BOSTON, Nov. 19, 2008 — The International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) unveiled its plan to develop a national and international structure for its organization. “Our current bylaws don’t stipulate a regional organizational structure, whether national or international. Our members are unevenly distributed among different states and we have had some members from other countries for a long time now,” says Izabel Arocha, IMIA President. This initiative will allow the organization to have a key representative in each country for which it has members. The first of such representatives is IMIA member Kazumi Takesako. Her role is to represent and help IMIA members in Japan, to organize and initiate activities that will promote the profession and to collaborate with other associations in Japan. Kazumi Takesako is empowered to initiate an IMIA Japan Chapter. “Most countries do not have a trade association presence specializing in medical interpreting,” says Arocha. “The IMIA believes this initiative is an effective way to promote the profession and foster collaborations with other related associations.”
Medical interpreters need trade representation specific to their needs and working conditions, and the IMIA hopes to fill that gap and to help promote medical interpreting in those countries which do not have it. This will also enable the IMIA to have a more solid organizational structure in the implementation of its upcoming Medical Interpreter Certification Program, the first such global program developed by a professional certifying body. Members in other countries are already inquiring about local IMIA Representation.
About IMIA
The International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) is committed to the advancement of professional medical interpreters as the best practice to equitable language access to health care for linguistically diverse patients. Founded in 1986, with over 1,600 members, most providing interpreting services in over 100 languages, the IMIA is the oldest and largest medical interpreter association in the world. While representing medical interpreters as the ultimate experts in the medical interpreting field, associate membership to the IMIA is open to those interested in medical interpreting and language access in health care. IMIA has a division of providers, corporate members, trainers and language-specific groups. (http://www.imiaweb.org)
Contact:
Abbott Thayer
617-636-1798
athayer@imiaweb.org
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