A Growing Need for Interpretation

A study commissioned by the Naugatuck Valley Project found that the number of people in Seymour, Ansonia, and Derby with limited English tripled from 1990 to 2000.

NVP-sponsored focus groups among Spanish-speaking residents of the Naugatuck Valley identified medical interpretation as a critical need – recounting horror stories of misdiagnosis and faulty treatment that resulted from poor communication. 

The NVP identified this both as a health issue and as an opportunity to create skilled jobs for bi-lingual community members.  It established a Health Care Interpretation Project that has negotiated interpretive language services with the region’s hospitals, won significant state funding for medical interpretation, and begun special training in medical terminology for interpreters. 

Above: A comic NVP educational skit shows an American abroad trying to explain her ailment in a foreign language.