RICHLAND, Wash. – Two nonprofits that provide free medical and social services to community members in the regional Tri-Cities now have iPads to help expand access to translation and interpreting services. The access to the technology was made possible by a partnership with Washington State University Tri-Cities nursing students and the .

provides free medical, dental and mental health services to uninsured individuals. The provides a free place to sleep, as well as social and medical support services, to regional homeless individuals.

Avonte Jackson, director of Grace Clinic, said the clinic serves a large population of individuals whose primary language is one other than English. She said it can be challenging to find volunteers who can interpret medical terminology. This is especially difficult for family members who may be asked to translate medical jargon for relatives at their appointments, she said.

Giving back to the community as part of education

In a class focusing on community health practices, ���سԹ� nursing students examined what they could do to help expand medical access in areas where it was crucially needed. While completing clinical experiences at Grace Clinic, the group noticed the need for translation for patients that don’t speak English.

“As a group, we chose to focus on the immigrant and refugee population in the Tri-Cities area,” said Magaly Torres, a senior ���سԹ� nursing student at the time and now alumna. “While completing clinicals at Grace Clinic, we found that many patients do not speak English and the majority required an interpreter.”

Torres and fellow students Bridget Hohl and Beth Phillips came up with the idea to use iPads to provide the service, as they provided great versatility at a relatively small price point. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the group faced challenges with raising the funds needed to finalize the project.

���سԹ� student Mikaela Thepvongsa said where they would normally host public fundraising events, such as a bake sale, those opportunities were no longer an option, as of last spring. Their instructor, Jennifer Larson, came up with the idea to submit a proposal to the Kadlec Foundation this fall.

“The Kadlec Foundation graciously donated funds to purchase two refurbished iPads for Grace Clinic and the Union Gospel Mission,” Thepvongsa said.

Expanding translation and interpreting services

Jackson said the donation of an iPad will allow Grace Clinic to expand access to medical services in a large way.

“We serve a large Spanish-speaking population, but also individuals who speak a variety of other languages,” she said. “This technology will help us in communicating with patients and their family members as we seek to expand access to medical care in the Tri-Cities for those who otherwise couldn’t afford it due to lack of insurance or other factors.”

Similar to Grace Clinic, the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission serves clients whose original home countries span the globe. Chariss Warner, the ministry director, said an iPad will also allow their staff and volunteers to address issues in a culturally-sensitive manner.

“I can think of specific examples where words we use can cause fear or misunderstandings,” Warner said. “Having this ability to meet the clients where they are at will be life-changing for many. It will help us build trust and understanding between clients and the health care industry, as a whole.”

“I would just like to thank (���سԹ� nursing students) for seeing a need and then meeting the need,” Warner said. “It takes a special group of people to not just see a problem and walk away in judgement, but to come alongside and in partnership to raise the standard of care. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Support from Kadlec Foundation

Rebecca Thornton, development manager at the Kadlec Foundation, said Kadlec has made a targeted effort this year, especially amid the pandemic, to offer more community-facing programming and services outside of what they provide through the traditional clinical setting.

“That has been extra important, given the last year and limitations for in-person access to medical services,” she said. “Technology like iPads has allowed us to grow patient access to seeing medical professionals, as well as breaking down additional barriers to medical services. We are thrilled to be able to partner with the ���سԹ� nursing program to provide this resource to Grace Clinic and the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission.”

For more information about the ���سԹ� nursing program and ways to partner, visit tricities.wsu.edu/nursing.

 

Media contacts:

Avonte Jackson, Grace Clinic director, 509-735-2300, avontej@gracecliniconline.org

Chariss Warner, Tri-City Union Gospel Mission ministries director, 509-547-2112 Ext. 112, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

Mikaela Thepvongsa, ���سԹ� nursing student, mikaela.thepvongsa@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� director of marketing and communication, 619-403-3617 (cell), maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – An elementary statistics in psychology course at Washington State University Tri-Cities partnered with Grace Clinic, a free health clinic in the Tri-Cities, to assess the mental health of its diabetic patients. The clinic now plans to use the data to maintain and improve its methods in meeting patient resources and health needs.

Throughout the fall semester course, the students analyzed the clinic’s diabetic patient A1C score data, which indicates the degree to which patients have their diabetes under control, and used a range of statistical assessments to determine the mental health of patients based on several potential barriers to treatment – some of which include age, race, language spoken and gender. They presented their results this month to Mark Brault, Grace Clinic’s chief executive officer, and clinic director Avonte Jackson.

The experience proved beneficial to both the clinic and the students.

“I believe that the students gained a lot of insight from this project –  into themselves, the field and their community,” said Janet Peters, clinical assistant professor of psychology and instructor of the course. “The project also gave them a very marketable skillset related to quantitative literacy, social responsibility and communication skills.”

For the Grace Clinic, the main benefit is that the data provides support for some of the patterns they had been informally observing and the leg work to accomplish the analysis of that data, Peters said.

“Larger health organizations have people to do this kind of thing,” Brault said. “We have limited resources for this kind of in-depth analysis. We plan to use this data as we move forward.”

Student findings

Through their analysis, the students found that the clinic was doing an excellent job of creating access to health care. They determined that there was no definitive statistical differences in the observed mental health of their patients based on potential barriers to treatment such as primary language spoken and race.

The students did find, however, that there was a slight negative correlation between age and mental health, meaning that older patients reported slightly lower levels of mental health than younger patients, overall.

During her presentation, student Lindsay Bernesky recommended that the clinic leaders dedicate additional time to educating patients about the mental health services offered.

Impact on Grace Clinic

Both Brault and Jackson said the student presentations were informative and confirmed many of the things that their staff had suspected, but hadn’t had the time to dive into and assess.

“It is nice to have some statistical analysis to confirm many of these things,” Jackson said.

She also said the clinic plans to follow up on the mental health gap for their elderly patients, and that it has already started to introduce some additional services for that population.

“One of the gaps we recently discovered is that there is limited access to mental health services for Medicare patients,” she told the students. “We recently added patients with Medicare to our mental health area,” which affirms some of the student findings.

Brault said the clinic also is adding additional safety nets and services to support patient mental health throughout their clinic. In addition to seeing a physician, a scheduled health visit might also include seeing a mental health professional.

“It was good to hear that a lot of what we’re doing is working, and that a lot of what we’re putting in place will serve the needs of our patients,” Brault said.

Real-world benefit to students

Many of the students said they enjoyed the real-world aspect of the course and that it provided a greater understanding of statistical analysis in psychology research.

“I can read through a case study and understand all of the terminology and be able to fully understand the results,” student Nagat Deng said.

“To know that we took a burden off of them and that we are giving back in that way is amazing,” student Caitlyn Carroll said.

Student Martha Herrera said she appreciated that the real-world experience was interwoven with regular course material, which allowed students to work as a team.

“Dr. Peters gave us this opportunity to do something that would be beneficial for the community,” she said. “I think it is awesome that we have that opportunity here at WSU.”