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Need for interpreters spawned HOLA; more help urged The following article describes one of many poster presentations set for this year’s faculty convocation Aug. 22. The Catalyst will highlight some of the presentations on MUSC’s international clinical, educational and research opportunities and outreach. by Tim Gehret Public Relations Lilless McPherson Shilling, Ph.D., saw the need for interpreters more than five years ago when the idea for Health Outreach for Language Access (HOLA) was conceived.    “When I was first hired, there were only volunteer interpreters, no paid interpreters,” said Shilling. “International programs had a list and they just called you if you spoke a language they needed.”    One of Shilling’s colleagues, Natalia Luna Maffei Corica, M.D., conducted a needs assessment study for a Spanish medical interpreting program several years ago and that was part of the impetus for HOLA.   Twice, Shilling and her team have applied for funding for HOLA. “Both times the grants have been approved but not funded,” Shilling said. She feels certain they will be successful the third time.   HOLA is an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional collaborative effort to develop a medical interpreter program in South Carolina, a program created in response to various cultural and medical concerns. Among the issues, according to the poster Shilling and her colleagues will present at this year’s faculty convocation, are that the migrant and resident Hispanic populations in South Carolina have tripled in the past decade; the need for medical interpreters exceeds the available trained workforce; and the use of untrained volunteer interpreters is inadequate to meet the complexity of patient and family needs.   “Communication is the key diagnostic tool in medicine,” said Jason Roberson, MUSC Medical Center’s cultural competency coordinator and part of HOLA. “It’s becoming a legal liability. There have been several lawsuits in other states where an interpreter was not used or an unqualified interpreter was used.”   HOLA is made up of numerous academic and health care professionals from various organizations including MUSC, the College of Charleston, Trident Technical College; BiLingo, a translating and interpreting service; the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium, and others. While HOLA itself has not received grant funding, Shilling said several programs associated with HOLA, such as a College of Charleston medical interpreting certificate program and the South Carolina Healthcare Interpreters Association (SCHIA), currently are being developed .   HOLA initiatives include offering a continuum of interpretation training and education ranging from advocates to internally qualified interpreters and to certified medical interpreters.    Right now, Shilling said, the colleges of Nursing and Health Professions are involved with HOLA and she hopes the other colleges will also collaborate.   Shilling believes HOLA will help health care professionals better serve the growing Hispanic population.     Friday, Aug. 18, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.