The Language Services Program was established in 1998 in order to monitor and improve the communication difficulties faced by our clients and service providers in a satisfactory way. Furthermore, this program was also established due to the increased demand for interpreters as our Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) clients grew in numbers dramatically and consistently. To deal with all the increase, a language services program coordinator was appointed to be responsible and to coordinate and monitor all the interpreter requests and needs.

The aim of the Language Services Program is to support and assist CALD communities with their language needs by providing high quality, impartial, unbiased, and professional language services in order for all to access culturally appropriate health care. The program provides in-house interpreters in four main languages. These are Timorese Hakka, Vietnamese, Turkish and Mandarin. The in-house interpreter also provide cultural information consultancy in order for all North Richmond Community Health Centre (NRCHC) staff to design culturally appropriate services to our clients. Furthermore, the language services program provides translations for service providers within the NRCHC. There is also on the spot telephone interpreting and pre-booked telephone conferencing facility via external language agencies. This service is used for emergency situations when the program is unable to find an on-site interpreter for languages not provided in-house.

The program also provides outside contract interpreters (on-site) from other language providers. The Language services coordinator has developed partnerships with several language service providers in order for the program to access their pool of contract interpreters for on-site requests at the NRCHC. These agencies are TIS, VITS, ACTIVE, ON-CALL and ALL-GRADUATES interpreting agencies. The NRCHC will strive to book NAATI level III interpreters from the external language provider agencies where applicable.

These services mentioned above are only open to centre's clients attending an appointment with the NRCHC's programs and services. Since the establishment of the program, the most requested languages every year have been Timorese Hakka, Vietnamese, Turkish and Mandarin. Due to this reason the program books on-site interpreters in the above mentioned four main languages on a regular basis every week from external language providers. However, the past few years saw a diversification in clients' language needs, predominantly for rare Middle Eastern and African dialects and languages. This trend is indicative of the movement of the immediate residential communities within the City of Yarra.

Any interpreter requests received will be done during the above mentioned times.
For more information please contact the Language Services Program Coordinator on ph: 9420 1337 or fax: 9428 2269 or email: renab@nrchc.com.au