MAMI Offers Weekend Training at MVCC in Feb., March

UTICA/SYRACUSE, Jan. 21, 2009 -- As the refugee and immigrant communities in Central New York keep growing, the need for qualified, trained interpreters in key languages keeps increasing. To respond to that need MAMI Community Interpreters is offering an 80-hour course for medical interpreters starting February 27 at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica. It will be held on four weekends in February and March -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- to better accommodate the working schedules of people interested in becoming trained medical interpreters.

To register or for more information, contact MAMI at 315-732-2271 in Utica and 315-214-5003 in Syracuse, or via email at info@MAMIInterpreters.org.

"The course is for anyone who is fluent in English and a second language, and who would like to earn money while providing a much-needed service to healthcare providers and patients lacking proficiency in English," MAMI Executive Director Cornelia Brown, Ph. D., said.

The medical interpreter training is for all languages, she said, but there is also a particular need for the following languages: Arabic, Bangladeshi, Bosnian, Cambodian, Dinka, Farsi, Hindi, Hmong, Karen, Kirundi, Korean and Vietnamese.

Along with paid on-the-job experience and an oral exam, the course leads to agency certification by MAMI, the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters.

There is a tuition fee, with easy payment or installment plans available. Course materials include a training manual and a bilingual medical glossary.

The course is taught by a team, including a licensed multi-cultural instructor/interpreter trainer and a registered nurse/medical trainer. Training involves interpreting skills, ethics and procedures, medical basic anatomy and mastery of a bilingual glossary of medical terms and phrases, common illnesses and treatments, culture-brokering, communication skills, role playing, benchmark oral evaluations, and written exam. There also will be tours of local medical facilities. Upon passing the written exam, participants will be eligible to work as paid MAMI interpreter-interns.

MAMI is a community-based, non-profit organization that has been recognized state-wide and nationally for its groundbreaking advocacy, training and coordinating in providing trained interpreters for patients and the medical community.