Staff profile - WSLHD Health Care Interpreter Service

Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) health care interpreters have been providing phone interpreting services to returned travellers in Sydney's quarantine hotels for the past 10 months.

Travellers returning to Australia from overseas, must spend 14-days in hotel quarantine upon arrival.

Medical teams attending to thousands of people in quarantine, have had 24/7 access to medical interpreters from the WSLHD Health Care Interpreter Service (HCIS).

Staff at WSLHD's HCIS, provide services in over 120 languages, including Auslan for deaf clients.

WSLHD HCIS Manager Gordana Vasic, said, it's crucial at the best of times, let alone during a pandemic, to have access to healthcare advice in your own language.

'The District's interpreters have provided an invaluable clinical support service to people in quarantine,' Ms Vasic said.

'Since 4 April 2020, we have provided more than 58,000 phone interpreting sessions to clinicians and returned travellers in 75 language at 37 Sydney quarantine hotels. On average we provide 185 phone interpreting sessions per day.

'This has been possible thanks to our 52 staff interpreters, a large contingent workforce of approximately 350 sessional interpreters, and the tireless effort of our Call Centre team connecting those phone conferences.

'COVID-19 posed many challenges to everyone and we were not an exception. Yet, we learned so many lessons, adapted to new ways of service delivery, and embraced new opportunities such as supporting the Health Care Australia (HCA) team with their amazing work looking after the returned travellers.

'We support the HCA team when they do assessments and regular follow-ups with numerous guests to monitor any COVID-like symptoms as well as any other concerns.

'The WSLHD Health Care Interpreter Service is proud to be part of the large NSW Health team that has been successfully fighting this pandemic and caring for the community.'