Vonessa Costa works as director of Multilingual Affairs and Patient Services at Cambridge Health Alliance and manages New England's first onsite call center for healthcare interpreters. She talked to us about the transition interpreters made to working remotely years ago, the advantages of language access with local staff interpreters, and the changes brought on recently by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Interview conducted by Elena Langdon - elena@7sisterslearn.com
Vonessa Costa is director of Multicultural Affairs and Patient Services at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), named “Best in Class for Delivering Culturally and Linguistically Competent Patient Care throughout the Organization” by the Institute for Diversity in Health Management (2010). Vonessa co-leads CHA’s video interpreting program honored with a 2014 Amerinet Healthcare Achievement Award for technological advances that have enhanced CHA’s ability to care for a diverse patient population. Prior to her current position, Vonessa was director of the Cross Cultural Communication Institute at CCCS, Inc., where she specialized in interpreter development and provider training in intercultural communication. Vonessa is a CoreCHI™ practitioner credentialed by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters. She is secretary of the Forum on the Coordination of Interpreter Services and former secretary of the International Medical Interpreters Association. Vonessa is a graduate of the Americas Essential Hospitals Fellows Program, and a 2019 MassAHEC Tony Windsor Award recipient.
Music by Clover Fortier
Podcast graphic art by Marcelle Carlson