Language Line Services honored with ‘Raquel Cashman Language Access Award’

The International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) recently awarded Language Line Services, a leading interpretation and translation provider, with the Raquel Cashman Language Access Award at the organization's 2009 conference. This is the first time an organization has been honored with the prestigious award that recognizes the achievements of individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to improving patient safety, language access in health care, and the medical interpreter field at a national or international level.

"Language Line Services has made critical and far-reaching contributions to helping standardize the quality of medical interpretation in the United States, so that we could together achieve our mutual goal this year of a multi-organization collaboration to launch the first national certification program for medical interpreters," said Izabel Arocha, IMIA President. "The company has distinguished itself in its support of the medical interpreter profession and as an active crusader for patient safety and quality care for linguistically diverse patients. We hope more organizations, non-profit or for-profit alike, are encouraged by this award to participate in much-needed language advocacy efforts towards certification and reimbursement."

Language Line Services President and COO Louis Provenzano received the award on behalf of the company at the IMIA Annual Conference held October 11, in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was also a keynote speaker on National Medical Interpreter Certification. See http://www.imiaweb.org/conferences/raquelcashmanaward.asp .

"It was such a privilege to accept the Raquel Cashman Language Access Award and to share this honor with our dedicated team at Language Line Services who have played such an important role in this historic initiative to achieve a national certification," said Provenzano. "A tremendous effort has been put into developing a national standard that is representative of the needs of the many stakeholders involved in this process. We are proud of what we've achieved together and heartened by what certification means in terms of patient safety and the elevation of the medical interpreting profession."

The annual award was established in 1993 by the International Medical Interpreters Association in memory of Raquel Cashman, initial founder of the organization and Director of the Interpreters Department at Boston Medical Center, and the initial founding member of the Board of Directors of the IMIA, the oldest and largest medical interpreter association in the world. Cashman was an impassioned advocate for medical interpreting and limited English proficiency (LEP) patient rights. This is the highest language advocacy award an individual or organization can obtain in the U.S. and is open to organizations worldwide.

"A national certification for medical interpreters has long been a dream of our profession, and it was such a thrill to be in Boston to hear first-hand that it is now a dream come true," said Karla R. Pereira, Patient Advocate and Medical Interpreter, Spanish Interpreter-Translator, Forsyth Medical Center, NOVANT, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "Many organizations and individuals have put their knowledge and passion to work to improve the quality of medical interpretation, which will ultimately save lives."