Mission Statement
To enhance both the competitiveness of medical interpreting educational entities and the quality of medical interpreting education by promoting and facilitating an accreditation process of educational standards.
Survey about IMIA National Accreditation Standards for Medical Interpreting Training Organizations
What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is the process by which a standards developing organization such as the IMIA recognizes or endorses a program or organization that meets specific measurable standards, after a thorough review process by auditors, and a site visit. This is similar to the process of certification of individuals to recognize an individuals knowledge and skills for meeting specific measurable standards, except that it is for organizations. Many of you are familiar with organizations that have met the ISO 9000 Standard, for example or the How NBCMI and CCHI achieved the NCCA Accreditation for Certifying Bodies.
The IMIA National Accreditation Task Force has decided to do a survey to assess how much interpreters and trainers agree with the National Accreditation Standards developed specifically for those providing medical interpreting training. This survey asks questions about what minimum specifications training organizations should have in order to get accredited by the IMIA. Your opinions are important to us. We thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey. Your individualanswers are anonymous and any reporting will be in the aggregate. The information you provide will greatly assist the IMIA to study how these
standards should be published and applied for future accreditation of training programs.
Please forward this survey to anyone who you think might be interested in contributing their ideas to this multi-year process. All responses are confidential and will be given in the aggregate. Please do not include identifying information on the open ended questions.
To take the survey please go to:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MJJG5DS
We thank you in advance for your participation in this survey.
The IMIA Accreditation Task Force
http://www.imiaweb.org/education/accreditationprogram.asp
What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is the process by which a standards developing organization such as the IMIA recognizes or endorses a program or organization that meets specific measurable standards, after a thorough review process by auditors, and site visit. This is similar to the process of certification of individuals to recognize an individuals knowledge and skills for meeting specific measurable standards, except that it is for organizations. Many of you are familiar with organizations that have the ISO 9000 Standard, for example.
The IMIA National Accreditation Task Force has decided to do a survey to assess how much interpreters and trainers agree with the National Accreditation Standards developed specifically for those providing medical interpreting training. This survey asks questions about what minimum specifications training organizations should have in order to get accredited by the IMIA. Your opinions are important to us. We thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey. Your individual answers are anonymous and any reporting will be in the aggregate. The information you provide will greatly assist the IMIA to study how these standards should be published and applied for future accreditation of training programs.
Please forward this survey to anyone who you think might be interested in contributing their ideas to this 5 year process. All responses are confidential and will be given in the aggregate. Please do not include identifying information on the open ended questions.
To take the survey please go to:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MJJG5DS.
We thank you in advance for your participation in this survey.
Accreditation Task Force Members
Izabel S. Arocha, M.Ed., CMI-Spanish
Izabel S. Arocha, M.Ed., CMI, is a nationally certified medical interpreter and the Executive Director of the International Medical Interpreters Association, the representative association of medical interpreters worldwide. Arocha also represents IMIA and serves as Secretary General of FIT, The International Federation of Translators, representing over 100 translator, interpreter, and terminologist associations worldwide. She worked as a professor at Boston University and Cambridge College and advocates for academic education as a means to professionalization. Her Multidisciplinary Competency Model provides a generalist to specialist interpreter identity schema.She was an advocate for the IMIA charter from 1986 to implement certification and as IMIA President, cofounded the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters in 2009. She advocates for the reimbursement of medical interpreters in Capitol Hill, and internationally for language rights as an international human rights issue. She was born in Australia and raised in Belgium, Spain, Japan, Mexico, Serbia, and Brazil and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and speaks French well. She was the recipient of the Language Award in 2008 and the IMIA Lighthouse Leadership Award in 2010. Arocha holds a Bachelor in Management from Lesley University, a Translation Certificate from University of Cambridge, England, from 1981, and a Masters in Education from Boston University. Currently she is a PhD candidate at Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. Her most recent research surrounds cultural identity development and its various determinants. Contact: iarocha@imiaweb.org.
Mohamad Anwar, MHA, CHI
Mohamad Anwar was born in Egypt. He earned a Master’s degree in science (1995), a Master’s of MHA certificate from the University of Minnesota (2012), and CHI credentials (2012). He taught graduate classes, held different managerial positions in the medical interpreting field, and authored interpreter training materials. Mohamad is a member of the Board of Directors at IMIA, Chair of the Certification Division at IMIA, and a voting member at ATA. Mohamad provides healthcare consulting and training nationwide and volunteers as a language professional at the American Red Cross and the Volunteer Lawyer Network of Minnesota. Contact manwar@imiaweb.org.
