A. Who is eligible to vote? All IMIA active members
B. Who is up for elections? All board positions. (see list below with respective job descriptions)
C. What is the term of the positions? All Board members are elected for a period of two years (see IMIA bylaws)
D. When is the voting period? The voting period is from Nov 17 to Dec 17. Only active members received the email asking them to vote.
E. What will be the process? For more information and to see positions open for elections and the job descriptions please go to: http://www.imiaweb.org/members/elections2008.asp

Roundtable Discussion Looks at Patient Safety Through the Lens of Language and Culture

 "Patient Safety in Any Language," the first in a series of roundtable discussions on language access in healthcare settings, is now available via podcast at https://backup.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=8c6d6a8e5c5ea179a499 (password line26) . This educational forum is a collaboration of the International Medical Interpreters Association, The Joint Commission, Grady Health System of Atlanta, Ga., and Language Line(R) University.  For full press release go to: http://www.pr-inside.com/roundtable-discussion-looks-at-patient-safety-r877050.htm
© Business Wire 2008

Almost 700 attendees participated either on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, or all three days. The hotel was packed and we pretty much took over the beautiful venue. Our biggest complaint was that there were so many workshops and only one you could attend at a time! The positive grassroots energy was evident to all and our speakers were magnificent, truly inspiring. For more informatino please go to http://www.imiaweb.org/conferences/default.asp 

The IMIA Certification Committee gave a great presentation at the annual conference. We invite all members to review the certification section of the website. We specially would like you to review whether you qualify for IMIA Certification by looking at the pre-requisites section at http://www.imiaweb.org/certification/prerequisites.asp Our goal is to start registration for certification in the Fall of 2008. To see the process, please go to http://www.imiaweb.org/certiication/register.asp  Soon the IMIA will start its campaign 'ARE YOU REGISTERED FOR CERTIFICATION?' Please send comments or questions to IMIACertification@gmail.com. This is an important part our transparent and inclusive certification process.

We need your help. We get daily calls and emails with inquiries about where to undertake interpreter training. Since one of our goals is now to promote such programs, please note that the IMIA is undertaking a massive campaign to inform all of the numerous training programs that are available to interpreters around the country. In order to improve how the information is posted, we devised categories and also viewers can now search by state. Please help us spread the word by posting your training on our training notices web page http://www.imiaweb.org/education/trainingnotices.asp. Any training organization can post a training, free of charge at the link above by going to the link that says 'post a training'.

An article from the American Journal of Manged Care entitled "Language Disparities and Timely Care for Children in managed Care Medicaid was jpublished. It is an interesting article describing a study of  the relationship between language of parents (among the variables) and timeliness of care. Done in WA state, it reiterates the importance of parent ability to communicate and outcome for care for children and identifies that the use of an interpreter results in more timely access. Thank you to Brunilda Torres for helping us post this.

Reach 1,600 members when you post an event! All organizations are encouraged to upload their own event on the IMIA Interpreter Events Calendar! This is going to help members stay informed of all the events related to interpreting and translation. Count on the IMIA Calendar to have the most updated interpreter event information at http://www.imiaweb.org/events/default.asp

Corporate Member Employers can search the directory by name, language, and state: The IMIA is proud to have the only national registry of medical interpreters in the US. It includes about 1,600 interpreters in over 60 languages, and each profile includes  training, general education, work experience, references, and even their resume, if they wish to upload it. It is of great use to our corporate members who rely on it to search interpreters, and also for our interpreters who get work by being identified in this registry.  
Now you can see exactly what employers see when they look you up on the Registry: You can view and edit your own profile at any moment at http://www.imiaweb.org/members/profile.asp but now you can also see what is visible to users of the directory at http://www.imiaweb.org/members/viewprofile.asp. Check out if what is there is what you want employers to see, and consider uploading your resume.  We have heard many members state that they have received offers from employers who have found them on the IMIA Interpreter Directory, the only national and international registry of medical interpreters.