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Consortium of Minnesota
Hospitals Enters Agreement
Communication service
for the Deaf, Inc. (CSD) of Minnesota is delighted to announce
a new kind of partnership with healthcare facilities in the Twin
Cities Metro area, whereby CSD will respond 24/7 to emergent requests
for sign language interpreting services.
Emergencies occur everyday.
For those who rely upon sign language to communicate, emergencies
are really no different, except that an interpreter must be found
to facilitate communication. Over the years, it has been a challenge
for interpreters, referral services, hospitals, and other public
services to find interpreters for those emergencies “at the
right time and place” whether it
is during business hours, the middle of the night, on weekends and
holidays, or in dead of winter when the thermometer dips to 20 degrees
below zero. Minnesota is fortunate to have many dedicated interpreters.
That’s not the problem. Many attempts have been made to solve
the problem. However, plain and simple, the current business model
doesn’t work efficiently.
Under the leadership of Marty Barnum, Co-Coordinator of the Emergency
Statewide Sign Language Interpreter Advocacy and Training Project,
a project supported by the Minnesota Department of Human Services
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Division, discussion began earlier this
year to identify a new paradigm—to create a new business model
to address the delivery of interpreting services for emergent requests.
Hospitals decided to join together as a “consortium” to
share the costs of a 24/7 referral service that will be located at
the CSD offices.
Minnesota Hospital Consortium
members have broadened their definition of emergencies and define “emergent requests” to include
situations in emergency departments and urgent cares, as well as
unplanned and unforeseen situations with medical professionals whereby
communication must be facilitated with a deaf patient and/or family
members. Beginning in early fall, CSD intends to meet the needs by
offering 24/7 interpreter referral services for consortium members.
Interpreters will be scheduled on duty and dispatched from CSD offices. “The
Minnesota Hospital Consortium is eager to work with CSD on this project,” says
Candy Joppru, HealthEast Care System, on behalf of consortium members. “We
are very interested in providing qualified and certified interpreters
to meet the needs of our deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing patients,
and their family members and companions.”
CSD commends the Minnesota
Hospital Consortium members for their willingness to share resources
in order to provide services that will benefit thousands of deaf
and hard of hearing consumers in the Twin Cities. It’s a
win-win situation! For more information, please contact Jan Florand
at jflorand@c-s-d.org.
The Minnesota Hospital Consortium members are commended for their
efforts. Members include the following facilities:
Children’s Hospitals & Clinics
of Minnesota: Minneapolis
and St. Paul Campuses
