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In This Issue...
Upcoming Events
- February 26-27 2019:
Atlanta Association of Interpreters & Translators (AAIT)
Skill-Building Workshop
State Oral Court Interpreter Certification Exam
Atlanta, GA
ATA Approved: 10 CE
- March 8-9 2019:
California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA)
19th Annual Educational Conference
CHIA Forging the Way to a Gold Standard in Health Equity
Sacramento, CA
- March 22-24, 2019:
Mid-America Chapter of ATA (MICATA)
MICATA Annual Conference
Translation and Interpreting in an Era of Change
Overland, KS
- March 30, 2019:
Carolina Association of Translators & Interpreters (CATI)
CATI Annual Conference
Spartanburg, SC
Did We Miss Your Event?
Send us the information at IngridOseguera
@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org
The National Board is proud to announce its 10 year anniversary in 2019
Since the first CMI credential was granted in 2009, five new CMI credentials were added and an online proctoring service launched. With improved accessibility the credential was made available to interpreters in both remote areas of the United States and internationally.
In the past ten years the CMI credential was granted in countries across the globe including China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Russia, Korea, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Throughout the years, the National Board has partnered with small rural community health centers, dentist offices, large urban hospitals and similar organizations to promote certification and help interpreters achieve the goal of certification. We have added oral exam testing centers in several cities this year.
We are 2,350 strong and growing!
| LANGUAGE | CMI |
|---|
| Spanish |
2066 |
| Russian |
90 |
| Cantonese |
68 |
| Mandarin |
59 |
| Korean |
53 |
| Vietnamese |
14 |
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Casita Wild, NBCMI Operations Manager |
Webinars
Are you interested in certification? Attend a National Board webinar to get all the information and ask questions. Visit our Webinars page for more information...
Follow Us on Social Media!
 @certifiedmedicalinterpreters
 @CMIcredential
Want to contribute to the next issue of our newsletter?
Send your articles, topic ideas, or comments to
XiomaraArmas
@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org
or
IngridOseguera
@certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org
      
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Happy Holidays from the Chair of the National Board
Can you believe that 2018 is almost gone? Where did the year go? Perhaps you were so busy studying to pass the certification exams that before you knew it, 2018 disappeared. Perhaps you had so much work to keep you busy that it just flew by. Perhaps you were doing your life’s work, your calling, that you didn’t even notice the time go….But whatever it was that kept you busy and going this year, I hope it was a wonderful year for all of you.
As the holidays approach, and with Thanksgiving just around the bend, I want to take a moment to reflect on the things that the National Board is thankful for this year. We are thankful for your continued support of our organization and for your dedication to the great profession of interpreters. We are thankful for your ideas, fresh perspectives, questions and concerns that allow us to assess our effectiveness in order to explore ways to better serve you.
We want to recognize the hundreds of professionals we serve each year, who bravely commit to building a brighter future for themselves. We want to express our appreciation to all our stakeholders that partner with us so that we can provide the best certification programs available.
We want to voice our gratitude to all our CMIs for your confidence in selecting the National Board, it is an honor and a privilege to count you among our Certified Interpreters.
The National Board is committed to continue working on development of strategies; expanding our vision and horizons to be more inclusive of other languages and open new venues for all those professionals still waiting for an opportunity to take the next step in their careers.
We are confident that in the New Year, 2019 will bring more opportunities and provide our community with tools for your continued career endeavors.
Last but not least, we congratulate ALL medical and health care interpreters that became certified this year and those who continue their education to get re-certified. Certification is a professional goal and we strongly believe that no matter, whether you are a CMI or a CHI, the path to certification can be trying at times, but so rewarding when you finally achieve it. You worked hard and you should feel very proud of such an accomplishment. We applaud all of your efforts to promote and advance this great profession! You are an inspiration!
Happy Holidays!
"Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."
- William Arthur Ward
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Jazmin Manjarrez, CMI-Spanish, Chair |
2018 Interpreter Fall happenings from the Southeast
Of the many conferences and forums held for interpreters, there were five professional development opportunities for interpreters that took place recently in the Southeast. The National Board participated, like we do at interpreter gatherings around the country. National Board Directors attend with an informational booth where interpreters can learn about and sign up to get certified. All of the events offer an opportunity for CMIs to earn their CEU credits.
