Language Access

To increase awareness about translation issues and cultural diversity, to make available expanded language services and targeted navigator liaisons in the county and to improve linguistic and cultural competency within the Alliance membership.

Progress to Date
The Glades Initiative which is one of the Alliance’s partner organizations has lead responsibility in training and coordinating language translation services. The language access initiative had trained over 200 interpreters with an estimated 5,200 interpretation encounters per month being provided in Palm Beach County by individuals who have completed the interpreter training.

To further ensure that the Alliance is able to address our many diverse populations, our navigators are fluent in Spanish and/or Creole. In addition one of the Alliance’s navigators who speaks Kanjobal, works two days a week at the Guatemalan Maya Center. Our navigators frequently accompany their clients and families to medical and other social service appointments and work collaboratively with our partner agencies to assist in translating information and serving as a liaison between the providers, patients and their family members to facilitate better communication and understanding.

It is important to note that each of these initiative’s foundation and success has been and will continue to be dependent upon the collaborative efforts of our partner organizations and could not have been implemented without their support and participation.

In the following sections a detailed matrix of the issues and the Alliance’s work to date is provided. Additionally, the Alliance’s plan for sustainability is included.

For more information contact www.gladesinitiative.org