Language Barriers to Health Services</tile> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="description" content="Language Barriers to Health Services"> <meta http-equiv="keywords" content="Language,Barriers,to,Health,Services"> </head> <body> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="10" height="39"> </td> <td width="99%" height="39"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="16%"><a href="http://inttranews.inttra.net"><img src="http://inttranews.inttra.net/images/inttranews_grey_2.jpg" width="192" height="37" border="0"></a></td> <td width="50%" valign="middle"> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b><font color="#CCCCCC" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1">KNOW.<br> HOW.</font></b></font> </p> </td> <td width="34%" align="right" valign="top"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#666666">14-01-2005</font></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10"> </td> <td width="99%" > </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10"> </td> <td width="99%" > <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td width="100%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> <b>Language Barriers to Health Services</b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="100%"> <img src="http://inttranews.inttra.net/img_news/img_YUd2M7SsN5t6DosAqlFI_0.jpg" align="left" vspace="5" hspace="5" ><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">New York, USA: A report entitled “Getting in the Door: Language Barriers to Health Services at New York City's Hospitals," by city Controller Bill Thompson comes on the heels of "Condition Critical," a study released Dec. 14 by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. <br>The fund's study documented the lack of language access to city hospitals and the exclusion of Latinos from top policy-making positions in the private hospitals. <br>Thompson's report, based on surveys of 51 city hospitals, found that just getting in the door to see a doctor at many city hospitals is a big struggle for Spanish-speaking New Yorkers. Three out of every four hospitals, the study revealed, failed to communicate with callers who spoke Spanish and who sought information about how to be admitted as a patient, tried to make an appointment or wanted to contact the hospital's billing office. <br> <br>For more information, please visit: <br><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/270638p-231763c.html " target="blank">www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/270638p-231763c.html </a> <br></font></td> </tr> </table> </td></tr> </table> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="<http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show