This is the English translation of a post that was originally published in Spanish on Friday, September 9, 2022.
Last month, I posted a video of my former graduate student Iván García-Mijares sharing a story about a time he had to interpret very serious health news for his mom at a doctor’s appointment. Alce su voz (‘Speak out’) started because of young people like Iván who interpret at their parents’ medical appointments throughout their childhood, sometimes under enormous pressure to make sense of medical terminology that they do not understand in any language. You have the power to help young people like Ivan by giving to support Alce su voz.
Despite the existing federal legislation that requires most healthcare institutions to provide qualified interpreters for patients who need language assistance, Kansans who are dominant in languages other than English often miss out on language access services. This lack of qualified services is often very harmful to the health of speakers of minoritized languages, like Spanish, in Kansas.
In our community meetings, Alce su voz has determined that the solution to this problem requires a multipronged approach. We plan to:
investigate the difficulties that healthcare institutions face in their efforts to provide qualified interpreters
support bilingual clinicians so that they can safely and ethically provide care in languages other than English and receive the compensation they deserve
ensure that bilingual Kansans have access to the training they need to provide qualified interpreting services, and
continue to provide resources to support patients and their families in attaining equitable health services and making their voices heard (like, for example, the workshops that we offered this year).
We need your help to ensure that Kansans who speak languages other than English have the opportunity to attain their highest possible level of health.
We would like to raise $5000 to start a fund for Alce su voz at the Wichita State University Foundation. One we have established the fund, we will launch a fundraising campaign to create a program director position.
You can donate directly to Alces su voz through our website, or you can send a check made out to the Wichita State University Foundation (attention to Alyssa Scott) to 1845 Fairmount St. Wichita, KS 67260-0002. Please include “Alce su voz” in the memo.
