The IMIA is happy to announce the new 2009-2011 IMIA Executive Board members. The organization wishes them great success in their efforts to promote the medical interpreting profession. To see their names and read their nomination messages, please go to: http://www.imiaweb.org/members/elections2008.asp

The 2009 IMIA Conference has been set to be on October 9-11, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge MA and our theme is: Global Perspectives on Professional Medical Interpreters. For more information, please go to http://www.imiaweb.org/conferences/default.asp 

The IMIA Certification Committee gave a great presentation at the annual conference. We invite all members to review the certification section of the website. We especially would like you to review whether you qualify for IMIA Certification by looking at the pre-requisites section at http://www.imiaweb.org/certification/prerequisites.asp Our goal is to start registration for certification soon. To see the process, please go to http://www.imiaweb.org/certiication/register.asp  Soon the IMIA will start its campaign 'ARE YOU REGISTERED FOR CERTIFICATION?' Please send comments or questions to IMIACertification@gmail.com. This is an important part our transparent and inclusive certification process.

We need your help. We get daily calls and emails with inquiries about where to undertake interpreter training. Since one of our goals now is to promote such programs, please note that the IMIA is undertaking a massive campaign to inform interpreters about all of the numerous training programs that are available around the country. In order to improve how the information is posted, we devised categories, and also viewers can now search by state. Please help us spread the word by posting your training on our training notices web page http://www.imiaweb.org/education/trainingnotices.asp. Any training organization can post a training, free of charge at the link above by going to the link that says 'post a training.'

WASHINGTON—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released a set of standards assessing the quality of culturally and linguistically appropriate services for public comment. Understanding the unique cultural and linguistic challenges minorities face is vital to creating a fair and equitable health care system for all Americans. NCQA will publish the proposed standards to be used by health care organizations as a yardstick for internal quality improvement. "Navigating our health care system is difficult enough, but for many minorities and non-English speakers, there are additional obstacles to receiving quality care," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane. "Improving language accessibility and cultural competence is a core responsibility for all health care providers." The standards are available for review on NCQA's Web site, http://ncqa.org/tabid/916/Default.aspx through January 16, 2009.

Reach 1,600 members when you post an event! All organizations are encouraged to upload their own event on the IMIA Interpreter Events Calendar! This helps members stay informed of all the events related to interpreting and translation. Count on the IMIA Calendar to have the most updated interpreter event information at http://www.imiaweb.org/events/default.asp

Corporate Member Employers can search the directory by name, language, and state: The IMIA is proud to have the only national registry of medical interpreters in the US. It includes over 1,600 interpreters in over 60 languages, and each profile includes  training, general education, work experience, references, and even their resume, if they wish to upload it. It is of great use to our corporate members who rely on it to search interpreters, and also for our interpreters who get work by being identified in this registry.  
Now you can see exactly what employers see when they look you up on the Registry: You can view and edit your own profile at any moment at http://www.imiaweb.org/members/profile.asp but now you can also see what is visible to users of the directory at http://www.imiaweb.org/members/viewprofile.asp. Check out if what is there is what you want employers to see, and consider uploading your resume.  We have heard many members state that they have received offers from employers who have found them on the IMIA Interpreter Directory, the only national and international registry of medical interpreters.