We’ve mentioned here and here the wonderful work that Sha’are Zedek Medical Center has done recently in developing its culturally competent services, from training all new staff in the principles of cultural competency, to training a dedicated team of bi-lingual staff, whose mother tongues are Arabic, Russian and Amharic, to help ease communication between patients and doctors. These interpreters are already on staff at Sha’are Zedek, and have volunteered to help patients speaking these various languages. Our Dr. Michal Schuster, together with lecturers Beni Asegie, Tania Voinova and Salih Sawaed, trained them in a special course in medical interpreting.
Interpreters and training staff at Cinema City
On Tuesday, November 27, we all said thank you.
In the Cinema City VIP room
This special event – for both the medical interpreters and the cultural competency instructors who run the regular workshops at Sha’are Zedek – was held at Cinema City. The event began in Cinema City’s VIP room and included a pampering breakfast and other goodies, as well as a lecture by Michal, followed by the movie Bohemian Rhapsody in one of the complex’ theaters. Appropriate to the setting, Michal spoke about how interpreters (oral translators) are presented in movies, TV shows and in literature – how they view their role, and how society views their role.
Part of Michal’s talk
Many thanks to all the volunteers, who endeavor to make patients’ experiences more comfortable, who do this with love and dedication in addition to their regular hospital positions. Many thanks to Sha’are Zedek, for its efforts to train its staff in cultural competency – and equally as important, to recognize their contribution. And of course, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, which has been our strategic partner in Cultural Competency since its establishment more than 10 years ago.
Here’s what Michal had to say about the meeting (Hebrew):
