Spanish club donates translation board to local clinics

In an effort to help break the language barrier for members of the Hispanic community, the Wilkes University Spanish club is donating specialized medical translation boards to local free clinics throughout the Wilkes-Barre area.

The medical translation boards consist of universally identifiable pictures and Spanish words along with their English meanings. The goal of the boards is to help make it easier for doctors and nurses to communicate with Spanish speaking patients.

The first series of  translation boards will be presented  to the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic in Wilkes-Barre by several members of the Spanish club on Friday, November 14. The free medical clinic was chosen because the club feels that this is one of many health care facilities in the community with a large number of Spanish-speaking patients.

The Spanish club will also donate to the Wilkes-Barre Free Clinic on South Franklin St., the free clinic on Jackson Ave. in Wilkes-Barre, and the Care and Concern Free Health Clinic on Williams St. in Pittston. These clinics were also chosen because of the large number of Hispanic patients that they treat.

As a whole, the club felt that donating the boards would be a great community service. Lili Dibai, the Spanish club president and Wilkes University junior, feels positively about the project. "The Spanish club thought it would be a great idea to donate medical translation boards to local clinics because a lot of times they have Hispanic patients coming in who speak little or no English. So, we thought it would be good to help out the local communities," said Dibai.

The idea for donating the medical translation boards first took shape last year as a community service project during which members discovered a newspaper ad for a private business that makes these specialized translation boards.

Along with this community service project, the Spanish club has also contributed to the community by donating bilingual and Spanish Bibles to the Holy Rosary Church, which offers masses in Spanish. The students also volunteered at Clothes Closet, an institution for low income individuals. The students helped by interpreting for Latino families and translating into English.

Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and faculty advisor to the Spanish club,  Dr. Paola Bianco, sees a need for more involvement in the community because of the growing number of Hispanic families in the area. She also encourages her students to become more involved where ever they can. "Students who are studying Spanish are able to learn and use the language in the real environment and at the same time they are helping the Hispanic community in a very much needed area. They learn to be tolerant, appreciative and respectful of other cultures," said Bianco. "While they improve their Spanish bilingual skills they develop cultural sensitivity, multicultural competence, and cultural knowledge which will make them fit in the multicultural society we are living in today."