Raquel Cashman Language Access Award

One of the most important and widely recognized functions IMIA fulfils for its members is the awarding of IMIA prizes and awards at our Annual International Conferences on Medical Interpreting. Being selected by a national and international jury to receive an IMIA prize or award signifies recognition of the 'best of the best' by one's peers around the globe. Please take this opportunity to nominate outstanding colleagues in the field for the IMIA prizes as recognition of their professionalism and to demonstrate their work and accomplishments in advocating for the profession and for the patients who require interpreters all over the world. Individuals are entitled to nominate one candidate per prize. All IMIA members and others are encouraged to submit nominations.

The IMIA Raquel Cashman Language Access Award was established in 1993 by the International Medical Interpreters Association, in memory of Raquel Cashman, Director of the Interpreters Department at Boston Medical Center, and the initial founding member of the organization. Raquel was an impassioned advocate for medical interpreting and LEP patient rights. This annual award perpetuates the enduring contributions of this health care and community leader by recognizing the achievements of individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to improving patient safety and language access in health care, and individuals who, through a specific initiative or project, have made an important contribution to our field at a national and/or international level. Recipients receive a complimentary registration to the IMIA International Conference in Medical Interpreting and a complimentary one year membership to the organization.
 
Submission Requirements:
a. A description of no less than 100 words with specific examples of why the nominee should win this award (nominee bio preferred but not required)
b. Contact information of nominee
c. Contact information of person making submission
e. All emailed to info@imiaweb.org

Deadline: April 30

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The Winner of the 2010 IMIA Raquel Cashman Language Access Award
Yolanda Partida

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Yolanda Partida, Executive Director of Hablamos Juntos, Fresno, CA, wins the 2010 IMIA Raquel Cashman Language Access Award.
 
Yolanda Partida has been a leader in the field of language access for many years. As Executive Director of the Hablamos Juntos Project she has made great strides in promoting the importance of language access, visually through signage, orally through interpreting projects and in written form through several translation quality projects.
 
In interpreting she has worked to cover training and education, testing, community solutions, and more. Her testing and training reports are well known in the field and have increased the awareness of how these aspects of the field are professionalizing medical interpreting.
 
In translation she oversaw through a collaboration of Hablamos Juntos and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the release the More Than Words Toolkit Series, a first-of-its-kind resource that clarifies the translation process, and provides a roadmap to help health care organizations improve the quality of their translated materials in order to get better results. She also worked on a Translation Quality Assessment Tool for translations that is now available to the public. She also oversaw a Translation Quality Assessment tool Rater Training program for the proper utilization of this tool.
 
With regards to interpreting standards, she was able to donate to over 200 IMIA interpreters, the ASTM Standards of Practice, which have a cost per copy of $41 dollars, through an outreach and access campaign to educate medical interpreters about published standards of practice.
 
In signage she spearheaded a national project that addresses way finding needs of patients. Using symbols for health care signage can successfully meet the way finding needs of patients that speak hundreds of different languages. This project was designed for health care facilities and graphic designers interested in learning about and using newly developed health care symbols for way finding programs.

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Language Barriers and the Patient Encounter
American Medical Association Journal of Ethics
- By Yolanda Partida
http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2007/08/msoc1-0708.html

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Previous Award Recipients

2010 - Yolanda Partida, Executive Director of Hablamos Juntos, Fresno, CA
2009 - Louis F. Provenzano, Jr., President and COO, Language Line Services
2008 - Loretta Saint-Louis, Director, Cambridge Health Alliance
2007 - Brunilda Torres, Ex-Director, Office of Minority Health, MA
2006 - Jane Kontrimas, Certification Committee Chairperson, MMIA
2005 - Estela McDonough, Trainer, Umass Medical Center
2004 - Carla Fogaren, Director, Good Samaritan Hospital
2003 - Maria-Paz Avery, Educational Development Center
2002 - John Nickrosz, Ex-President, MMIA
2001 - Ernest "Tony" Winsor, Esq.