Effective communication between patients, their authorized representatives, and their healthcare providers is vital to achieving access to quality care and ensuring good health outcomes.
To ensure that persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and those who are blind or visually impaired have meaningful access and equal opportunity to healthcare services, programs and information, Rochester Regional Health provides comprehensive language interpreting services that are available within a reasonable period of time and at no cost to the individual or to their authorized representatives.
Non-English Speaking Patients
- In-house Spanish Interpreters are available at the Rochester General Hospital Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 6:30 pm. Note: Rochester Regional Health will coordinate the services of a professional interpreter (Spanish and other languages) for in-person interpretation needs at all Rochester Regional Health Hospitals and practices.
- If on-staff interpreters are not available to assist patients with their language needs, patients will be connected to a professional phone interpreter. Live, over-the-phone interpretation exists for more than 200 languages and is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
- Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) is also available and enables face-to-face as well as audio-only personalized service through iPad technology.
Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Patients
- American Sign Language Interpreters are on-call and available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
- Video Relay Services, CapTel devices, TTYs and portable assistive listening devices are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
- Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) is also available and enables face-to-face personalized sign language interpreting through iPad technology.
- Hospital phones have a volume adjustment feature.
- Hospital televisions are equipped with closed-captioning (not all programs are closed-captioned).
Blind or Visually Impaired
- Recorder (Linear PCM) devices are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
For more information regarding the services listed above, please contact Rochester Regional Health’s Interpreter Services Department at (585) 922-4000 who will connect you with the appropriate Interpreter Services Team Member. In addition, the nurse manager on your hospital unit will be happy to assist you.