Marlene Vicky Obermeyer, MA, RN, Chairperson
Marlene is a cross-cultural trainer and curriculum designer for cultural competency programs and professional medical interpreter training. A registered nurse with over thirty years of hands-on bedside nursing, she originally came from the Philippines, completed her nursing education in the U.S., and has obtained additional certificates in cross-cultural training and transcultural nursing. She has designed and authored over 100 contact hours of continuing education courses for nurses. She is the director of Culture Advantage, specializing in Language-Specific Professional Medical Interpreter Programs for healthcare providers - physicians, nurses, therapists, and dual-role healthcare employees, and offers programs in Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Farsi, Korean, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Marlene is a patient advocate who is actively involved in promoting and supporting professional training for medical interpreters. She is an approved provider of continuing education for nurses (approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider # CEP 15854) and a consultant with other organizations in obtaining professional accreditation and approval for providing continuing education for long-term care administrators, insurance adjusters, and case managers. She has a bachelor's degree in communication and an MA in Liberal Studies (Anthropology, Communication, International Business).
Jorge Rudko, BTech, CI
Jorge Oscar Rudko was born in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina to parents that emigrated from the Ukraine. Growing up in a multicultural society Jorge joined a Slavic Protestant Congregation where Ukrainian and Russian were spoken. He attended kindergarten in a Catholic German School followed by Public School where he learned Castilian. After his service in the Argentinean Army, Jorge immigrated to the United States where he founded an International Desktop Publishing (DTP) training center in the Princeton, New Jersey region. In addition, he was the Youth Director of a multicultural audience for six years and a Senior Minister for four. Furthermore, Jorge was hired as an on-air voice over reporter, news writer, and graphic designer for the NBC Spanish Newscast “Canal de Noticias” and worked as a sports radio program producer for “Rumbo al Mundial”. He has traveled extensively to numerous countries including Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Canada and Paraguay; the Caribbean, and throughout the US. Jorge is a graduate of Di Tella Technical School in Buenos Aires. He is a credentialed Ordained Minister, a certified Pre Marital and Marriage Prepare-Enrich Professional, and as a qualified Crown Associate he teaches family finances. Currently, he is an Education Specialist for Charlotte AHEC (Area Health Education Center); a Consecutive and Simultaneous Interpreter; a Certified Interpreters Trainer; a Spanish Language Coach, and a Cultural Competency Instructor.
Sophia Rossovsky, M.Ed.
Sophia Rossovsky holds a Master’s in Education and Linguistics and has over 20 years of experience in training, professional development and program management. Sophia was the director of the New Jersey northern region training center on cultural and linguistic competence for over 6 years; served in the workforce, developing a training manual for Division of Youth and Family Services in collaboration with Rutgers University. She is part of various committees and associations, such as New Jersey Statewide Network for Cultural Competence, Multicultural Services Advisory Committee in NJDHMAS and International Medical Interpreter Association.
Sophia is an experienced trainer. Currently she has a consulting and training practice called Diversity Experts Inc. Sophia presents on topics ranging from cultural proficiency to language access. In collaboration with NJ DHSS she developed three models of interpreting curricula for the following settings: community, medical and mental health and trained over three thousand bilingual individuals as interpreters in New Jersey alone. She also launched the language access and train the trainer programs in state psychiatric hospitals.
Sophia is an avid advocate for culturally and linguistically appropriate services, presents at various forums and conferences and promotes meaningful communication in all entities.
Contact: srossovsky@iinj.org.
Accreditation Advisory Board Members
Marjory Bancroft, MA
Marjory Bancroft is a national leader in the development of training programs for community interpreting. She holds a BA and MA in French linguistics from Université Laval in Quebec City and advanced language certificates from Spain, Germany, and Jordan. After teaching translation, English and French for two universities and Quebec government immigrant schools, she spent several years interpreting and directing an immigrant health program while running a language bank of 200 interpreters and translators. Since 2001 she has directed Cross-Cultural Communications, a training and technical assistance agency that licenses interpreter trainers across the U.S. and abroad, publishes training manuals and offers international interpreter training programs. A past board member of NCIHC, she is also the Executive Director of THE VOICE OF LOVE, a U.S.-based project about interpreting for survivors of torture, trauma and sexual violence. The author of numerous publications in the field, she speaks widely at conferences across the U.S. and abroad and sits on three international interpreting committees.
