Client: Norwegian American Hospital
Established in 1894, Norwegian American Hospital has a long history of providing high quality and compassionate healthcare services by partnering with patients and their families, employees, physicians, and communities. Located in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, the hospital serves patients at a much higher than normal risk for premature birth, stroke, and cancer.
“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback that access to qualified medical interpreters is making a difference in the quality of care we’re providing.”
Aimee Kross, Volunteer Services Coordinator, Norwegian American Hospital
Challenge: LEP Population
With a patient population that is 90% Hispanic and African American, Norwegian American Hospital serves many individuals who are Limited English Proficient. As a result, some of these patients bring bilingual friends or family with them to appointments.
Aimee Kross, Volunteer Services Coordinator, acknowledges, “though you may be bilingual, it doesn’t mean you are a qualified medical interpreter.”
The challenge is to provide high quality medical interpreting services in the most fiscally responsible manner possible. The hospital, like many healthcare organizations, face multiple issues when delivering, legally required, language access services. Among these are: budget constraints, staffing qualified interpreters, flexible scheduling.
Outcomes: Increased Client & Patient Satisfaction
Norwegian American Hospital and Metaphrasis came together to develop a first of its kind program that allowed Metaphrasis interpreters to volunteer their time to the hospital’s Volunteer Services. As the program quickly caught on, Metaphrasis’ interpreters were being requested in various departments.
Access to improved language services demonstrated a direct impact on key metrics. The Hospital’s Stoplight Dashboard report from National Research Corporation (HCAHPS) Scores Catalyst Report showed improved performance in several categories including medication communication, discharge information, and communication with doctors.
With the success of the volunteer program firmly in place and success clearly measured, Norwegian American Hospital and Metaphrasis formalized their partnership. Metaphrasis is now a vendor partner to the hospital for onsite foreign language interpretation needs.