Monday, June 6, 2005

Multilingual Setting?!

While searching for a work setting that allows me to serve a diverse client population, I found an interesting phenomenon about research survey and reports. There are tons of research reports conducted on health care for linguistic and cultural diversed population. There are also tons of organizations dedicated to promoting the right and well-being of minorities, especially in areas like NY, CA, and some in DC metro area. One would think that resources for minorities and immigrants would be more than enough. Quite true there are, again, tons of contact numbers listed. But, here comes the interesting part: I called for info of DC area, and they have no idea where these diverse population can go for rehab with supporting language services other than Spanish. There are no database or search engine for multilingual health care providers, either. It is difficult and almost impossible to find one medical/rehab center dedicated to multilingual (and when I say "multi"-lingual, I mean "multi," not bilingual Spanish/English, there are other languages widely spoken around here, ya know) population in the DC area (*Let me correct myself, excluding the well-known, superior hospitals, e.g. Hopkins/George Washinton H./Georgetown H., in the capital area, which have interpreters available for international patients*). On the other hand, I found several centers in New York and California, specifically indicating "multilingual staff available"--impressive ad!

Now, another question hit me about language rehab. Where do Chinese-speaking elderly patients go for language rehab? Not that I am allowed to conduct service in Mandarin, but just a realistic question regarding the well-being and life quality of such population.
If I were the one seeking health care services, who would I turn to for health care information? Asian/Chinese organizations and community services. So I did. And I found all kinds of those, but they again, had no idea where a Chinese-speaking elderly should go for speech/language/swallowing rehab. Well! A truly surprising find!
With the millions of research reports and organizations out there, I thought the supporting service would be better than this. Also, think about the culture of Chinese (constantly recommending good restaurants, auto care stores, teachers, dentists, physicians, etc., you name it), the info delievery network among the Chinese should be much better than this.

All these frustrating search results are somewhat inspiring. Publishing reports and fact sheets are not providing direct help to the immigrants and minorities in need. They need service directories. They need a well-organized and reputed association to bridge the gap between research and practice.
"Duh"

***
Just last month, I received a call asking "where can a Chinese kid with special needs receive services? The kid and the mother do not speak English." Uh..........don't know any certified Mandarin-speaking pathologists around here ahh
I should do something to setup a network among Chinese-speaking speech pathologists in the DC area since this service is language-essential.
Yes, I definitely should (when I have the time, of course).

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