Multicultural & Interpreter Services

Holy Cross Health complies with federal civil rights laws. At Holy Cross Health, no person shall on the grounds of age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical and mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or otherwise be subject to discrimination in the provision of any care, services or admission.

To best serve our diverse patients and their families, Holy Cross Health is dedicated to providing interpretation services and to increasing cultural awareness and sensitivity among health care staff.

In recognition of the diversity of the community it serves, Holy Cross Health employs a manager of multicultural services whose job is dedicated to interpretation services and cultural awareness and sensitivity within our departments.

Interpreter Services

Holy Cross Health utilizes a telephonic interpretation system to connect, on a 24-hour basis, with specially trained medical interpreters in 200 languages and dialects. At Holy Cross Health, dedicated interpreters of Spanish, the world language most highly represented among our limited-English proficient patients and families provide language support to patients on the women and children's services units, and throughout Holy Cross Hospital. These targeted services are complemented by approximately 117 bilingual and multilingual employee volunteers, who collectively represent 35 world languages – from Amharic to Yoruba – to ensure broad coverage for effective communication on behalf of patients, family members, physicians, and other health care providers. Sign Language interpretation also is provided through a combination of on-site and video remote interpretation at both hospitals and affiliated health care sites.

To complement our various modalities for interpretation, Holy Cross Health offers numerous resources, including translation of vital patient care documents, supplement our various interpretation modalities for facilitating the communication and interaction between patients, their family members, and the health care professionals necessary to achieve the most favorable health outcomes. If you need these services, please notify your nurse.

Assistive Devices

Assistive devices for the hearing and visually impaired are available upon request through your nurse.

Grievances

If you believe that Holy Cross Health has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a grievance. Please view our notice of nondiscrimination to learn more.