Language Line® Rx Packaged Interpretation Services for Retail Pharmacies Expands to Two New Chains

Giant Food and Stop & Shop partner with Language Line Services to provide Language Solutions to Better Serve Pharmacy Patients

MONTEREY, CA – (December 13, 2007) – Language Line Services, the world’s leading provider of language services, today announced the addition of the Giant Food and Stop & Shop pharmacies to it’s growing roster of  Language Line® Rx clients.  Language Line Services launched Language Line® Rx, a suite of pharmacy-specific interpretation solutions, in 2006 to serve the rapidly growing number of U.S. residents who need language support when using retail pharmacy services.

“Providing interpretation services is the best way to ensure that patients understand their benefits and, more importantly, are taking medications safely and accurately,” said Louis Provenzano, Language Line Services’ President and Chief Operating Officer.”  “We are delighted to be working with Giant Food and Stop & Shop to eliminate language barriers within their pharmacies.”

On December 1st, Stop & Shop’s pharmacies and 166 Giant Food pharmacies began offering Spanish language prescription labels and information. The service is being offered as a convenience to Stop & Shop and Giant Pharmacy customers who prefer to receive their prescription information in Spanish.  The new service will ensure that Spanish-speaking customers have clear and complete instructions when receiving prescriptions.

In addition, Stop & Shop and Giant Food, in conjunction with Language Line Services, also began piloting a new telephone interpretation program that provides limited English speaking pharmacy customers on demand immediate access to live interpreters who speak more than 170 languages. The service, which works similar to a telephone “conference call” between the pharmacist, customer, and interpreter, is free of charge to customers and has been initially rolled out to 45 Stop & Shop pharmacies and 20 Giant Food pharmacies.

“We are very pleased to offer this new option to our pharmacy customers,” said John Fegan, Senior Vice President of Pharmacy Operations for Ahold USA, parent company of Stop & Shop.  “We have a very diverse customer base in our market area and this new service will certainly help our Spanish-speaking customers clearly understand the information they receive from our pharmacies”

“This program is designed to provide pharmacy customers immediate access to professional interpreters, in an average of 15 seconds, who can explain instructions, side effects and precautions for medications in their preferred language, while reducing potential medication usage errors,” Fegan said.

The Language Line Rx program for pharmacists includes a combination of language products and services to ensure that patients have clear and complete instructions when receiving prescriptions:

  • Language Line® Telephone Interpretation Service – Immediate access to medically trained interpreters who provide language support to thousands of existing pharmacy and healthcare facilities 24/7, 365 days a year in over 175 languages.
  • The Language Line® Phone – Ideal for the face-to-face pharmacy environment, this unique, quick-dial, dual-handset telephone makes the 3-way call between pharmacist, patient and Language Line Services interpreter both convenient and confidential.
  • In-Store, In-Language Signage – Informs limited-English speaking customers, in their own languages, the availability of the interpreter service.
  • Language Line® Document Translation – Enables pharmacies to provide written equivalents for all in-store pharmacy marketing collateral, as well as medical instructions, forms, agreements, signage, and other pharmacy-related written materials in over 175 languages.

All Language Line Rx programs are staffed with highly skilled medically trained interpreters and document translators. Language Line Services’ rigorous hiring process requires interpreters to advance through a Language Line Services-developed certification process which includes healthcare-specific training and testing.

“The expertise of Language Line Services complements the services that pharmacies currently offer,” added Provenzano. “Language Line Rx interpreters have considerable experience in the healthcare field and the ability to preserve the meaning of interpretations which is especially crucial when dealing with prescriptions and their unique instructions.”


About Language Line Services
Language Line Services, the world’s leading provider of language-based services, is a trusted partner to thousands of organizations throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom whose focus is to effectively serve the rapidly expanding market of limited English speakers. The company delivers a dynamic suite of solutions spanning phone and video interpretation, document translation, interactive software-based translation, and interpreter training and certification programs, enabling clients to communicate with customers in their preferred language. Through its leading-edge technology infrastructure, Language Line Services delivers support for over 175 unique languages to its industry-leading portfolio of clients across markets including healthcare, financial services, government, telecom, packaged goods, insurance services, travel, and more. For information on how Language Line Services is helping clients achieve their strategic multi-cultural marketing and regulatory compliance objectives, please call 1-800-752-6096 or visit http://www.LanguageLine.com.

About Giant Food LLC
Giant Food LLC, headquartered in Landover, MD, operates 185 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, and employs more than 21,000 associates. Included within the 186 stores are 166 full-service pharmacies. For more on Giant, visit http://www.giantfood.com.

About Stop & Shop
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, based in Quincy, Massachusetts, employs more than 59,000 associates and operates 389 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey.  More information about Stop & Shop can be found here http://www.stopandshop.com/.

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