Hartford’s Capital Community College to Offer Culturesmart Medical Interpreter Training Course

As part of the City of Hartford’s Mayor’s Healthy Community Initiative, Capital Community College of Hartford, Connecticut entered into a unique partnership with Culturesmart for offering Culturesmart’s The Essential Piece™ 45-hour Spanish-English medical interpreter training program to 25 eligible participants.

Trainees will be bilingual (Spanish) staff members of participating Hartford healthcare providers. The first course is scheduled to begin on Saturday, September 9th at Capital Community College. It will run nine consecutive Saturdays from 10 AM to 3 PM.

The Mayor’s Healthy Community Initiative (MHCI) is a new Hartford health network designed to better serve the healthcare needs of the city’s estimated 30,000+ uninsured residents. The office of Mayor Eddie Perez is working with the city’s major hospitals and clinics to implement the program’s three major objectives:

• Create a common, shared medical information database and patient membership card system to better coordinate healthcare services that the city’s safety net providers offer to uninsured patients;
• Provide assigned patient navigators who will guide uninsured residents through the healthcare system, including helping eligible patients with the enrollment process required to obtain Medicaid insurance assistance;
• Offer medical interpreters/cultural translators to help patients better communicate with their medical caregivers.

MHCI is committed to reducing disparities in existing healthcare by eliminating language and cultural obstacles that often result in inadequate patient treatment. A number of bilingual Spanish-speaking staff members of participating Hartford healthcare providers are currently being assessed for language proficiency and placement in the Culturesmart training program.

For more information about the Mayor’s Healthy Community Initiative and other public health programs, please visit the following websites.

http://www.hartford.gov

http://www.aetna.com/foundation/health/health_disparities_collaborative.htm

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If you’d like more information about The Essential Piece™ curriculum or if you are interested in bringing this training to your area, please call Greg Figaro at 617-890-1111 or send us an email at info@culturesmart.org

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