →
English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish speakers can get easier access to care and treatment — and suffer less risk of serious disease — through a telehealth partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health and Cue Health. Here’s how it works. … Continue reading →
If you’re on the lookout for shocking statistics, here are some from a recent New York Times story, Childbirth Is Deadlier for Black Families Even When They’re Rich, Expansive Study Finds. For the richest white mothers, 173 babies die before … Continue reading →
Here’s a free virtual symposium sponsored by the National Library of Medicine that will help you beat back the plethora of misinformation that keeps people from getting quality care. Set for April 4-6, a team of presenters will provide information … Continue reading →
This just in from the Minnesota Department of Health: short videos about the vexatious issue of long COVID, translated into Spanish, Somali, Hmong and English, available here. These videos are a contribution to narrowing the disparities of long COVID on … Continue reading →
Take a look at this New York Times article — ‘I Don’t Want to Die’: Fighting Maternal Mortality Among Black Women — that describes the life-saving benefits of a St. Louis doula program. The article outlines the need for culturally specific care … Continue reading →
Usually we’re concerned with the vicissitudes of communicating across language barriers. But here’s another way to think about how you’re interacting with patients. Recently the New York Times explored a few of the unspoken pitfalls by which patients get a … Continue reading →
For would-be asylum seekers attempting to enter the US, the road got longer last week, as President Joe Biden announced new restrictions on people fleeing conditions in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti. Those who simply show up at the border … Continue reading →
So you’ve tested Covid positive but wonder what your next move should be. Here’s help — for free, and in English, Hmong, Spanish and Somali — for Minnesota residents who have shown Covid symptoms within the past five days. Download … Continue reading →
Here’s another rendering of the trauma that can underline a refugee’s life, this time describing the flight of “Amin” from Afghanistan as the Taliban takes over. The film, Flee, is a true story, rendered primarily in animation in part to … Continue reading →
How to interpret musical performance for the deaf? That’s the question taken up by the video above, where ASL interpreters transform a song for the hard of hearing. The nuts and bolts of rendering music in ways that will be … Continue reading →
Here’s a sweet, short video on how to keep your new baby safe, offered up in English, Arabic, Dari, Burmese, Karen, Lingala, Kinyarwanda, Nepali, Pashto, Swahili, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, French, Russian and Spanish. In simple, direct language, Who She Will Become … Continue reading →
Among the challenges for medical interpreters: how to convey bad news from providers to patients and their families. This hour-and-a-half webinar, presented by InterpretAmerica, takes on the sensitive issues involved. The recorded webinar is geared toward providing interpreters with tools … Continue reading →
How long do languages last? Already it’s not uncommon to hear children of immigrants admit they don’t speak their grandparents’ native tongue that well. What about their children and grandchildren? What does it take to save a language? Here’s a story … Continue reading →
With RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) clearing out local school classrooms, here are translated health information sheets that can help ESL patients get a better understanding of a disease with potentially dire outcomes for young children. Below find pieces from various … Continue reading →
As if being uprooted from your life isn’t tough enough for refugees and immigrants, there are more dangers once they arrive in the US. Among them: the scam artists waiting to take advantage. You can learn more about how to … Continue reading →
A recent story in the New York Times asked the question, Can Republicans and Democrats Find a Way Forward on Immigration? Reporter Eileen Sullivan observes that movement on this sticky issue will necessitate compromise, a quality Washington finds short supply. Three … Continue reading →
Among the consequences of the US collapse in Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine, and the disintegration of Venezuela: an even longer wait for refugee status for people from other parts of the world. The New York Times recently reported that … Continue reading →
The New York Times explores another tragic dimension of the immigrant and refugee experience in this story, Missing the Home You Needed to Leave: There is a name for the specific type of grief that both refugees and migrants experience. … Continue reading →
True or False: Immigrants will take American jobs, lower wages, and especially hurt the poor. Get a straight answer to this and 14 other common myths about immigrants in the United States. The Cato Institute’s Alex Nowrasteh examines familiar complaints … Continue reading →
What happens when newly-arrived refugees get a year-long guaranteed income? An International Institute of Minnesota pilot project is aimed at getting an answer. Intended as a bridge to a stable life in their new home, the program will direct $750 … Continue reading →
After a lengthy hiatus, the Minnesota Immigrant and Refugee Health Network is back in business. The first meeting is set for 9:30-11 am, Tuesday, October 11. Register by October 10 here. You’ll get instructions on how to join the meeting … Continue reading →
dStuck in your search for translated health education materials for monkeypox? Here are resources to get you started when treating patients with limited English. From the Minnesota Department of Health: The basics covered in English, Hmong, Somali, Spanish. (Scroll to … Continue reading →
We’ve previously highlighted the excellent on-line news source, Sahan Journal, as a way to keep up with deep information on the immigrant experience in Minnesota. Here’s another way to make use of this resource as you look for ways to … Continue reading →