Yukon Hospitals is taking significant strides to ensure that language is never a barrier when it comes to providing quality medical care in the Yukon, says Gwen Ross, Volunteer Services Coordinator.
Operating under the mandate of the Hospitals Act and the Languages Act, Yukon Hospitals is legally required to provide services in both national languages, English and French. Yukon Hospitals is supporting the third-largest bilingual region in Canada through initiatives like the Bilingual Service Provider Program.
“The whole purpose of the program is part of our provision of safe and excellent care,” explains Ross. “Because when you’re sick, or vulnerable, you may not be thinking in your second language. When your first language is not English it can be a real barrier to being able to receive the best care possible.”
Currently, there are 22 designated French bilingual service providers spread across various departments within the hospitals. These individuals play a crucial role in bridging the communication gap between patients and healthcare professionals.
Stories from Bilingual Service Providers
Keith Welch has been working as a Registered Nurse at Whitehorse General Hospital since 2009. Today he works as an Infection Control Practitioner and Occupational Health Nurse. Several years ago, Welch, a French-speaker, volunteered to become a bilingual service provider during the COVID-19 pandemic. He passed a proficiency test from Francophone Yukon to become certified.
Every month, or so, Welch is called upon to help provide translation and interpretative services for French-speaking patients.
He stresses the importance of language access in healthcare.
“From a patient perspective, there’s a pretty strong power dynamic between patients and healthcare professionals and that’s widened even further if there’s a language barrier,” says Welch. “To help empower people so that they’re engaged, involved and heard when it comes to how care is provided to them — I think that’s of great importance.”
Francis Aubin, a Medical Imaging Charge Technologist at Whitehorse General Hospital, shares a similar sentiment. Growing up bilingual, Aubin signed up as a provider several years ago to help French-speaking patients. He serves patients primarily in the medical imaging department.
Both Welch and Aubin emphasize the importance of building awareness in ensuring patients know about available language services to support their needs.
“If patients want to communicate in French, or any other language, we have the ability to support them,” says Welch. “We’re happy to help.”
Innovative Solutions: Meet ‘Sheldon' and ‘Dexter’
In addition to human interpreters, Yukon Hospitals utilizes technology to enhance language accessibility.
Yukon Hospitals has introduced translation and interpretive support through the use of live “interpreter on wheels”, a tablet that provides live video interpretation in over 260 different languages. There are three at Whitehorse General Hospital and one each at Watson Lake Community Hospital and Dawson City Community Hospital.
At WGH, staff have fondly nicknamed the video interpreters “Sheldon”, says Ross.
“Dawson City Community Hospital decided to be a little creative—their interpreter on wheels is called ‘Dexter,’” she laughs.
Patients give verbal consent to use the interpretive services, which enables patients and healthcare providers the ability to communicate with one another in the language of the patient’s choice.
Recently, Ross looked at ‘Sheldon’s’ call history and noted that patients have received services in many different languages, including Arabic, Ukrainian, Vietnamese and American Sign Language.
“With our huge multicultural demographic in the Yukon, it's a very valuable service that patients can access—regardless of where they’re from—to receive services in the language of their choice,” says Ross.
It all comes back to Yukon Hospitals’ commitment to patient-centered care. The Bilingual Service Provider program and the live video interpreters help to empower patients to communicate in their own languages, ensuring that they receive the medical care they need.
Photo Left to Right: Francis Aubin, Sheldon, and Keith Welch