Social & Cultural Barriers to Access

Profile: Language Bank

Language Bank Interpreter, Upama Thapa (center), provides Nepali interpretation for a patient as he describes his symptoms to Dr. Debora Meesarapu of the Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency Program.

Administered through Lutheran Social Services of Northern New England (LSS), Language Bank is the only statewide, comprehensive foreign language interpretation service in the state. It provides language interpretation services, interpreter training, outreach and education to potential users of the service as well as coordination for service providers.

The 2006 Census reports that there are more than 102,000 New Hampshire residents, five years and older, who speak a language other than English at home. Within a five-year period, the number of New Hampshire residents who spoke other languages at home increased by almost 9 percent and that number is expected to continue to grow.

LSS and the Endowment are committed to assisting health care providers in delivering high-quality, culturally effective care.

What began as an idea to provide language interpretation to newly arriving refugees has grown into a sustainable business that serves nearly 300 organizations with close to 150 interpreters who collectively speak 60 languages. Through its state-of-the-art database, Language Bank coordinates about 750 interpreter appointments per month. These services are offered in health care and legal settings as well as school administration and social service environments.

By providing high-quality, professional, on-site language interpretation, a more equitable process and greater access can be offered to all of New Hampshire’s people, no matter what language they may speak.