The Good Samaritan Free Health Center (GSFHC) serves as a medical home staffed by volunteer doctors, nurses, medical assistants, dentists, hygienists, dental assistants, physical therapists, and support staff. The clinic functions by appointment only, similar to a private physician’s office, offering holistic care. It is the only free health center in Hamilton County, and is the largest urban free health center in Ohio. The GSFHC continues to operate through private donations and volunteer participation. Aside from the wide range of medical services and specialties offered, the clinic provides community health services to ensure that patients do not get lost in the confusion of the medical system. Since opening in 2011, the Good Samaritan Free Health Center has grown to serve a diverse population of Hamilton County residents who represent over 50 different countries of origin. About 40% of the GSFHC patient population speak Spanish, 50% speak English, and 10% speak several other languages.
The GSFHC accommodates their diverse patient population by using a video-remote-interpretation (VRI) system that connects you to a live interpreter via an iPad on a mobile stand. This iPad interpretation was used for the variety of patient languages except for Spanish; a live Spanish interpreter (usually a volunteer) was almost always used. For the UHP summer project, we wished to analyze the use of VRI for medical encounters in Spanish by having me serve as the “iPad Ambassador.” Before Spanish medical appointments, I would introduce the concept of VRI to our patients and providers and give basic instructions. Then, I would remain in the room as a quiet observer and take over as the medical interpreter if the video connection failed. Throughout the summer, I collected data about each video interpretation encounter to assess quality and reliability.
Aside from facilitating iPad interpretation, I also acted as a Spanish medical interpreter for a variety of medical appointments, helped patients schedule outside referrals and secure transportation, made sure they had an affordable way to obtain prescriptions, helped with financial assistance applications, provided information about other community resources, and assisted with other regular office duties. With the support of a UHP grant, we were able to purchase small tote bags for patients so that they may remember to bring all current medications to their appointments. We hope that this medication bag initiative will improve patient safety and communication.
I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity with Urban Health Project. The experience was formative and instructive; I learned so much about underserved medicine and strengthened my desire to pursue family and community medicine in my future practice. The GSFHC embodies the compassionate, thoughtful, comprehensive, efficient, and essential features that one would hope to find in an ideal clinical setting. I will be returning to the health center as often as possible to volunteer, and I cannot wait to return one day as a volunteer physician.