The first-ever course in medical interpreting took place
just before Rosh Hashana, thanks to the successful
collaboration of the "Tene Briut" project (located at the
"Hillel Yaffe" Medical Center) and Bar Ilan's Department of
Translation and Interpreting Studies. The eighteen graduates
will serve as over-the-telephone interpreters between Hebrew
and Amharic, and will be taking calls from physicians and
other healthcare professionals at hospitals and clinics
throughout Israel. All eighteen participants in the recent
course are originally from Ethiopia themselves and trained
as healthcare professionals, mostly registered nurses.
Open communication, free of language gaps, has been shown to
be essential to the delivery of health care. A recent study
of immigrants from Ethiopia pointed to highly significant
gaps in the extent to which this population makes effective
use of medical services, in comparison with the rest of the
population. The study pointed to a clear need for better
communication, and for overcoming misunderstandings stemming
from cultural and linguistic differences.
One of the responses to these unsettling findings was the
decision to launch a program expressly designed to train
professional interpreters. The course consisted of lectures
on linguistic and cultural issues, professional ethics, the
challenge of remote interpreting etc. as well as a review of
medical terminology in the two languages. The main part of
the course, however, comprised open discussions, concerning
the role of the interpreter (Transparent tube? Culture
broker? Language mediator? Patient advocate? Ad hoc social
worker?). Each of the participants also took part in
simulated sessions, playing an over-the-phone interpreter
between an Amharic-speaking patient and a Hebrew-speaking
physician. The simulations, which were filmed in a real
Kupat Holim clinic, were then viewed and analyzed, with the
aim of evaluating the interpreters' performance and his/her
effectiveness in facilitating communication.
The program was the initiative of Dr. Anat Jaffe, Head of
the Endocrinology Department at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center,
and Professor Miriam Shlesinger, Head of the Department of
Translation and Interpreting Studies at Bar Ilan University.
The two worked in close collaboration with "Tene Briut"
coordinator Pekkado (Yossi) Gadamo; epidemiologist Dr.
Eltchee Seffefe; linguist Dr. Embesse Tabbere; and Michal
Schuster, a Bar Ilan doctoral student, whose work centers on
intercultural issues in healthcare delivery. They are hoping
to launch the service soon, once the technical arrangements
have been completed and funding has been secured.
As for the recent graduates, who are all too familiar with
the hardships encountered by non-Hebrew-speaking immigrants
from Ethiopia (and elsewhere), they too are eager to begin
working and to place the members of their community on an
equal footing in accessing medical care.
