The goal of this 3-year project, which was funded by The California Endowment, was to raise awareness of language rights among health consumers living in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties. Many limited English proficient (LEP) health consumers are afraid to exercise their language rights for fear of retribution, and many do not have the language capability to say, "I need an interpreter for my health care appointment." In order to support LEP consumers' access to health care interpreters PALS for Health collaborated with several community-based organizations that have long established relationships with target ethnic groups to conduct a 30-minute workshop where health consumers were educated about:

• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• their legal right to request interpretation services from health care facilities;
• roles and responsibility of health care facilities that accept federal financial assistance; and
• how to use the language identification card ("I Speak" card)

This version of the "I Speak" card was developed as a tool for both the health consumer and health care staff. The purpose of this "I Speak" card was to enable the patient to ask for an interpreter him/herself, help health care staff immediately identify the language spoken by the patient, educate health care staff about Title VI, and the patient's need for an interpreter.

The collaborative partnership included:

Armenian	Armenian Relief Society
Arabic	Care "R" Us
Cambodian (Khmer)	Cambodian Association of America
Chinese	Chinatown Service Center
Japanese	Little Tokyo Service Center
Korean	Orange County Korean American Health Education Information Center
Korean	Korean Resource Center
Lao and Vietnamese	Union of Pan Asian Communities in San Diego
Somali	East African Community of Orange County
Spanish	Binational/Border Health Program
Thai	Thai Community Development Center
Tongan	Tongan Community Service Center
Vietnamese	Vietnamese Community of Orange County

In addition, workshop participants were asked to answer a survey once they had used the "I Speak" card at a health care facility. The survey was developed and analyzed by Dr. Sora Park-Tanjasiri, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine. 

"I Speak" Card User Survey (PDF format, 208kb)

Results demonstrated that a majority of participants did not know they could ask for interpretation services at health care facilities. When respondents received interpretation services from the facility for the first time, they received faster service, and were treated better. However, more respondents were refused interpretation services than those who received them.  After showing the PALS for Health "I Speak" card to health care staff, survey respondents reported that:

• they were immediately refused access to interpretation services
• they received interpretation services but were made to feel like second class citizens
• they were told no interpreters were available so they can either reschedule or go to the appointment without one
• they had to wait a long time for an interpreter to be available, and feared retaliation by health care staff

If  you have any questions about this project or this version of the "I Speak" card, please call Mireya Muñoz at 213.627.4850.

The results of this 3-year project and the participant survey will be presented during a poster presentation at the 5th National Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations, October 17-20, 2006.

Website http://www.diversityrx.org/CCCONF/06/index.html

This side is in English. The language or dialect spoken (at top) will be tailored according to the LEP client's need.	This side has been translated into: Arabic Armenian Cambodian (Khmer) Cantonese Japanese Korean Lao Mandarin Somali Spanish Thai Tongan Vietnamese.