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PORTLAND, Ore. (Nov. 23, 2021)—Today, the Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association announced a groundbreaking partnership with CareOregon that aims to transform how the two organizations support interpreters and individuals who need language access to fully participate in their health care journey.

“The state estimates that 40% of Oregon Health Plan members are English language learners,” said Maria Michalczyk, OHCIA’s President of the Board of Directors.  “Health care interpreters (HCIs) are a critical part of the care teams for these members. However, barriers of cost and time, and difficulty in obtaining some of the requirements are preventing trained and untrained interpreters from pursuing state credentialing. Our partnership with CareOregon will give us the funding needed to offer case management services and direct financial support to help interpreters through the training and the process to obtain credentials.”

In total, the two-year $250,000 investment in OHCIA will result in:

• Direct financial support for interpreters to complete state credentialing, including covering the costs of training courses and the associated costs incurred when pursuing qualification or certification, such as childcare, access to technology, and transportation.
• The provision of case management and financial support to help 80 interpreters complete training and credentialing by the end of 2023.
• Health care interpreter training tuition for those presently working as interpreters and those wishing to enter the field.
• An assessment of CareOregon’s language access processes to ensure that the organization is best able to support its health care interpreters and the members they serve.
• The development (based on the language access assessment) and delivery of training for health care providers on the provision of health care interpreting.

“Good communication creates the bond between patient and provider that promotes health awareness, timely access, treatment compliance, and a healthy lifestyle,” said James Mason, CareOregon Chief Equity Diversity & Inclusion Officer. “But for patients who are also English language learners, there are too many instances where language itself is a barrier. By working with the Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association, we are working to address these issues head on.” 

“OHCIA believes that this is the first partnership of its kind between a health plan and health care interpreter association and will be monumental for communities requiring health care interpreting”, said Michalczyk. 

“For us, this is a great opportunity to further our mission of supporting a highly skilled health care interpreter community so they can become economically successful and valued as integral members of the health care team,” said Susy Molano OHCIA’s Executive Director. “This funding will strengthen our organization, position us to help untrained and trained interpreters get their names in the state registry and, most importantly, to advance the profession to improve health outcomes for Oregon’s diverse communities. The out-of-pocket cost alone for state credentialing can be upwards of $1,400 for certifiable languages. CareOregon’s investment will help offset and cover these costs—bringing the vision of recruiting and engaging interpreters from the communities they serve and increasing the quality and quantity of HCIs available to assist English language learners.”

About the Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association

The Oregon Health Care Interpreters Association (OHCIA) is a nonprofit 501C3 organization founded in 2010. The OHCIA was founded by interpreters and has been dedicated to creating positive changes for the Pacific Northwest's diverse populations. OHCIA’s vision is to have a highly skilled HCI community that is economically successful and valued as an integral member of the health care team. OHCIA’s mission is to advance the Health Care Interpreter profession to improve health outcomes for our community.

关于CareOregon

超过25年来，CareOregon一直在为俄勒冈健康计划会员提供健康服务和社区福利计划。当下，CareOregon正通过三家协调护理组织、一个Medicare Advantage计划、一个部落护理协调计划、一个牙科护理组织和由上门服务人员提供的家庭医疗护理服务，为超过500,000名俄勒冈居民的需求提供支持。CareOregon会员可以获得身体、牙科和心理健康的综合护理以及药物滥用治疗。我们相信，想要保持良好的健康状态，不仅仅需要诊所和医院的护理。因此，我们还为会员提供住房、新鲜食品、教育和交通服务。CareOregon是一家以社区为基础的使命驱动型非营利组织，在俄勒冈州的Portland、Medford和Seaside设有办事处。