Skip to content
Know Your Rights
Source: Make the Road New York
Subject: Health Justice & Access
Type: Press Advisory

POLITICIANS AND PATIENTS CELEBRATE NEW HEALTH PROTECTIONS FOR MILLIONS OF IMMIGRANT NY’ERS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH

 For Immediate Release  

New State Regulations require increased provision of free translation and interpretation services at all NY State hospitals.

 Attorney General Spitzer’s office will announce settlement agreements with four Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island hospitals that require comprehensive new language assistance services at these hospitals.

WHAT:

A press conference with community leaders and government representatives to announce New York State’s new regulations for providing quality health care to hospital patients who are Limited English Proficient, or hearing- or vision-impaired. Participants also will announce the resolution of civil rights complaints filed with the state Attorney General against four private hospitals in New York.

As of September 13, 2006, all private and public hospitals in the state are required to provide communication assistance for Limited English Proficient patients using skilled interpreters. The new rules set clear limits on the use of family members, friends, and strangers as interpreters.

WHO:

Make the Road by Walking, the Latin American Integration Center, the New York Immigration Coalition, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and other organizations.

Attorney General Spitzer’s Office

NYC Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr.

WHEN:

Wednesday, September 13, 2006, 11:30 am

WHERE:

New York Immigration Coalition

137-139 West 25th Street, 12th Floor (between 6th and 7th Avenues), Manhattan

 

Interviews with patients available in advance.

****PHOTO OPPORTUNITY****