From a New York Times article Doctor and Patient - When the Patient Gets Lost in Translation: “…While the doctors acknowledged that they were underutilizing professional interpreters, many made the decision not to call an interpreter consciously, weighing the perceived value of patient information against their own time constraints. Moreover, despite their personal misgivings,
the doctors often felt that this kind of shortcut was acceptable and well within the norms of their professional environment.”

Good interpreters don’t slow the process down.  Good interpreters can provide simultaneous interpretation and cultural understanding.  What might slow down the process down is that now, there is more medical history and better patient-provider interaction.

Here are some tips for best utilizing interpreters.

*Speak directly to the patient.
Instead of saying “please ask the patient if she hurts anywhere” say directly to the patient “does it hurt you anywhere?”

*Make eye contact with your patient, not the interpreter.

*Do not say anything in front of the patient that you would not want them to hear.
A good interpreter, interprets EVERYTHING that is said.  Your non-English speaking patient has the right to know everything that is being said in the room, the same way your English speaking patients would.

*There are two main styles of interpretation, Simultaneous and Consecutive.  Simultaneous the itnerpreter speaks at the same time as the provider, and is only 3-4 words behind them in interpretation.  In consecutive interpretation, the interpreter, interprets after ever 3-4 sentences.  Try both styles see which one works best for you, and it may vary from patient to patient.

*If you think something wasn’t interpreted, clairfy that it was.  Again though, a good interpreter should interpret everything.

*If possible, ask the interpreter if there is a cultural component that they may have noted, that you should be aware of.

Interpreting code of ethics requires that interpreters not give opinions but they do
need to make providers aware of cultural differences or misunderstandings.  For example from the interpreting code of ethics:

“The interpreter alerts all parties to any significant cultural misunderstanding that arises.  For example, if a provider asks a patient who is fasting for religious reasons to take an oral medication, an interpreter may call attention to the potential conflict.”

I’d like to be as clear as possible with my objective in writing this email.  My desired outcome is two fold:

1. An apology
2. Your company honoring a Gift Certificate given to me by a friend that states “This Certificate entitles 6 months free membership for a friend”

I am a triathlete and lead a triathlon group of 9 other ladies.  I have my own gym where I train with the Ohio State University Triathlon club.  My gym is more modern and has a larger facility than any of your Columbus Ohio Urban Active branches.  However, my gym is very exclusive and the 9 ladies I am training do not have access to it.

I was looking for a gym that had a pool, was fair in price, and was woman friendly.  I had heard that Urban Active was all of those things and even had a space for women only.  I was also hoping to perhaps find a place where I could take Group Fitness classes (something not offered by my gym).

This evening I went to Urban Active in Columbus, Ohio at Graceland, I presented a gift certificate my friend had given me almost a year ago.  I was told by a man identifying himself as Jeff Fisher the manager, that my gift certificate was “bogus” “not legitimate” “a fake” and “a scam”.
He was rude, insulting and tried to humiliate me.  Then Gina, the woman, who had shown me around the gym told me that if I had any problems I could go on Thursday or Friday to meet with Richard Smith the General Manager at the Hilliard location from where the gift certificate had been acquired.

Instead of driving 30 minutes out of my way, I decided to call, Richard Smith.  I called him and he told me that my gift certificate was to only be used by the person who had obtained it because he had obtained through a work related function (via 2checkout.com).   However the certificate clearly states that it is to be “for a friend”.   Plus the person that had gotten me the certificate already had a contract membership with Urban Active.  Mr. Smith also told me that the certificate was not valid without an expiration date (that field had been left blank).

At no time did anyone offer me a day pass, so that I could enter with a friend who was waiting.  In Mr.Smith’s defense he did agree to give me a day pass after I asked for one but at the point of the conversation my friend had already acquired one for me.
No one apologized for this situation, and only Gina, handled herself in a professional way, while Mr. Fisher was outright rude, and Mr.Smith spoke to me as if I were just a silly little woman.

In the same strip mall that Urban Active is located, there is smaller, but less expensive and more friendly women’s only gym.  Why should I enroll myself and at least nine other ladies at a place that gave me such a bad first impression?

Thank you,
Elena Mary

I think too often we hide our feelings, out of a fear of consequence.  The consequence of them not feeling the way we feel or taking our words in a manner we do not intend.  I don’t ever want to look back and say I wish I had told them I loved them.  I wish they could have known.

I am thankful for my friends, my family, strangers , former confidants, former friends. I am thankful that I have loved them, and they have loved me.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Tony explained, which I had never known, was that his mother was a US citizen and although he was born and raised in the Bahamas, he was a US citizen via his mother. According to Tony, it is pretty easy as a Bahamian to get a tourist visa to the United States. While there is poverty in the Bahamas it is not as bad as the rest of the Caribbean. There is less reason to come into the United States and stay. And then Tony said something that had my aunt and I nodding our head in agreement “Why come to the US? Why come to suffer? We know at least back home we won’t go hungry. We take care of each other, of our neighbors and we all make sure everyone is eating. Why suffer?”

It is that idea that I think many don’t understand about immigration out of economic strain. It has to be so bad, that you leave your home country, your language, food, culture, to go to another country unsure of what kind of standard of living you will have; why suffer through that?