Medical Interpreter and a Lead Medical Interpreter

Shenandoah Valley Medical System•Martinsburg, WV

About The Position

Shenandoah Community Health (SCH) is a Federally Qualified Health Center dedicated to improving healthcare access by addressing cost, transportation, and language barriers. SCH offers a wide array of services including primary care for all ages, women's health, behavioral health, and oral health, complemented by on-site pharmacy, labs, and radiology. This role is an opportunity to make a significant impact in the community. Shenandoah Valley Medical System is seeking a Medical Interpreter and a Lead Medical Interpreter to provide accurate English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English interpretation and translation services for Spanish-speaking patients and families within SCH. These positions are crucial for facilitating clear communication between patients, families, providers, and staff, and will also assist with patient access and administrative tasks.

Requirements

Bilingual – English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English
High School diploma or GED
Experience working as a professional interpreter preferred
Experience working in a healthcare setting preferred
Experience with communication technologies such as telephone or video remote interpreting
Successful completion of conversation/translation competency testing in secondary language
Knowledge of Medical Terminology
Language proficiency test
Maintain strict patient confidentiality and comply with federal and state privacy laws.
Consistently adhere to and/or exceed SCH communication guidelines and expectations with internal and external customers including co-workers, patients, and external partners
Possess good listening and communication skills.
Office skills including word processing, data entry, and record keeping principles.
Possess the ability to work in a courteous and professional demeanor with patients, co-workers, and community contacts.
Demonstrate a friendly, patient, and compassionate demeanor when dealing with people, even in difficult situations.

Nice To Haves

AA preferred
Medical Interpreter Certification or Bridging the Gap highly recommended or actively working toward this.

Responsibilities

Provide accurate English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English interpretation and translation services for Spanish-speaking patients and families receiving care within SCH.
Support clear communication between patients, families, providers, and staff.
Assist with patient access and administrative needs.
Participate as a neutral party and serve as a communication link between SCH staff and patients.
Provide English-Spanish interpretation for all services and locations of SCH.
Ensure information related to patient services, hospitalization, advance directives, consents for treatment, diagnosis and prognosis, treatment plans, follow-up appointments, and health care education is accurately communicated.
Address patient questions and concerns regarding communicated information in a clear and effective manner.
Provide interpreter services by conveying the exact message rather than summarizing information subjectively.
Follow all policies and procedures related to processes, services, and employee work rules.
Maintain confidentiality regarding patient care and visitor matters involving non-English-speaking patients, families, and escorts.
Answer phone calls from the Spanish line and relay messages to providers, nurses, referrals, and medical records.
Schedule, confirm, cancel, or reschedule appointments as requested by patients and SCH staff.
Update the Electronic Health Record (EHR) as needed.
Assist patients with completing registration and financial forms and answer questions to ensure understanding.
Assist patients with Primary Care, Women’s Health, Pediatrics, Behavioral Health, Pharmacy, Lactation Consultant, Diabetic Education, and related questions, concerns, clarifications, and refill requests.
Coordinate and standardize the process for connecting limited English proficiency (LEP) patients with appropriate language support services, including in-person interpretation, tele-interpretation, and other relevant interpretation modalities.
Demonstrate cultural proficiency through values and behaviors that support effective engagement with people and groups from diverse backgrounds.
Build and maintain interpreting schedules and arrange in-advance and on-demand interpretation requests.
Organize and maintain SCH language access resources and workflows and act as the main point of contact for language support services at SCH.
Provide training and education to staff as needed.
Act as liaison between language support vendors and SCH.
Track and monitor LEP patient experience through surveys, data reporting, observation, and other relevant methods, and implement improvements based on findings.
Participate in local trainings and collaborative meetings that work to improve access to community services for LEP community members.
Assist with the implementation and adoption of technological solutions for interpretation and translation services for SCH patients.
Collect staff feedback, explore opportunities to improve language support workflows and resources, and suggest improvements based on findings.
Route patient needs and requests as appropriate.
Collaborate with SCH Leadership and Marketing departments to support effective patient communication.
Perform other duties as assigned.