In Every Language Interpreter Grant Program

What It Is

A grant for $1,000 worth of on-site, interpreting services made available to healthcare providers who have never used a professional, foreign language interpreter before.

More About It

• In Every Language’s Interpreting Grant Program allows healthcare providers who have never worked with professional, foreign language interpreters to learn first-hand how interpreters help improve patient care for their limited-English proficient patients.
• This program is ideal for providers who
--have not previously known where to find professional interpreters
--are unsure how to work with professional interpreters
--have not previously had funds to budget for professional interpreters
--would like to learn more about using professional interpreters vs friends and family, etc.
• Interpreting appointments are booked by the winner through the In Every Language office on an as-needed basis.
• This in-kind grant on may be used to provide on-site interpreting at your Louisville-based facility in any of the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Ewe, Farsi, French, German, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Korean, Liberian English, Lingala, Mai-Mai (spoken in Somalia), Mandarin Chinese, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Sranan Tongo, Swahili, Uzbek, Vietnamese, and Wolof. (Language availability may change as interpreters move in and out of the Louisville area.)
• In addition, one on-site, cross-cultural training on how to work best with interpreters will be made available to the winner.
• Services must be rendered before 12/31/10 in order to apply toward the grant.

Who Can Apply

Healthcare providers of any type (hospitals, clinics, physical therapists, private practices, specialists, etc) who have never worked with professional interpreters. While we hope that this program will grow to include the rest of the Commonwealth, it is currently only available to providers located in Greater Louisville, Ky.

If your practice has never used a professional interpreter before, we encourage you to apply. If you have any questions about your eligibility or the application process, please call our office at (502) 213-0317.

How to Apply

To apply, please follow these steps:

1. Review the information in this application packet to make sure the In Every Language Interpreting Grant is appropriate for your practice.
2. Complete your application. An application form can be obtained by emailing In Every Language.
3. Please send three (3) hard copies of your proposal by mail to In Every Language; ATTN: Interpreting Grant Program; 812 East Market Street, Suite 201; Louisville, Ky 40206.
4. The committee will then confirm your eligibility and review your application carefully.

The application deadline is June 10, 2010.

Once your application has been submitted, the In Every Language Interpreting Grant Committee (made up of two (2) In Every Language employees and a neutral, third-party) will select the award recipient(s). While ideally one (1) practice would receive the full $1,000, in the event of a tie, multiple awards may be granted.

All applicants will be notified of the winner by email on or before June 30, 2010.

The Fine Print:

By applying for the In Every Language Interpreting Grant, you represent and warrant that you are duly authorized to represent the organization for which you are applying. If selected, you allow In Every Language to publicize the grant and its use by your organization.

The winner will be provided with a rate sheet outlining In Every Language’s standard charges for interpreting and each time an interpreter is sent, the appropriate amount will be deducted from the whole of the grant in accordance with this rate sheet. Should the winner go over their allotted balance, they are responsible for paying the remainder due.

Interpreters are scheduled first-come, first-serve and interpreters may or may not be available in your required language pair depending on interpreter availability at the time of your request.

About In Every Language

In Every Language is a Louisville-based translating and interpreting services provider. We are members of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care and the Association of Language Companies. We are currently working with the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association to develop the nation’s first certification program for interpreting in domestic violence situations and we played a small, but significant role in the National Coalition on Health Care Interpreter Certification’s efforts to develop national certification for medical interpreting.

In Every Language is also a certified B Corporation. This means that, while we are a for-profit company, we behave like a non-profit when it comes to our commitment to community. As a result of this commitment to community, we are sponsoring an annual $1000 interpreting services grant. Through this grant, In Every Language hopes to help Louisville-based providers understand the vital difference that professional interpreters can make in the course of patient care.

To learn more about how In Every Language can help improve care for you and your patients, please call (502) 213-0317 or visit www.InEveryLanguage.com.

Grant Opportunities for Medical Clients

We don't find out about grant opportunities as often as we'd like here at In Every Language, but when we do, we certainly like to pass them along.

