| DHCC provides a variety
of specialized interpreting services.
Legal Interpreting
In legal settings, clear and accurate communication among all involved
parties is essential. Interpreters can be utilized for various situations,
such as lawyer’s offices, courtrooms, real-estate closings, social
security hearings or any situation where a legal document is explained
and signed or a formal decision is appealed.
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Mental Health
Interpreting
In mental health situations, which may include assessments, evaluations,
diagnoses and treatments, effective communication is critical. When
two languages and cultures are involved, communication presents the
mental health professional with additional challenges. This is often
the case when a patient or a significant person in the patient’s
life is deaf and uses sign language.
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Medical Interpreting
In medical settings, such as doctor’s appointments, inpatient
hospital procedures or consultations, effective communication between
consumers and health care professionals is vital. The communication
gap may be between the medical professional and a patient who is deaf
or between the medical professional and a responsible person other than
the patient, such as the deaf parent of a minor child or the deaf adult
responsible for an aging parent.
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Educational Interpreting
In an educational environment such as primary or secondary schools,
colleges and graduate schools, communication is facilitated between
deaf students and others, including teachers, service providers and
peers.
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Religious Interpreting
Religious interpreting occurs in settings that are spiritual in nature.
These settings can include worship services, religious education, workshops,
conferences, retreats, confession, scripture study, youth activities,
counseling, tours and pilgrimages, weddings, funerals or other special
ceremonies.
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Deaf-Blind Interpreting
There is a continuum of vision and hearing loss among people who are
deaf-blind. Some deaf-blind people have a substantial amount of vision
while others have little or no useful vision. The same is true for hearing;
some deaf-blind people are hard of hearing while others are moderately
or profoundly deaf. The diversity in levels of vision and hearing contribute
to the type of interpreting required. Examples of deaf-blind interpreting
include: sign language at close visual range or in a limited visual
space; sign language received by sense of touch with one or two hands
(tactile); and fingerspelling received by sense of touch with one hand
or two.
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Oral Interpreting/Transliterating
Oral transliterators (also called oral interpreters) facilitate spoken
communication between individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and
use speech and speech-reading as their primary mode of communication,
and other persons. The oral interpreter silently mouths sentences to
the deaf or hard of hearing person, changing words or phrases as needed,
to ones that are easier to lip-read. Oral transliterators may also “voice”
for speakers who use no voice, or whose voices are difficult for listeners
to understand.
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Deaf/hearing
Team
DHCC uses a Deaf/hearing team, one Deaf interpreter and one hearing
interpreter, in legal and mental health assignments. These are major
life-altering situations and there is a critical need for communication
and cultural accuracy. Our Deaf interpreters have the most linguistic
skill in ASL and the best cultural connection to the Deaf consumer.
In addition, some Deaf consumers require a Deaf/hearing
team in a regular assignment due to their limited language skills.
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Hearing/hearing
Team
It is DHCC’s policy to assign two (2) hearing interpreters to
work as a team for the duration of complex assignments or those exceeding
two hours.
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Baby Beeper
Expectant mothers and fathers can use our pager service called the “baby
beeper”. This system takes cooperation from the doctor’s
office, the hospital, the Deaf consumer and the interpreters, as well
as DHCC. DHCC gathers information from the consumer or the doctor’s
office such as the expected due date and the name and location of the
hospital where the expectant mom will deliver. DHCC asks the consumer
to provide us with two or three preferred interpreters to interpret
during labor and delivery. One interpreter is selected as the primary
and the others are available as back-ups. If those interpreters agree,
DHCC provides each of them with a pager to carry at all times as the
due date approaches. When the expectant mom goes to the hospital, the
hospital staff person pages the interpreter to arrive at the hospital
immediately. The pager allows the interpreter to be contacted day or
night, while at home or out for the evening. Prior to the delivery date,
DHCC generates a form with the name of the Deaf consumer, the doctor’s
name and the best contact numbers (pager, cell phone, etc.) for the
interpreters who have agreed to be on-call. This form is sent to the
hospital and to the consumer. In the event the hospital does not have
the form on file, the consumer should bring the form with her or him
to the hospital. In some cases, consumers may contact the interpreters
directly to avoid a delay of service. Please contact the interpreter
referral department at 610-604-0452 Voice/TTY or email at ird@dhcc.org
for more information or to set up services.
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DHCC thanks RID for the excellent information about specialized services
on their web site, which we used to compile some of this information.
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