Your boss, the Director of Community Relations at a busy Ambulatory Healthcare Center, has asked you to fill in for him while he is on vacation and to host a meeting of community leaders. The goal of the meeting is to consider ways to disseminate important community health bulletins. Many cultures are represented at the meeting and there is a discussion about how to meet the language needs of more than 20 different languages spoken in your organization’s service area. The meeting becomes tense when you must announce that your organization is only prepared to disseminate material in English and Spanish.
Requirements:
- Prepare a one- to two-page memo for your boss in a Microsoft Word document briefly summarizing the events of the meeting and how it was concluded. More importantly, recommend to your boss at least one course of action for your organization moving forward. Be sure to fully support your recommendations.
- Respond to the questions in a thorough manner, providing specific examples of concepts, topics, definitions, and other elements asked for in the questions. Your submission should be highly organized, logical, and focused.
- Your submission should provide a clearly established and sustained viewpoint and purpose.
- Your writing should be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and insightful.
- A separate page at the end of your submission should contain a list of references, in APA format. Use the assigned reading, the Library, and the internet for research.
- Be sure to cite both in-text and reference list citations where appropriate and reference all sources. Your sources and content should follow proper APA citation style.
—Do not focus on a healthcare topic (mammograms, flu vaccine,etc.) Focus on how to reach the various groups represented at the meeting.—Must be in business memo format.—Must show creativity and research.—No anecdotal information (off the top of your head). Creativity and research.
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
As a medical professor, I have experience in dealing with diverse communities and understanding their healthcare needs. The goal of disseminating important community health bulletins is relevant to me as I have also taught my students about the importance of effective communication in healthcare. This memo will provide a summary of the events at the meeting and recommend a course of action for the organization to move forward in addressing the language needs of the diverse communities.
Summary of the Meeting:
During the meeting, community leaders and representatives discussed ways to disseminate important community health bulletins. The meeting became tense when it was announced that the organization is only prepared to disseminate materials in English and Spanish, despite the fact that more than 20 different languages are spoken in the service area. The community leaders expressed concerns about how this will affect the ability of the organization to effectively communicate important health information to the diverse communities.
Recommendations:
Based on the concerns raised at the meeting, I recommend that the organization takes the following course of action:
1. Translation Services – The organization can employ the services of translation agencies or hire bilingual staff members to address the diverse linguistic needs of the community. This will ensure that important health bulletins are effectively communicated to all members of the community, regardless of their language.
2. Multilingual Websites – The organization can create multilingual websites that provide information on health bulletins, services, and resources. This would allow community members to access information in their preferred language.
3. Community outreach programs – The organization can partner with community-based organizations that serve diverse communities to disseminate health information. This will improve the trust and rapport between the health organization and the communities they serve.
Conclusion:
It is important for healthcare organizations to understand the diverse needs of communities they serve, including linguistic needs. Employing translation services, creating multilingual websites, and partnering with community-based organizations are all effective ways to address these needs. By adopting these strategies, healthcare organizations can ensure that important health bulletins are communicated effectively, regardless of the language spoken.
