Flushing Hospital Medical Center serves a diverse community and prides itself on offering a variety of language assistance services to our non-English speaking and Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients and their families. In order to accommodate our community and eliminate the language and cultural barriers, the hospital offers the following services:

• Signage and forms. Flushing Hospital has multi-lingual signage posted throughout the main floor of the campus. Signs indicating Patient Rights as well as notices of the interpretive services are on display throughout the hospital in their primary languages. A variety of vital forms, documents, and other materials are also provided to our non-English speaking patients in their primary languages.
• On-Site Medical Interpreters. Flushing Hospital has over 200 on-site medical interpreters, in a variety of languages. Interpreters are either tested and deemed qualified by NYU’s School of Medicine or are native speakers with medical experience in a foreign country.
• Telephone Interpretation Service. If a qualified medical interpreter is not available, employees can utilize the hospital’s over-the-phone interpreting service. This service, available 24 hours a day, allows employees to access medical interpreters for over 180 languages.
• Language Bank Manual. Comprised of communication policies and procedures, a listing of all hospital qualified medical and non-medical interpreters, tools for the hearing and visually impaired, and much more, these manuals are accessible to all personnel and departments at all times.

Our interpretation services are available at no cost, 24 hours a day. In addition to these services, Flushing Hospital employees are educated and trained on language assistance policies and procedures and cultural competency. All employees are also provided with information on a variety of topics pertinent to language assistance, including: the impact of language barriers on patient care, requesting an interpreter, problems associated with using family members as interpreters, and cultural competency, to name a few.

To contact Flushing Hospital’s Language Assistance Department, please call the Administrator at 718-206-8671, or the Coordinator at 718-670-8776.