Here are some highlights of what interpreters are discussing and considering:
July 21: The Westbridge Solutions 2018 Southeast Interpreter Conference:
Sponsored by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at the Golden level, this was a great success with over 100 attendees, 10 Languages represented (including lesser diffusion, Indigenous and ASL) and 12 states represented, with the presence of Jazmin Manjarrez, NBCMI Chair, attending the board table joined in action by Susan Rullan, Matt Bozone and Xiomara Armas as board members, which was an excellent interaction opportunity with attendees and new board members as well as networking with new and old friends of the NB.
Sept. 14-16: 2018 Tapit Annual Conference:
"Professional Empowerment in an Ever-Changing World", in Nashville, Tennessee was a great and well organaized conference with excellent presentations and a wide variety and levels of discusssions, from High-Acuity Interpreting: The Relationship between Interpreter Fatigue and Encounter Complexity — Andrea R. Henry, to Hearing impairment and dual-language learning: the role of the interpreter — Maria Baker including presentations from CCHI and the NBCMI regarding process of certification, and much more.
Oct. 6: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s (CHOA) Translation and Interpreting Services’ Interpreters Symposium:
"A day of learning for interpreters by interpreters", organized by the Shared Leadership Council, Atlanta, Georgia.
Interpreters came from the metro Atlanta area, the region and surrounding states. CHOA interpreters and their manager gave important sessions on working in the emergency department, interpreting for the pediatric forensic Interview, the components of consecutive interpreting, decision making and mindfulness.
The consensus was unanimous to continue having yearly trainings of this type that are open to all interpreters and offer CEU credits. Young students interested in becoming interpreters attended – very inspiring! The language access services at CHOA are a model and constantly moving forward.
Oct. 27: Medical Interpreter Network of Georgia (MING) Fall Forum, Atlanta,Georgia
The well attended forum included delving into topics such as transnationalism, communication and the renal patient, tax reporting for interpreters, medicine in diverse cultures, and the transformative nature of our work, health literacy and more. MING is an important professional organization that has brought together interpreters for decades and help shape the profession. See www.mingweb.org
Nov. 10: International Medical Interpreters Association Regional Conference in Florida, Tampa. Hosted by the Moffit Cancer Center’s Language Services.
Under the banner of "Medical Interpreters and Meaningful Access to Health Care" this was a very successful event and also drew participants from the region and other states, and several sign language interpreters were present. The Moffit Cancer Center’s language services manager and interpreter team are very enthusiastic and professional. They have big plans for the future, including expanding their services and embedding language into telemedicine. Topics for the day included new options for cancer care, the cultural work of medical interpreters, a panel on interpreting for languages of lesser diffusion, the state of language access laws and the Demand-Control schema.
Some things that stood out in all of these events:
- When physicians spoke, they said that language services and interpreters are invaluable and they could not do their job without us. They stressed the importance of developing a bond with their patients and their families and our key role in this.
- The transformative nature of our work – it changes us and makes us grow. It also can affect us negatively through vicarious trauma, and presenters stressed mindfulness and taking care of ourselves.
- Empathy is the ability to understand where people are coming from. Being compassionate is essential in our work as we are often with people at some of the most difficult times in their lives.
- Change is constant, and the effect of technology on the health system and how we do our job has an effect on us. The need for interpreters and translators will continue to expand exponentially. Machines cannot replace the skills, talents and expertise of us as linguists. Technology can only boost our ability to use, transform and manipulate language, it can never replace us.
- All of us have a stake in advancing the professionalism of the medical interpreting field and ourselves as medical interpreters. This helps ensure linguistic and culturally appropriate language services. It is now accepted that medical interpreting is a practice profession and interpreters are an important part of the treatment team. Having qualified, trained and certified interpreters insures Patient safety and good health outcomes.
Linda Joyce, MS, CMI-Spanish, CHOA interpreter
NEWS FLASH!
New Link for IMIA’s Medical Interpreters Training Directory
IMIA has a 40+ hours medical interpreters training directory again with new listings being continually added! Check it out at the following link:
http://www.imiaweb.org/education/trainingnotices.asp
Scroll down the page and click on "Interpreter Training Courses" to view them. To offer a medical interpreters training course, click the red button for "Interpreter Training Application."
The same link above is used for those who wish to earn CEUs. Scroll down the page and click on "Workshops" for CEU opportunities through IMIA. Click the red button for "IMIA CEU Application"
There is still a separate link for IMIA’s CMIE accredited 40+ hours medical interpreters training courses which medical interpreters can access:
http://www.imiaweb.org/education/accreditationhistory.asp
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Beverly North, M.S.
Registrar
The National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters |
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