15 Graduate from Syracuse’s First Multilingual Medical Interpreter Course April 6, 2006 -- Fifteen Syracuse area residents graduated this week from a 70-hour medical interpreter course conducted by the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters of Central New York (MAMI). By completing the training, they can now help the medical community communicate with patients who lack proficiency in English, said MAMI Executive Director Cornelia Brown, PhD. “This was the first comprehensive training to be offered in Syracuse for all languages,” she noted. With this first class of trained interpreters, Brown said MAMI would now extend its interpreting services in the Syracuse area to include the following languages: Arabic, Bosnian, Chinese, Dinka, French, German, Italian, Kiswahili, Maay Maay, Russian, Mishanguli, Somali, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukranian. MAMI has additional interpreters, based out of its Utica office, in other languages, including Burmese, Cambodian, Karen, and Vietnamese. The course was taught by a team that included an experienced multi-cultural instructor, an interpreter trainer and a registered nurse/medical trainer. Training involved interpreting skills, ethics and procedures, medical basic anatomy, common illnesses and treatments, culture-brokering, communication skills, role playing, benchmark oral evaluations, and written exam. Graduates are now eligible to work as paid MAMI interpreter-interns. Once completing the internship and a follow-up exam, they become MAMI-certified medical interpreters. MAMI is a community-based, non-profit organization that has been recognized state-wide and nationally for its groundbreaking advocacy, training and coordinating in providing trained interpreters for patients and the medical community. For more information or to inquire about interpreting and translation services, contact MAMI at 315-732-2271 during business hours, at 315-624-0953 after 5 p.m. and on weekends, or email MAMIofCNY@adelphia.net. Medical facilities that use MAMI interpreting services are charged on a sliding scale based on level of usage. The new trained medical interpreters and their language specialty are: -- Kathy Ackermann, French and German. -- Ahado Adan, Maay Maay and Kiswahili. -- Petero Afet, Arabic and Dinka. -- Sevil Baytarova, Turkish and Russian. -- Ahmed Ferus, Somali, Mishanguli and Kiswahili. -- Li Gao, Chinese. -- Gregory Gerrans, Spanish. -- Miriam Laforty, Spanish and Italian. -- Yijuan Lin, Chinese. -- Chol Riop, Arabic and Dinko. -- Raisa Sinitsin, Ukranian and Russian. -- Rabiya Sayfatova, Turkish and Russian. -- Monica Tham, Chinese. -- Evelyn Weisbrod, Spanish. -- Nijaz Zahirovic, Bosnian Back to Main News Page