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Communication is crucial for quality health care! Not only is language an important vehicle for making a diagnosis and negotiating a treatment plan, it can also make the difference between life and death.  Across the nation, there is a demand for certified interpreters with specialized training in health care.  In this expanding and exciting field you may find yourself interpreting during labor and birth one day and in the ER the next day.  You may be in a large Level 1 Trauma Center or in a small neighborhood clinic. You may be interpreting for health care providers who are Deaf or you may interpret for patients who are Deaf.   People of all ages and backgrounds need health care and certified interpreters find it challenging and rewarding to be the critical link for communication.   

As with other types of interpreting, those working in the health care settings must have excellent competency in ASL and English, understand and apply ethical practices and render messages between languages that convey the original content and meaning.  Successful health care interpreters have the ability to work in situations that can be emotionally and physically challenging.  Interpreters in health care strive to maintain calm, even in highly stressful or tragic situations.  They must strike a delicate balance between being compassionate and having clear boundaries, always keeping the focus on the communication between the health care provider and patient.  Around the nation, hospitals and clinics are increasingly aware of their legal responsibility to provide linguistic access.  Interpreting in the health care setting is a growing area of specialization with many challenges and opportunities.  If you're interested in the health care system and cross-cultural communication, this may be the exciting and fulfilling career for you.