Adventures in remote interpreting at a rural hospital

Barton Health's goal for 2016: to provide interpreting services for its monthly support groups and community wellness lectures. The solution: remote interpreting. Since 1963, Barton Health, a community health system in California, has been committed to delivering exception health care. In an effort to adapt to the changing needs of patients, the hospital recently implemented a remote conference interpreting system, allowing experienced conference interpreters to interpret remotely for on-site meetings with non-English-speaking patients, for staff meetings with hospital leadership, and for other events. Patients listen through either their cell phones or wireless receivers that Barton Health makes available to them. What follows is the story of how the project came about, told from the perspectives of Barton's language access coordinator and one of the interpreters working remotely.