On June 21, 2014, from 9 to 11
a.m., Health Protection and Education Services of Missouri provided free
health screenings at University City’s local library. Health Protection and
Education Services (HPES) prides itself on its extensive, nontraditional nature
of delivering complimentary health care screenings to the St. Louis community,
and offers coverage in areas such as: blood glucose checks, blood pressure
measurements, cholesterol, skin inspections, EKGs, hearing, height and weight,
and vision (http://www.hpes-stl.org/about-screenings).
The services provided, which are meant
to be convenient and aid the “underserved and uninsured” in our
community in accordance with HPES’ organizational mission, occur monthly on
every third Saturday, and are accessible via all public transportation mediums
in the city. Not only does HPES provide free health screenings to those
individuals who could not normally afford it themselves, but they also provide
health education to teens and nursing/medical students, who experience a
financial blockade that bars them from expressing age and topic sensitive
materials they need to be successful. This educational need is addressed by the
Young Physician Education Program, which provides health screenings
specialized in adolescent health issues. This program also provides health care
prevention presentations to several St. Louis Metro youth organizations, such
as Girl Scouts of the United States of America
(http://www.hpes-stl.org/teen-outreach). The HPES’ focus covers a wide range of
age groups and ethnicities in the St. Louis area, making it one of the most
diverse non-profits in the community.
LAMP, whose mission is to limit
the strain on Limited English Proficiency (LEP) individuals in the St. Louis
area, communicating in both a client’s mother language and English, to ensure
that the best possible healthcare is attained on an individual basis. This
mission of inter-LEP interpretation is done on a “no frills” policy, meaning
that all content will be directly translated to both the English speaking
service provider, and LEP patient, to ensure zero miscommunications and close
the language gap between the two parties. This “no frills” interpretation
policy, will be applied to best serve HPES’ low income clients, to directly
benefit the St. Louis area, and ensure that one of the area’s most consistent,
gratuitous health service organizations, is being aided, at an event in which
it usually operates alone. The ability to communicate effectively in a
multicultural setting highlights an individual’s ability to be transparent, and
thus, makes for a strong inter-human connection, between the communicator and
the patient. This provides a strong interpersonal element to events, such as
HPES’ health screenings, that was previously absent. This phenomenon of
effective intercultural communication is best demonstrated on HPES’ end, by
their CEO, Diane Berry, who stated, “That reimbursing a Hispanic
family for their first health consultation outside [of HPES] was one of the
most enriching, heartfelt experiences of my life.”
By
collaborating with HPES, LAMP strives to close the cultural and linguistic
barriers present in the St. Louis area, by providing HPES volunteers with this
opportunity, to see beyond the everyday scope of the medical field, and allow
them to observe the magic that occurs when an individual can be treated with
confidence in his or her own mother language. This event on June 21, 2014, was
the first of a busy summer for LAMP, who plans to collaborate in multiple areas
such as academia, the legal system, and other non-profits, to ensure that the
St. Louis community is ethically and ethnically represented.
For health screening information contact Health Protection & Education Services at: 314.448.7373
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| Andrea L., Intern and Portuguese Interpreter at LAMP |
About the author: Andrea L. is a Junior International Studies and Communications Double Major at Maryville University. She is an intern and Portuguese interpreter at LAMP, who loves to travel and write about everything under the sun. Animals, The World Cup, and Nutella are some of her favorite things, and she one day hopes to work for the European Union or an Embassy overseas.
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