Solve the interpreting problem

There are two reasons why northern hospital patients like to have patient escorts accompany them on trips to southern medical institutions.

One reason is obvious: on long, lonely trips to big cities like Montreal or Ottawa, it’s useful to have a companion, especially someone who speaks some English.

The other reason is that patient escorts provide useful witnesses to what may be done to you after you find yourself within the often clumsy embrace of the health care system.

Going to the hospital is not a pleasant experience for most people. It never will be. People go to the hospital, usually, when they’re sick, or if they’ve suffered a serious injury. People who go to the hospital are rarely at their best.

So when Inuit, especially older people who speak little or no English, travel to faraway places like Ottawa for medical care, they’re often in a weak and vulnerable state of mind. The last thing they need to have to cope with is the prospect of having to communicate without the help of an interpreter.

It’s only three weeks before the creation of Nunavut. Nunavut does not, of course, have its own language policy yet. But surely, after all these years, an agency of the territorial government ought to be able to provide interpreters for hospital patients.

For some people, it is no exaggeration to say that this is a life-and-death issue. If patients and doctors cannot communicate, doctors cannot provide accurate diagnoses, or provide accurate instructions to their patients.

The bureaucrats who run the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board and the Ottawa Health Services Network found out this week that Baffin patients need more interpreters.

The message is clear. Fix the problem. JB