A beta version of the home screen of the Latino HealthCare Forum’s multilingual web-based app shows its English and Arabic versions. A Spanish version will also be available.[/caption]
Since 2014, the
Latino HealthCare Forum has worked to improve access to care in the Rundberg area—a section of North Austin that is culturally diverse but economically underprivileged.
LHCF Program Director Jill Ramirez said the nonprofit is creating an app to help residents, including non-English speakers, find services in the Rundberg area that might improve their health.
LHCF Planning Consultant Chelsea Brass said the web-based app for English, Spanish and Arabic speakers will be available to residents to access on their personal computer or smartphone.
“We figured it will be easier to send folks to a URL [address] than to provide complicated instructions on accessing an Apple or Android store,” Brass said. “Our goal is to make it easy for someone to enter a URL, find their language, look for a resource and then have the app locate that specific resource.”
Hovig Ohannessian, a developer who speaks English, Spanish and Arabic, is creating the app, scheduled for release in late June, she said.
Rundberg-area residents will be able to use the app to find basic services, such as the location of nearby libraries, grocery stores and pharmacies, she said.
Brass said the need for services in Arabic is “staggering.”
According to the
Rundberg Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan Summary Report, clinical data show Arabic is the third-most popular language spoken in the Rundberg area after English and Spanish.
The report indicates that “Arabic is spoken at a rate twice that of the next language on the list, Vietnamese.”
“We hear so many stories of people struggling to get medical translation with their medical provider,” Brass said.
She said many health care providers use the LanguageLine app, which virtually puts a translator in the room with the patient and the physician, but information still gets lost in translation because communication is more than just auditory.
Brass said LHCF regularly works with the Asian American Resource Center to improve language access and translation services.
“We hope this begins a conversation. … Language is the first barrier,” Brass said.
The app will be available to residents without access to a smartphone or computer at a kiosk in a set location. Possible locations include H-E-B or the Little Walnut Creek Branch of Austin Public Library, both located near the intersection of Rundberg Lane and North Lamar Boulevard.
View a map of local health care providers
A beta version of the home screen of the Latino HealthCare Forum’s multilingual web-based app shows its English and Arabic versions. A Spanish version will also be available.[/caption]
Since 2014, the Latino HealthCare Forum has worked to improve access to care in the Rundberg area—a section of North Austin that is culturally diverse but economically underprivileged.
LHCF Program Director Jill Ramirez said the nonprofit is creating an app to help residents, including non-English speakers, find services in the Rundberg area that might improve their health.
LHCF Planning Consultant Chelsea Brass said the web-based app for English, Spanish and Arabic speakers will be available to residents to access on their personal computer or smartphone.
“We figured it will be easier to send folks to a URL [address] than to provide complicated instructions on accessing an Apple or Android store,” Brass said. “Our goal is to make it easy for someone to enter a URL, find their language, look for a resource and then have the app locate that specific resource.”
Hovig Ohannessian, a developer who speaks English, Spanish and Arabic, is creating the app, scheduled for release in late June, she said.
Rundberg-area residents will be able to use the app to find basic services, such as the location of nearby libraries, grocery stores and pharmacies, she said.
Brass said the need for services in Arabic is “staggering.”
According to the Rundberg Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan Summary Report, clinical data show Arabic is the third-most popular language spoken in the Rundberg area after English and Spanish.
The report indicates that “Arabic is spoken at a rate twice that of the next language on the list, Vietnamese.”
“We hear so many stories of people struggling to get medical translation with their medical provider,” Brass said.
She said many health care providers use the LanguageLine app, which virtually puts a translator in the room with the patient and the physician, but information still gets lost in translation because communication is more than just auditory.
Brass said LHCF regularly works with the Asian American Resource Center to improve language access and translation services.
“We hope this begins a conversation. … Language is the first barrier,” Brass said.
The app will be available to residents without access to a smartphone or computer at a kiosk in a set location. Possible locations include H-E-B or the Little Walnut Creek Branch of Austin Public Library, both located near the intersection of Rundberg Lane and North Lamar Boulevard.
View a map of local health care providers
