Worcester Business Journal

26 Worcester Business Journal | November 27, 2023 | wbjournal.com F O C U S C H A M P I O N S O F H E A LT H C A R E BY EMILY MICUCCI Special to WBJ F or Connie Camelo, a tempo- rary stay in the U.S. to study English at university turned permanent when she decided to get married. It led her to medical interpreting, an unexpected application of her passion for languages. "e purpose of medical interpret- ing – to serve the community – and having the experience myself with those language barriers, it flowed perfectly together. I fell in love with the field of interpretation," Camelo said. Now director of interpreter services at UMass Memorial Health, Camelo, a Colombia native, joined the Worcester healthcare system in 1999 aer becom- ing a certified medical interpreter and quickly became the coordinator of inter- preter services. At the time, the Univer- sity of Massachusetts Medical Center and Memorial Hospital were merging; the hospital didn't have an interpreter services department, so Camelo was Camelo improves healthcare access with comprehensive interpreter services asked to create one for the new system. Gradually, it transformed into a na- tionally recognized program. "We are one of the most comprehen- sive in the country," Camelo said. Camelo's team serves Worcester's vast limited-English proficiency population as well as the deaf and hard of hearing. Last year, the department delivered more than 400,000+ interpretation encoun- ters in 100+ languages. e top foreign languages spoken by UMass Memorial patients are Spanish, Portuguese, Viet- namese, Arabic, and Albanian, but those are always in flux, said Camelo. Due to a large refugee population, language needs must be reassessed all the time. Speaking from her own experience, Camelo understands the difficulty of seeking medical care in the U.S. when you're not a native English speaker. New immigrants give up a level of indepen- dence and oen rely on family members to help translate during medical visits. Adding to that is the difficulty a language barrier places on providers and the healthcare system. Without a detailed medical history, for example, a patient may not receive optimal treat- ment. Meanwhile, costs for the medical system may be higher if treatment isn't efficient. Camelo said patients may seek care in the emergency room unnecessar- ily, and readmissions tend to be higher for patients who don't fully understand their discharge instructions. e need for equitable access to healthcare came into sharp focus in 2020 when the COVID pandemic took hold. Vaccinating underserved and vulnerable groups – including those who contin- ued to work through the shutdown as a disproportionate number of immigrants did – was a top priority for Camelo and her team. Camelo recalled the urgency with which her department worked to translate vaccine information for both employees and patients in the early stages of the vaccine rollout. But having moved to web-based interpreters on iPads in January 2020 was apt timing. Adding contracted, remote interpreters to the 30 staff ensured robust inter- pretation services within seconds of a patient entering a room. Working with contractors, Camelo set quality metrics to ensure effectiveness. "We're all about strategy," she said. It's her strategic bent that sets Camelo apart, said Dr. Warren Ferguson, a professor emeritus of family medicine and community health at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester. Now re- tired, Ferguson joined UMass Memorial about the same time Camelo did, and the two crossed paths oen with offices near each other. e two shared a drive to better serve the diverse patient popu- lation, but Camelo really took it and ran with it, Ferguson said. "She's an incredible negotiator. She's very aware how expensive care can be, and she's always looking at how to improve services with a budget in mind," said Ferguson, adding it's Camelo's hu- mility that helps with people over. e link between healthcare quality and interpreter services has garnered a lot of attention in the last two decades, said Camelo. Today, it's viewed as an essential component of healthcare delivery, rather than the auxiliary service it once was. "Whoever needs it, gets it," Camelo explained. "It's still a key component that sets us apart from other programs in the country." H Connie Camelo Director of interpreter services UMass Memorial Health, in Worcester Education: Attended Corporación Universitaria UNITEC in Colombia Why did you get into the healthcare field? Having experienced firsthand the impact of language barriers during her early stages of acculturation as a non-English speaking immi- grant in this country and the challenges we, as immigrants, can face to access proper medical care when we are most vulnerable steered the direction of my professional career toward language access in health care. What is the future of health care? The health- care industry is experiencing an exponential growth of individuals with limited English proficiency facing linguistic and cultural barriers to access safe and high-quality health care. More than 25 million individuals face language barriers that can lead to misunderstanding, poor health outcomes, and higher costs of care. Integrating high-quality, cost-effective language services, merging both human linguistics and leading-edge technology, plays a pivotal role to support the strategic efforts of healthcare organizations to enhance their population health management. H e a l t h c a re L e a d e r - Pa t i e n t S u p p o r t PHOTO | COURTESY OF UMASS MEMORIAL HEALTH

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