Language Line Services Honored for Dedication to Improving Healthcare Access

California Healthcare Interpreting Association Awarded Company’s Commitment to Quality Language Services

MONTEREY, CA — (June 8, 2006) — The California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) at its 10th year anniversary and 6th annual conference, awarded Language Line Services, the “Friend of CHIA” award, in recognition of the company’s long-term support and dedication to improving the quality and availability of language services in clinical settings.

Language Line Services, the leading provider of interpreting services to health care organizations throughout the United States, trains and certifies its interpreters specifically for health care situations to insure quality interpretations in medical diagnosis, treatment and preventative care. The award was presented to Language Line Services on Saturday, June 3 at an educational conference bringing together industry leaders, educators and policy makers to celebrate the accomplishments CHIA has made in improving limited English proficient patients’ access to quality health care.

“We are extremely proud of this acknowledgement of Language Line Services, and recognition of the efforts we’ve made to help health care providers overcome cultural and linguistic barriers to quality health care services,” said Louis Provenzano, Language Line Services’ senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Receiving this award from an organization whose purpose and mission is at the very heart of what Language Line Services and our medically certified interpreters do, is truly a special honor.”

Language Line Services has been actively involved with CHIA since it was created in 1996 to increase awareness of the need to improve the quality and availability of language services in the delivery of health care. CHIA Members include health care providers, hospitals, educators, government policymakers, language services agencies and individual interpreters.

“In a cultural melting-pot like California, language can be a major barrier to fair and equitable access to health care,” said Katharine Allen, President of CHIA, who co-presented the award along with Tom Riley, CHIA’s Senior Director. “Language Line Services understands the challenges that language barriers present in medical care and the importance of quality interpreting in medical diagnosis, and has been instrumental to CHIA in its efforts to overcome language barriers that prevent equal access to health care."

In addition to honoring the organizations and individuals that have led to achievement of many of CHIA’s health care initiatives, the CHIA award ceremony also highlighted the need for continued improvement of the language services provided by California hospitals. Provenzano noted, that while a greater portion of California’s health care facilities are conforming to regulatory and legal requirements, many are hampered by limited resources and competing priorities. Many hospitals are unaware of the resources and tools available to them to support their patients and families who speak a language other than English.

“Our commitment, much like CHIA’s, is to continue providing innovation and leadership to raise the bar within the health care interpreting field, ” said Provenzano. “We need to focus on creating clear standards for formal language access programs, so that everyone who walks in the doors of a hospital can feel confident that they will be understood and receive the care they need, regardless of their ability to speak English.”

Healthy House, Molina Healthcare, Inc. and the original founders of CHIA were also recognized for their support of the organization and its initiatives.

About CHIA

The California Healthcare Interpreting Association is a 501 (c) (3) public charity dedicated to improving the quality and availability of language services in the delivery of healthcare. The organization was founded as the California Healthcare Interpreters Association in 1996 by group of interpreters and program managers. The name was changed in 2003 to Interpreting to better reflect CHIA’s mission of serving the public interest, and particularly the interests of LEP patients, rather than serving as a professional association of interpreters. CHIA’s diverse membership includes interpreters, physicians and other healthcare providers, hospitals, interpreting agencies and language-service companies, educators, and government policymakers. www.chia.ws .

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services, the world’s leading provider of language services, serves clients in many sectors including government, health care, telecom, financial services and insurance by quickly connecting them to customers, patients and sales prospects in over 150 languages. The growth of the industry has soared with increased immigration and government and regulatory compliance policies mandating organizations provide services to limited English speakers in their own languages. Language Line Services is recognized as a trusted partner to thousands of clients, providing access to one of the industry’s fastest services at highly competitive rates. For more information about Language Line Services’ suite of video and over-the-phone interpretation services, document translation, and bilingual testing and training please call +1 (877) 886-3885 or visit www.languageline.com .