Constantina Fronimos-Baldwin, CMI-Spanish
Constantina is the Coordinator of Interpreting Services for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tennessee. Originally from Greece, she has lived in Argentina for many years where she completed undergraduate course work at the University of Buenos Aires, School of Communication Sciences. In the summer of 2013 Constantina will be graduating with a BS in Healthcare Management from South University. She has completed Level I and II of the “Hablamos Juntos” Healthcare Interpreter training program. In 2010 she became a Certified Medical Interpreter in the Spanish language. Constantina is a founding member and the current President Elect of the Tennessee Association of Medical Interpreters and Translators (TAMIT), a member of the advisory board for the Working with Interpreters project at the School of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, at the University of Memphis, a member of the IMIA, as well as the TAPIT (Tennessee Association of Professional Interpreters and Translators). Contact: theowlgirl@yahoo.com.ar
José García
José García was born and raised in México City. He graduated as Cirujano Dentista (Doctor of Dental Surgery) from “Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México” in 1986.
José started his training in healthcare interpreting in 2004 when started working as Interpreter and Translator at Mammoth Hospital. José was in charge of the development and implementation of the hospital’s Interpreter Services Policy and Program, which included a comprehensive training program for healthcare interpreters. In 2007, José completed the TOT for Connecting Worlds Training for Healthcare Interpreters, and developed a complete course of medical terminology in Spanish to complement the trainings he provides. He’d receive CHIA’s Interpreter of the Year Award in 2010. José has been a CHIA Board member since 2007, and was elected CHIA’s President-Elect in 2013.
Since 2007, José is the Language Services Manager at Northern Inyo Hospital in Bishop, California where he lives. José volunteers for various organizations earning him the 2013 “Outstanding Person of the Year” award from a local Hispanic organization called La Causa, for his commitment to promoting Hispanic heritage through cultural activities and education. Contact: Jose.Garcia@nih.org
Dr. Roseann D. Gonzalez
Please read Dr. Gonzalez's full bio at http://womensplaza.arizona.edu/honor/view.php?id=870
Dr. Michael O’Laughlin
A member of the faculty since the program’s inception and now its director, Michael O’Laughlin is a legal interpreter certified by the states of California and Massachusetts. Dr. O’Laughlin has a lifetime of experience in the courts and has published many translations from a number of languages. He holds a master’s degree from Oxford University and a doctorate from Harvard University, both in Theology. As part of his academic training in Theology he became very involved with the translation of texts from Antiquity. He has extensive teaching and public speaking experience in the United States and also in Europe, and has written several books and a number of articles on religion, ethics, spirituality, philosophy, and interpreting. He also works as an expert witness in cases with language issues.
Ira SenGupta
Ira SenGupta, Executive Director of the Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP) has actively contributed to the field of culturally and linguistically appropriate health and human services as a speaker, trainer, researcher and community advocate. She has served CCHCP in several capacities for the past eighteen years while representing the organization in multiple venues. A leader in her own community, Ira has extensive experience working with ethnically diverse communities, and has gained a deep understanding of diverse perspectives on health care. She has served her community as an interpreter in three languages from India, as the President of the India Association of Western Washington and currently as a board member of Ragamala which promotes the performing arts of South Asia. She was appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to the Board of Trustees of the Renton Technical College and is serving her second five- year term. A co-founder of the Society of Medical Interpreters, Ira continues to serve her professional community as a member of the national advisory board for the Diversity RX conference series and on the board of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA). Contact: isengupta@imiaweb.org
Past Task Force Members
Barbara J. Rodriguez
Owner of TransFluenci Interpreting and Translation Services
Claudia Falla
Testing and Training Specialist at the Northern Virginia AHEC
Gabriela Jenicek
Manager of Language Services and Cultural Support at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Founder and chief-trainer of Interpreter Training with a Purpose
© 2013, International Medical Interpreters Association
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