In U.S. hospital medical staff learn Spanish to treat patients

Carolyn Scott does not listen to music when going to or coming from his work at Saint Vincent Hospital . Instead practice Spanish .

" I have a CD in the car," said Scott , secretary in the hospital's maternity unit . " I hear all the time"

Scott , 63, is one of 15 nurses and secretaries of Saint Vincent who take Spanish classes as part of a pilot program with Penn State Behrend .

The classes are designed to help them better communicate with Spanish-speaking patients .

The employees certainly will not replace an interpreter who works full time in Saint Vincent and who called to translate diagnoses and information on procedures and surgery. But anyway will be better able to receive patients when they come to the unit.

" We are often the first person they see these patients," said Scott , who divides his time between units of delivery, postpartum , nursery and neonatal intensive care . " I feel bad when someone comes along who does not speak English and I can not properly receive ," he added .

The idea arose when classes Soledad Traverso , Spanish teacher at Behrend , was a hospital patient in 2012.

Another teacher , Laurie Urraro , went to visit her and the two began to speak in Spanish while listening to a nurse .

" The nurse said she wanted to speak Spanish because they received patients , often in the middle of the night , when no interpreter or Spanish -speaking family ," recalled Traverso .

An interpreter is available by phone 24 hours a day, but it is not the same as having a nurse or unit secretary can help them acclimate in the early hours in the hospital, Scott said .

" Simple things like asking the name , if they have insurance , do you call your doctor ," he said .

Urraro Traverso and agreed it would be good idea to teach nurses and staff basic Spanish . They requested a grant to Penn State to cover the cost of a Spanish class at Saint Vincent .

The grant was approved and classes began in early September. The fifteen squares quickly covered although employees were not paid for attending the two-hour classes twice a week .

"We are excited about this opportunity to better meet the needs of our patients," said Debbie Tamlin , vice president of patient care at the hospital. " These classes are purely voluntary , but they seem to arouse much enthusiasm ," he said .