News Archives
Eva Pena Recognized For Her Work to Revamp Hackley Translation Services
October 2003
Hackley Hospital team member Eva
Pena was one of seven local individuals recognized recently by SBC and
WGVU for their contributions to improving the cultural, social and political
life of their Hispanic communities in Michigan.
Eva was honored at the 2003 SBC Hispanic Excellence Awards program for her work to make translators available around the clock to Hackley Hospital patients, for finding ways to use the Hackley Health Intranet to make patient information provided though translators available to family members and healthcare workers, and for working to implement the bi-lingual patient education tool "Care Notes."
Eva's efforts resulted in doubling the number of translators available to Spanish-speaking patients at Hackley, making the service a truly seamless component of the Hackley care experience.
Using the Hackley Health Intranet, Eva also helped make bilingual communication available anywhere patient or patient-family contact is possible within Hackley Hospital. Electronic data transmission facilitates the accurate and immediate distribution of information provided by the patient through their translator, while it eliminates the clutter of paper records at nursing stations.
Building on her success with technology and translation, Eva led the implementation of yet another electronic service now available at all clinical care stations: Care Notes. Care Notes, produced by Thomson Micromedix, is a comprehensive patient education tool containing 3,000 customizable health and medication documents written at the 6th to 8th grade reading level, all available in English and Spanish.
Because of Eva's efforts, Spanish-speaking patients at Hackley Hospital now have the security of being able to communicate with medical personnel through a translator. Likewise, through Care Notes, printed medical advice can be taken home and accessed, reviewed and utilized.
Eva's work has also elevated the comfort level of healthcare workers, who now know they can reinforce their advice with materials that empower the patient to take their health into their own hands, after they leave the care of Hackley.
