National Center onImmigrant Integration Policy
Preparing a Diverse CommunityEmergency Response Plans for Limited
English Proficient (LEP) Communities
Language Access Webinar V:
September 9, 2009
About MPIIndependent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, think
tank dedicated to the study of the
movement of people worldwide
MPI Program Areas:• U.S. Immigration Policy
• National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
• Borders, Security and Migration
• Labor Markets Initiative
• Migration & Development
• Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and
Integration
About Our SpeakersMarsha Tamura is the Citizen Corps Volunteer Coordinator and part of
the Homeland Security branch of the State of Hawaii Civil Defense
Agency. She recently received her Graduate Certificate from the
University of Hawaii –Manoa Disaster Management and Humanitarian
Assistance program. [Email: [email protected]]
Gerald Ohta covers nondiscrimination in services and employment,
ADA, language access, refugee health, and distance learning for the
Hawaii State Department of Health. He is Vice-Chair and state agency
representative on the State Language Access Advisory Council. He is
also active in the community in public health at the national and state
association levels and has worked in preparedness as coordinator for
the CDC Public Health Training Network and Health Alert Network. [Email: [email protected]]
Barbara Yamashita, Chief of the Community Health Division, Hawaii
State Department of Health, has had a diverse career in both
government and the private not for profit sector, spanning over a
period of 25 years. Yamashita holds a Masters degree in Social Work
from the University of Hawaii and has completed several certificated
courses on leadership and management. [Email: [email protected]]
Emergency Preparedness
Planning for Limited English
Proficient (LEP) Populations
in Hawaii
The 2006 American Community
Survey (ACS) estimates that
about 24% of Hawaii’s population
of 1.2 million speak a language
other than English at home.
Yes = 30%
No = 70%
INCIDENCE OF OTHER LANGUAGE SPEAKERS
IN HAWAII'S MASS MARKET AUDIENCE
What language is that?
Ilocano 36%
Japanese 19%
Hawaiian 14%
Tagalog 11%
Spanish 11%
Korean 3%
Samoan 3%
Chinese 2%
(n=389)
During the wake of 9/11 it became
clear that one of the major
problems that LEP Communities
face during a disaster or
emergency situation is the
communication barrier between
LEP groups and first responders
and care providers.
Project ImplementationProject Title: Development of Language Identification and
Emergency Cards (LIEC)
Time Frame: August 2007 – June 2008
• Partnerships established between the Hawaii
State Civil Defense Citizen Corps, Department of
Health, and the Interagency Council on Immigrant
Services.
• Developed emergency preparedness messages
and included identification of the user’s primary
language spoken.
Traditionally, professionals in Public
Health have developed personal
emergency health cards that contain
personal health information that
emergency medical service
responders need to know about the
individual if they find them
unconscious or incoherent.
The traditional public health
emergency health cards usually
contained information listing
medications being taken, allergies
and sensitivities, medical conditions,
and important contact people that the
emergency responder may call in the
event of an emergency.
The opportunity for us is to work with
agencies who serve LEP populations to
assure inclusion of emergency
preparedness messages and the
importance of being prepared as part of
any intervention. The partnership between
those who work on preparedness issues
and those who work with LEP populations
becomes critical.
Language Identification and Emergency Cards
(LIEC)
Project Implementation
• Formatted and designed the English version of
the LIEC cards.
• Determined the languages that the LIEC cards
would be translated into by using State LEP
population data.
Language Identification and Emergency Cards
(LIEC)
Translation Languages
• Cantonese
• Cebuano
• Chu'ukese
• Ilokano
• Japanese
• Korean
• Kosraean
• Mandarin
• Marshallese
• Pohnpean
• Samoan
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Tongan
• Vietnamese
• Yapese
Lessons Learned
• Clear purpose and utility of the product
– The goal of the LIEC is to reduce barriers for LEP
populations to access, utilize and understand
preparedness, disaster and recovery messages,
services and resources.
– The goal of the LIEC is to reduce barriers for LEP
populations to access, utilize and understand
preparedness, disaster and recovery messages,
services and resources.
– The goal of the LIEC is to reduce barriers for LEP
populations to access, utilize and understand
preparedness, disaster and recovery messages,
services and resources.
Lessons Learned
• Target Audience clearly defined– Level of education
– Age
– Gender
– When did they migrate, where did they
migrate from?
• Must have buy-in from the community
Lessons Learned (cont.)
• Use trusted resources for translators
– Past experience and training in doing
translations.
– Proficiency in both English and the
language being translated.
– Experience with doing back translations.
Punctuation mark placements are different for
Mandarin and Cantonese
Punctuation marks are in the middle of the space.Punctuation marks are at the bottom of the space.
Lessons Learned (cont)
• Field Test, Field Test, and Field Test!
– Community groups, associations, etc
– Universities and colleges
– Individuals
• Translations are not the end
• Use existing resources in the community
Aloha
About Our Speaker
Herman Schaffer is Director of Community Outreach for the
New York City (NYC) Office of Emergency Management
(OEM), where he coordinates OEM’s outreach efforts to
increase awareness around individual and community disaster
preparedness. Schaffer started working for OEM in June of
2005 in the External Affairs Division. He is the Chairman of the
NYC Citizen Corps Council and runs the NYC Community
Emergency Response Team volunteer program.
Prior to joining OEM, he was a he was a Peace Corps
Volunteer in Zambia where he worked to develop rural
communities ability to address issues around Water,
Sanitation, and Hygiene Education (WASHA). Schaffer also
spent several years as a Case Manager with Safe Horizons’
September 11th Recovery Efforts.
