Kamana Khadka
Friends, time flies! Especially, when you love what you do :0) As
another beautiful year comes to an end and we prepare to welcome a brand new
year with double the enthusiasm, we would like to spend sometime reflecting on
2013.
The month of November was
special for us as it marked one year of Hamro America LLC’s existence. Hamro America’s journey started when two
co-workers, Ms. Kamana Khadka and Ms. Emma Ditsworth, decided to make productive
use of furloughed hours at a non-profit organization, where they worked for
several years. For the first few months,
we invested a day of the week, in chasing our passion of promoting culturally and linguistically competent services for all
in Arizona and nationally.
Our first
official public appearance was at the 8th Annual Cesar Chavez
Conference, followed by our presentations/facilitations/workshops at a local
level at The Flinn Foundation for Mountain Park Health Center, Diversity
Leadership Alliance, St. Luke’s Health Initiative, Partners In Recovery,
University of Arizona, Pima County Health Department, Department of Economic
Security and so on. In no time, we also
entered the national arena and presented/facilitated at 2013 Young Non-profit
Professional Network’s National Leadership Conference, 7th Annual
National Council of Interpreters in Health Care Meeting, and Easter Regional
Campus Compact for Carnegie Foundation.
Our journey would never have been a success had it not
been for some very, very special individuals in our lives.
A BIG SHOUT OUT to:
Mr. Essen Otu, Diversity and Community
Affairs Director at Mountain Park Health Center
Mr. Mark Tellier, Chief Administrative
Officer at Terros
Ms. Dolores Retana, Consultant
Detective Luis Samudio, City of Phoenix
Police Department
Mr. Bob Enderle, Diversity Leadership
Alliance
Detective Christopher Abril, City of
Phoenix Police Department
Ms. Elizabeth McNamee, Director at St.
Luke’s Health Initiative
Dr. Raquel Gutierrez, Associate
Director at St. Luke’s Health Initiative
Ms. Faith Weese, Grand Canyon
University
Ms. Georgia Sepic, Serrano Village
Apartments
Mr. Zach Holden, Refugee Health
Coordinator, Arizona Department of Health Services
Ms. Asmeen Hamkar, Refugee Health
Services Manager, Department of
Economic Security
Ms. Carolyn Manning, Former Community and Economic Development Manager, Arizona
Refugee Resettlement Program
Ms. Sharon Flanagan, Flanagan-Hyde Solutions, LLC
Ms. Megan O’Conner, Executive Director,
Welcome To America Project
Ms. Jeanne Nizigiyimana, Program
Director, Maricopa Integrated Health Systems
Thank you all for going an
extra mile in helping us. We would also
like to pay gratitude to all the coalitions we have been part of and its
members for encouraging us throughout this journey.
Along
with our public workshops, in 2013 we worked hard in expanding our training
topics.
Cultural Competency
Training Topics
Cultural
competency training topics include, but are not limited to:
· Practical Guide to
Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Care
· Working Effectively with
Refugee Population
· Building Culturally
Competent System of Care
· Building Culturally
Competent Community Partnerships
· Cultures of Western
Bio-Medicine
· Communicating
Effectively Through Interpreters
· Culturally Competent Use
of Language Services
· Impact of Health
Disparities
· Strategies for Resolving
"Cultural Bumps"
· Tools for Strengthening
Internal Capacities
· New CLAS Standards
Interpretation Training
Topics
Medical
and Community Interpretation training topics include, but are not limited to:
· Introduction
To Medical/Community Interpreter
· National
Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Interpreters
· Path to
National Certification Tests for Interpreters
· Assessing
Interpreters
· Continuing
Education for Medical/Community Interpreters
· Affordable
Care Act and an Overview of U.S. Health Care System
· Consecutive/Simultaneous
Interpretation and Sight Translation
· Orientation
for Service Providers
· Client
Education: Hows and Whys of Working with Trained Interpreters
· Resources
for Interpreters of Languages of Lesser Diffusion
Please let
us know if you or your organization can help us spread the word about our
services.
Also, you
can help us spread the word by:
· Asking us to drop-off our
brochure at your office for distribution
· Invite us to speak at your
organization
· Share your listserv with us
· Share your calendar of events
with us so that we may table at your events
We are very excited to enter
2014 with the mission “To strengthen culturally competent services in America such
that people with diverse needs receive sensitive, knowledgeable, and
non-judgmental access. We define diverse needs as abilities and disabilities,
cultural and linguistic, social and health care.”
Wishing You and Your Loved Ones Happy
Holidays!
Stay Warm,
Hamro America
