About Communicate Your Health
Hear Me and Speak to Me are websites developed in association with the Communicate Your Health (Ireland) Partnership. This partnership was supported and funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE) National Social Inclusion Unit, Ireland, and the Irish Hospice Foundation.
This work was originally done by Dr. Una McConville & Dr. Regina McQuillan, with support from colleagues including Dr. Mary Phelan, Dr. Lorraine Leeson and many others.
These websites have been developed to assist and support interpreters and palliative care professionals caring for patients from diverse ethnic, religious and cultural groups and feature good practice guidelines and information for person-centred intercultural care including the provision of interpreter services.
Background information and key findings:
The Interpreters in Palliative Care development project ‘On Speaking Terms – Matters of Life and Death’ identified the challenges faced by palliative care professionals and community health interpreters when communicating around matters of life and death with patients who have Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and who may also come from diverse ethnic, religious and social groups.
Attitudes to talking about death and dying can vary considerably across cultures and while palliative care services are well developed in Ireland; palliative care can have different meanings and levels of service in other cultures and countries.
Assisting Healthcare Staff and Interpreters
Communicate Your Health website is designed to help patients, healthcare staff and interpreters manage difficult situations, including communication challenges.
These resources inform staff of intercultural differences, provide advice to healthcare staff and professional interpreters (spoken language and sign language) dealing with difficult situations and advise staff how best to work with people who are Deaf or have acquired hearing loss.