Federal guidelines require that services be provided in the language the patient speaks and at no cost to the patient. The following resources augment but do not replace the need for interpreters - click here for Carilion's Interpreter policy and Language Line services .

While Spanish is the biggest need, Carilion staff may want to use resources from the Commonwealth and other organizations to improve and enhance the quality of services they provide to non-English speakers.

CLAS Act

CLASActvirginia.vdh.virginia.gov

Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Health Care Services for Virginians Resource Guide. Includes translated materials, a Spanish dictionary and tools for delivering services.

• Translated Health/Patient Education Information includes brochures, sound recordings, fact sheets, and other educational materials in 39 languages. www.vdh.virginia.gov/ohpp/languageresources2.asp
  
• Language Resources Linguistically Appropriate Health Care provides tool kits, planning tools, issue briefs, trends, demographics, model projects, and how to organize interpreter programs.
  http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/ohpp/languageresources.asp#tools
  
• English-Spanish Dictionary of Health Related Terms (3rd Edition) is an updated 2005 dictionary that was developed by the California-Mexico Health Initiative for healthcare and other professionals who work with the US Latino population. It includes new terms related to emergency and disaster preparedness.

Spanish Language Resources

• MEDLINEplus
  National Library of Medicine site covers consumer health topics in Spanish and other languages.

• Micromedex CareNotes
  Carilion's patient education resource of choice.

• American Academy of Family Physicians
  Selected handouts in Spanish for health problems, family health, drugs, and herbal therapies. Information written and reviewed by physicians and patient education professionals.

• CDC En Español
  Information is tailored to the needs of the Hispanic population.

• Healthfinder
  Spanish version of a popular government consumer health site.

• NIH - Institutos Nacionales de la Salud
  30+ topics on health and disease

• A Su Salud - Health Information in Spanish
  Health information in Spanish from the South Texas Community College .

Web-Based Language Translators exist on the Web. Following are a few examples:

• Langenburg.com translation.langenberg.com offers translation of words or phrases by search engines such as Google, Alta Vista, x10Dictionary, Free Traslation, World Lingo, InterTran, etc.

• Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/translate/text.html translates words or phrases from English into 12 languages.

• ForeignWord.com www.foreignword.com lists 265+ online dictionaries for 73 languages.

Language Materials in Carilion Libraries - Click here for a list print and sound materials in the CRMH, CRMCH, and Jefferson College Learning Resource Center (LRC) libraries. Materials may be borrowed for one month to Carilion employees.