Please note that the information below was provided to us by Julia Puebla Fortier, a moderator with Diversity Rx's CLAS list-serv.  I have not personally looked into these Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grants, so I can't vouch for how accessible they are or aren't, but I certainly welcome any feedback you'd like to provide on them in the comments section.

Thank you!

Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change - Current calls for proposals - Calls for proposals - Grants - RWJF
Link: http://www.rwjf.org/applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=20941

Communities Creating Healthy Environments: Improving Access to Healthy Foods and Safe Places to Play in Communities of Color - - Calls for proposals - Grants - RWJF
Link: http://www.rwjf.org/applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=20961

Grant Awarded for Medical Interpreting

The following article written from staff reports is being reprinted from the June 15, 2009 issue of the Citizen-Times, a newspaper in Ashville, Nc:

"Buncombe medical society receives grant to expand interpreter network"

Buncombe County Medical Society Foundation has received a $7,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Henderson County to expand the WNC Interpreter Network into Henderson County.

WIN provides qualified and trained interpretation and translation services to medical practices and other agencies. WIN has provided interpretation services for 1,300 patients at 4,000 appointments in Buncombe County since its inception in 2005.

WIN will partner with the Blue Ridge Community Health Services to expand the availability of interpreters to physician practices at low cost.

“The expansion of WIN services into Henderson County will have a significant impact on our limited English proficient community,” said Jennifer Henderson, CEO of BRCHS. “We are excited to partner with BCMS and its innovative WIN program. Qualified interpreters through WIN will allow BRCHS to direct its own resources back to the community health center to address the significant health disparities of our patients and the community.”


(Blogger's note: Althea Gonzalez with the Buncombe County Medical Society will be speaking at the Second Annual Southeast Regional Medical Interpreter Conference this week at the University of Kentucky. More information available at http://bit.ly/RmR5O.)

Healthcare Providers Struggle with Language Support

While reading the ATA Newsbrief of the week, I came across this excerpt from Eliza Barclay's article "Speaking the Same Language" which ran in the Washington (DC) Post on April 21:

The growth of immigrant communities throughout the United States has been challenging for hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers that must negotiate lingual and cultural pitfalls. In the Washington, DC-area, there is a notable lack of language and cultural services in both large physician practices and small primary care clinics. Isabel van Isschot at La Clinica del Pueblo calls the failure to provide an interpreter "a form of discrimination." Immigrants with enough knowledge of English to get by at work may have a tougher time understanding doctors because of medical terminology. The cost of language services is a major issue for doctors and hospitals, who say the government should pay for the services. However, hospitals and physicians who accept federal funds are required to offer language services under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Some federal funding for interpreting services is accessible via Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, but only the state of California has made private insurers responsible for providing interpreting services to patients. Proponents say the issue is not a political priority. In Montgomery County, Maryland, Sonia Mora, Manager of the Latino Health Initiative in the Department of Health and Human Services, says language services have significantly improved during the past five years. Montgomery County provides professional medical interpreters to county clinics for free. "Now we're starting to see that it's going to save us money, because people are going to be healthier," Mora says.

Money for Medical Interpreting

Quite often, medical facilities we work with ask In Every Language staff if we're aware of any financial assistance to help defray their medical interpreting budgets. If they work in a participating State, we tell them about Medicaid's reimbursement program. We also let providers know that occasionally workman's comp insurance or car and/or liability insurance may pay for medical interpreters when applicable. But when you're located in a non-participating State (such as Kentucky or Indiana), when it's not a workman's comp issue, and when liability insurance doesn't come into play, what's a provider to do?

Today, I came across a December 3, 2007 article from the Memphis Business Journal with some information that could help. In 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded $1 million to the Med in Memphis to pay for interpreters. To better help all of In Every Language's medical clients, I've spent some time looking the Foundation's site over, trying to see any of this grant money is available to help the providers In Every Language works with. My clients know their needs better than I do, however, so I thought that I would post the Foundation's link here. Feel free to look this over and if there's anything we can do to help you with your application, please let me know.

Thanks, and good luck. Now let's all go help LEP patients together!

Source: "Med gets $1 million grant for interpreters." Memphis Business Journal. December 3, 2007.