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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Sandra E. Gálvez, MSW, Public Health Nursing, Alameda County Public Health Department, 7200 Bancroft Ave., Suite 202, Oakland, CA 94605, 510-577-7092, SanGalv@co.alameda.ca.us
The Ashland Community Health Team of the Alameda County Public Health Department along with its partner, Safe Ashland Neighborhood Organization, developed a community intervention that was implemented during the spring of 2001. The Ashland Community Outreach Worker Training was designed to identify and develop new community leaders, introduce them to services and resources in the community, and link them to further leadership development opportunities. Twenty community residents were recruited to participate in the 10-week intervention. The group was split almost evenly between monolingual Spanish-speaking and monolingual English-speaking residents. Simultaneous translation was provided using headphone equipment. Bilingual staff members and intervention participants assisted in the verbal and written translation. Every session was fully presented and conducted in English or Spanish with both written and verbal translation occurring simultaneously. Whenever feasible, every other session was presented in English with Spanish as the primary language in the alternating weeks. Great efforts were taken to ensure that half of the invited session presenters were fully fluent in Spanish. The simultaneous translation and bilingual presentations enabled all training participants to fully engage in the subject matter, it helped break down communication and cultural barriers between different sectors of the community, and it created an equitable learning environment for all participants. This translation technique granted non-English speakers access to many of the available community resources. During evaluation sessions, participants overwhelmingly remarked that the simultaneous translation was a highlight of the intervention.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to
Keywords: Access and Services, Community Participation
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Alameda County Public Health Department;
Safe Ashland Neighborhood Organization
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.