Contact Information:

Cornelia Brown, PhD.
Executive Director,
MAMI (Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters), 309, Genesse Street, Utica, NY-13501.

Telephone: (315) 732-2271.

Vision Statement:

To create a wide network for delivering culturally competent health care

What is MAMI?

MAMI has established a fee-for-service, not-for-profit language bank (agency) in Utica, N.Y. It offers professional interpreting services and translation of health-related documents to Oneida and Herkimer counties and, eventually, all of Central New York. As a fee-for-service organization serving an entire community, it will be the first of its kind in New York State. The language bank supplies professional health interpreting and cultural brokerage, and translation and related services.

According to updated census figures, about 12,000 individuals live in Oneida and Herkimer Counties for whom English is not a native language. Of these, about 7,000 are refugees and 5,000 immigrants. An additional 2,400 refugees have already been contracted to arrive through the Mohawk Valley Refugee Resource Center by the year 2000. The majority are native speakers of Bosnian, Russian, Vietnamese, and Spanish; minority languages include Creole (Haitian), Ukrainian, Romanian, Arabic, Bengali, and Chinese. Many of these people require the services of an interpreter in health care settings, where concepts and terminology can be unfamiliar, and effective communication is crucial.

Under the federal regulations of the HCFA (Health Care Financing Administration) and the New York State Department of Health (Article 28 of Code 405), health care providers receiving Medicaid or Medicare funds must provide communication services to limited English proficiency patients. Hospitals and other providers must cope with many issues, further complicated by language barriers, such as insuring confidentiality and informed consent and preventing errors and omissions. A 1997 survey indicated that, in approximately 75% of local health care institutions, written materials (patient education and legal documents such as consent forms) exist only in English. Using professional medical interpreters can assist providers with some of the problems of cross-cultural misunderstandings, no-shows, misdiagnosis, excessive use of emergency services, and poor patient follow-through and outcomes.

Contact Information:

Cornelia Brown, PhD.
Executive Director,
MAMI (Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters), 309, Genesse Street, Utica, NY-13501.

Telephone: (315) 732-2271.

The goals of MAMI's language bank :

• Significantly improve health care for non-English speakers in Oneida and Herkimer counties by removing the linguistic and cultural barriers that currently exist.
• Facilitate the treatment of newly arrived refugees for communicable disease to protect not only their health but that of the community at large
• Provide training and resources for local providers in cross-cultural health care
• Assist providers in complying with applicable civil rights (anti-discrimination) law and protect them from liability claims
• Help to contain medical costs by expanding preventive health care and improving care generally Benefits MAMI will bring to Oneida & Herkimer Counties

Improvements in health care

• Increased access to health care for non-native English speakers (about 12,000 individuals, about 15,000 by the year 2000, in Oneida and Herkimer Counties;
• Provider education in interpreting procedure, cross cultural medicine, and compliance with civil rights (anti-discrimination) law;
• A Resource Center in cross-cultural health and medical interpreting

Improvements in the economy of Central New York

• Cooperation with English-as-a-second language facilities to improve client English skills, to recruit and screen interpreters;
• A new source of professional employment for our large refugee and immigrant population;
• Reduced health care costs for companies that employ refugees and immigrants;
• An opportunity to retain the new, able, and growing workforce that is so needed in our area

A chance for Oneida and Herkimer counties to stand out as one of the few locations in the United States offering culturally and linguistically sensitive health care to the whole community

Improvements in our community

• Respect, tolerance, and understanding across cultures in our community
• MAMI will make Oneida and Herkimer Counties one of the few locations in the United States offering culturally competent and linguistically appropriate health care to the whole community. Economically MAMI will create a new source of professional employment for our sizable refugee and immigrant population. This initiative will cut medical costs for employers of these individuals, help retain a growing and valued workforce, and motivate newly arrived employees to stay and contribute to a better future for our area.