Oak Valley Health serves some of the country’s most diverse communities, and ensuring our patients receive care in a way they can understand and feel comfortable is part of the overall patient experience. Because of this, we’re particularly excited to announce the introduction of Voyce to our organization.
Voyce is a software-based company that connects providers with real-time medical interpreters to effectively communicate with patients in their preferred language.
Over the last year, Oak Valley Health has begun to launch Voyce across our two hospitals, Markham Stouffville Hospital and Uxbridge Hospital, as well as at our Reactivation Care Centre.
Voyce operates through an app, which offers remote video and audio interpretation in over 240 languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin, American Sign Language (ASL), and Indigenous languages such as Cree and Ojibway. The interpreters who connect with health care providers and patients are empathy trained and qualified medical language interpreters to ensure precise and safe interpretation.
To date, this new addition to our language program has:
- Provided interpretation for patients in over 35 different languages
- Completed over 1,600 calls (over 1,400 video calls and over 200 audio calls)
- Provided almost 19,000 minutes of translation services
As we expected, Mandarin and Cantonese are the top two languages requested through Voyce. However, something we did not expect is that the third most used option is ASL. Although sign language interpreters are available at both Markham Stouffville Hospital and Uxbridge Hospital, Voyce can allow for a faster response time, or provide service when the sign language interpreters are unavailable.
We are committed to improving access to facilities, policies, practices, and services within Markham Stouffville Hospital, Uxbridge Hospital, and Reactivation Care Centre. Our 2018-2023 Accessibility Plan has been developed in accordance with the Ontarians with Disability Act (ODA, 2001) for the purpose of identifying, preventing, and removing barriers.
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This article appeared in the September 2023 issue of The Link. To receive Oak Valley Health’s community newsletter, subscribe now.