Herman Schaffer
Director of
Community
Outreach
New York City
Office of
Emergency
Management
(OEM)
About Our Speakers
Uma Ahluwalia is currently the Director of the Montgomery County (Maryland)
Department of Health and Human Services. With more than 1300 employees,
the department is one of the largest agencies in Montgomery County and
includes Aging and Disability Services; Behavioral Health and Crisis Services;
Children, Youth and Family Services; and Public Health Services. The current
budget for DHHS is $239.4 million. Ahluwalia came to Montgomery County from
the Child and Family Services Agency in the District of Columbia, where she
served as Principal Deputy Director and most recently as Interim Director. During
the last position, she had oversight of direct services to children including the
District’s 24-hour hotline for reporting child abuse and neglect, investigations, in-
home and foster care cases and adoptions.
Betty Lam joined the Montgomery County Department of Health & Human
Services (DHHS) in the summer of 2004 as the Chief of the Office of Community
Affairs. In that capacity, Lam is responsible for developing and implementing
outreach strategies targeting communities that are underserved, leads the
department-wide effort on language access, Head Start, Community Action
Agency and minority health programs. Prior to the current post, Lam was
appointed as the Community Liaison for the White House Initiative on Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders in 2002, and was later detailed to the Office of
Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services on special
assignments around LEP compliance.
Language Access and Emergency Preparedness:
The H1N1 Challenge
Montgomery County, Maryland
September 9, 2009
3535
Montgomery County Today—Fast growth of foreign born population
18.6%
26.7%29.3%
Year 1990 Year 2000 Year 2006
Foreign Born Population Growth in Montgomery County Population size nearly
doubled since 1990
1990 140,000
2006 270,000
Source: American Community Survey 2006, U.S. Census
Bureau
3636
Montgomery County Today—LEP Population More than Doubled since 1990
60,000
105,000
135,000
1990 2000 2006
LEP Population Growth in
Montgomery County
Source: American Community Survey 2006, U.S. Census Bureau
3737
Language Diversity in MoCo
Source: American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau 2000
County’s top 12 languages• English
• Spanish
• Chinese
• Hindi
• Korean
• French
• Vietnamese
• Amharic
• Farsi
• Russian
• Tagalog
• Portuguese
Montgomery County, MD APC
• The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services serves a diverse semi-suburban population adjacent to the nation’s capital and is in close proximity to the NIH and other national health resources.
• Our focus includes public health emergency awareness and education, systems to dispense medicines and supplies, and vulnerable populations such as young children and senior
residents.
Philosophy• Ecological
Behavioral Health Model
Identifying Gatekeepers (i.e., community health nurses, home health aides, Latino,
Asian and African-American Health Promoters, public/private agencies)
Montgomery CountyEmergency Preparednessand Response Vulnerable
Populations Committee
County Offices of:• PH Emergency Preparedness• Homeland Security• Community Affairs• Senior Health Promotion
• Aging and Disability• Police• Volunteer Center• Health Promoter Programs• Community groups, advocacy
groups, hospitals, assisted living facilities, group homes, nursing homes, and faith communities
Who are Our Community Partners?
• Faith Communities• Businesses• Home Health Care• Pharmacists• Child Care• Universities• Outreach workers and
community advocates
• School Systems• Physicians• Nurses • Schools of Public
Health• Hospitals• Ethnically based
community non profits• Volunteers• Many others..
Stay At Home Toolkit• Basic 101 on all different
aspects of influenza including prevention and care giving
• Available at: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/pandemicflu
• Adapted by many localities and in multiple languages
Latino Health Promoter Curriculum• Purpose: To train
promotores de salud in Public Health Emergency Preparedness
• 3-Day training
• Includes Plan to Be Safe tools
Proposed Timeline for School Based Flu Vaccine Administration
• Notification of Seasonal School Based Flu Plan to all schools– Websites-MCPS/County/MCPTA– Parent Letter– Consent form for Seasonal Flu Vaccine 9/01/09
• Each school notifies parent of vaccination date9/09-10/09
– Connect Ed– Principal Newsletter
• Start seasonal flu vaccination Dose #19/23/09
• Start seasonal flu vaccine Dose #2 10/24/09• Notification and vaccination dates for H1N1 TBD
Goals for School Based Flu Vaccine Administration
• Seasonal Vaccine– Vaccinate 32,000 students(50% of enrollment) in 131
elementary schools including Pre K-Head Start– Primary vaccine: Flu Mist– Second dose Flu Mist for 10-30% of students– 10% IM Vaccine– Complete Dose #1Sept-Oct;Dose 2 Oct-Nov
• H1N1 Vaccine– When, what schools and who get it depends upon
availability
Other Activities• Parent letter and Informed Consent form have been
developed in English and six other languages• The Informed consent form can be printed off of the
Montgomery County Government and Montgomery County Public School websites
• Also developed a vaccine dispensing card to keep track of vaccines administered
• The State of Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, through the Board of Physicians is also developing select messages to healthcare providers who access language specific populations
• Similarly the American Academy of Pediatrics and the MD Board of Physician Licensing is putting out messages to physicians with access to language
specific populations
Communication Activities• Strategic use of Radio and TV – public interest
messages and use of county cable strategically. The superintendent and the health officer have already gone on the airways.
• There is a state and county information line that has been set up.
• The County’s 311 line will be operational to respond to flu related issues and will be staffed by volunteers, public health staff, light duty police and fire personnel and the medical reserve corps with significant language competencies in the 12 major languages prevalent in the County with access to language line capabilities in other less prevalent
languages
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