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Sign Language Interpreting

Sign language interpreting services are provided through the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WIDHH).
The service is available to health care professionals working for an agency or service under the BC health authorities, private physician offices and other services covered under the Medical Services Plan. There is no charge to the patient or your department. Please call the Institute directly. 

Bookings:
Phone: 604-736-7012
Toll-free: 1-877-736-7012
What we do

The Provincial Language Service (PLS) is a program of PHSA that provides spoken language interpreting and written translation services to BC health authorities, as well as manages the contract for provincial medical Sign language interpreting. 

The service is provided through the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WIDHH), which operates the Medical Interpretation Services (MIS). 

MIS provides ASL interpreters and intervenors services for the deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing patient at no direct cost to clients or health care providers for services that fall under the Medicare Act and the Hospital Insurance Act. This service is provided following a 1997 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that sign language interpretation must be provided to Deaf patients in BC to comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The service assists in creating equitable access to medical appointments for deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing patients, allowing greater access to communication with health care providers. 

Why use a professional interpreter

A qualified interpreter optimizes the delivery of safe and equitable health care for patients with various cultural and language needs.

They are trained to accurately convey all parts of a message without changing the content, meaning or tone, reducing errors and enhancing safety.

Using a professional interpreter also allows the patient or family member to focus solely on understanding their illness or to support a loved one to increase satisfaction with care.


Community Engagement

https://youtu.be/qn6Y9o2Dtbc 

The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) is committed to providing top-quality interpreting services for deaf, hard-of-hearing and deaf-blind people who are accessing health care across BC.

We believe the Deaf community should be integrally involved in the delivery of interpreting services to improve equitable access, and we have been actively engaging with community members to better understand their current needs.  Engagement work with the community is focused on future planning for a medical Sign language service. We are seeking input about opportunities to innovate, redesign and improve this service within existing available resources.

In 2016 PHSA began reviewing interpreting services for the deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind people.  Through the review process, we learned there is confusion around what medical services are covered and how these decisions are made. We also learned that the community wants to provide regular input so the service remains current, and we need to utilize a comprehensive approach to the model to ensure the service is delivered consistently across BC.

Engagement meetings have taken place across the province, and more are planned:

  • Kelowna – February 3, 2018
  • Vancouver – February 16, 2018 and February 27, 2018 (Deaf-blind )
  • Victoria – March 10, 2018
  • Prince George – May 6, 2018 https://vimeo.com/266777069 

In addition, we've posted an on-line survey with ASL translation.

When the engagement sessions are complete, a proposed service model will be presented to the community at a meeting in April to gain additional feedback. We anticipate that the model will have a deaf person lead the service and a mechanism for on-going two-way communication with the community. We will share details of this meeting with you when it is confirmed.  

If you have questions, please contact the Director of Provincial Language Services, Kiran Malli at kmalli@phsa.ca. To attend an upcoming engagement meeting, contact Emina Dervisevic at Emina@rmdelaney.com. Please also consider responding to the on-line survey (https://tinyurl.com/pls-sign-language-engagement) if you cannot attend an engagement session.

Thank you for your valuable input. We look forward to reporting back to you on what the future of medical Sign language service could be.

Infographic.PNG

Engagement Location Details:

1. Kelowna: 2pm, February 3, 2018, Pathways Seniors Centre, 150-D Gray Road, Kelowna, or

2. Greater Vancouver: 6:30pm, February 16, 2018,The Provincial Language Service, 1795 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby.

3. Greater Vancouver: 5pm February 27, 2018, Douglas College, 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster for Deaf-blind participants.

4. Vancouver Island: 1:30pm March 10, 2018, Quadra Room, Comfort Inn Hotel, 3020 Blanchard Street, Victoria
https://youtu.be/EIeDiMwdZ7E 

5. Prince George: TBA

TO REGISTER, please email emina@rmdelaney.com


How we work
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