15 Interpreters Graduate from Syracuse Course

SYRACUSE, Oct. 5, 2006 -- Fifteen Syracuse area residents have graduated 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 second comprehensive training to be offered in Syracuse for all languages,” she noted.

With this class of trained interpreters, Brown said MAMI offers interpreting services in Central New York in the following languages: Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese, Chinese, Dinka, French, German, Karen, Italian, Kiswahili, Maay Maay, Russian, Mishanguli, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Turkish, Ukranian 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.

The newly trained medical interpreters may be contacted through MAMI for services. The new interpreters and their language specialty are:

-- Tammy (Thanh Thuy) Cramer of Cicero, Vietnamese.

-- Robert English of Syracuse, Spanish.

-- Mirna Colon of Syracuse, Spanish.

-- Mary Gorman of Liverpool, Spanish.

-- Irina Feldman of Syracuse, Russian.

-- Fardowsa Hasaan of Syracuse, Somali and Maay Maay.

-- Abdullahi Ibrahim of Syracuse, Somali and Maay Maay.

-- Lulu Naw of Syracuse, Karen and Burmese

-- Deng Malual of Syracuse, Dinka and Arabic.

-- Frances Messina of Jamesville, Italian.

-- Richard Chanh Minh Tran of Syracuse, Vietnamese.

-- Lorena Reohr of Auburn, Spanish.

-- Silvia Shenouda of Syracuse, Arabic.

-- Barbara Schloss of Syracuse, Spanish.

-- Ludmila Uncu of Baldwinsville, Russian and Romanian.

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.

###