Tufts MC True Blue Recipients:
Yoshie Ng, Joshua Ngo, Yingshu Jin Osborne and Tin Choi Wu
Interpreter Services
Nomination from Marybeth Singer, MS, ANp-BC,AOCN, ACHPN, Nurse Practitioner and Patient Program Manager, Tufts MC Cancer Center:
“Imagine you are diagnosed with cancer, perhaps advanced cancer, you find yourself scared, and uncertain about what’s ahead for you and your family. Now, imagine you don’t speak English. Many of our Asian patients and their families find themselves confronted with these feelings when they seek care at Tufts Cancer Center. As a clinician I count on my interpreter colleagues to help me understand how best to help my patients and their families face the challenges of a new diagnosis along with the rigors of planned treatment and, in some cases, face end-of-life planning. [It’s] never easy, but working together we make progress.
“To that end, I have had the privilege since last summer to work with the Interpreter Services staff to create an educational program for our cancer patients preparing for chemotherapy treatment. With the support and guidance of Yingshu Jin [Osborne] and the written translational skill of Tin Wu, we launched our “Improving the Chemotherapy Treatment Experience” program in September 2011, held every Friday from 1-2 p.m. Yoshie Ng has been my “steady” Cantonese interpreter for these classes and the key “recruiter” for patients as well. The program is offered to patients and family caregivers, and while attendance is spotty at times, it has been well-received by patients who have attended. Yoshie has been phenomenal. She is a skilled medical interpreter, but more importantly, she is so kind and compassionate in her care of the patient and their family member(s). Her insights have helped shape what will be an on-going effort to improve our educational support for patients and their families.
“I also want to acknowledge Joshua Ngo who consistently provides medical interpretation for one of my Vietnamese patients with advanced breast cancer. He has navigated some tough conversations about disease progression and has helped me understand her choices about end-of-life care with a sensitivity that is rare. I had the privilege of speaking with the Interpreter Services staff at one of their monthly education meetings about general cancer care challenges and end-of-life care. What was so evident from the group was the deep caring and responsibility they feel toward their patients, and how challenging it can be for them to know [nothing] about the [focus of the] discussion when they come into the patient-clinician visit. Yoshie tells me the translation of the “5 Wishes” booklet, which serves as a health care proxy document, has been useful when she is called upon to assist with these discussions.”
