Multi-Cultural Resource Office

Welcome! ¡Bienvenidos! Witamy!

We focus on providing an excellent resource for the Gunnison Valley where education, communication and networking can take place in order to aid in the integration of families into the community.

	Multicultural Resource Office History
	Mission
	Advisory Board
	Interpreters
	2009 Annual Report
	Cora Information Booklet
	Gunnison County Resource Guide (In English and Spanish)

Multicultural Resource Office History

The Multicultural Resource Office (MRO) established in 2001 is the only Resource Office for immigrants in Gunnison County. The idea for the Office was spearheaded by Carol Dawson, who at the time was the Public Health Director. She saw the immigrant Clients increase from one family in 1993 to 84 families in 2001. The support to create the Office was truly a community effort led by Gunnison County Commissioners; Fred Field, Jim Starr and Perry Anderson and Former County Manager John Devore. Mary Burt, WSC graduate, Gunnison local and former Literacy Action Program Director was very involved in the immigrant community after graduating with a B. A. in Spanish in 1994. She was one of a small group of people who formed the Hispanic Advocacy Group in 1997. This group identified that the increasing immigrant population needed assistance with many things. Mary helped develop a list of volunteer interpreters to be used by Dispatch and continued to help her students in her free time as an interpreter. She was chosen in 2000 to create the Office and serve as its Coordinator. The Office is still the single entry point for newcomers in the Valley and continues to grow. Argentinean Immigrant Ellen Pedersen is now the Coordinator. She started out as a volunteer Interpreter for the Office and when Mary left to start a family she accepted the position. Ellen has expanded the Office and constantly strives to meet the needs of the Community while maintaining outreach in areas of Health and Human Services. In 2005 Selenia Rascón started working as the education liaison and in 2009 she became full time Health Navigator.

Mission

• Focus on providing an excellent resource for the Gunnison Valley where education, communication and networking can take place in order to aid in the integration of families into the community.
• Provide interpreters as needed for client and community.
• Develop, provide, and translate materials.
• Provide community with culturally appropriate materials and services.
• Provide statistical information for community planning.
• Work with community providers to promote culturally diverse, sensitive and affordable health services.

We develop, provide and translate materials:

14-24 cents per word, excellent quality. Contact the Multicultural Resource Office for arrangements. Materials we have translated: About the Community/Acerca la comunidad.

We provide community with culturally appropriate materials and services:

We work with the community to address and needs that come up. We want to ensure a healthy community where understanding of the laws of the United States as well as cultural norms can be provided.

We provide statistical information for community planning:

• The Office is primarily grant funded with in-kind support from Gunnison county.
• We keep excellent statistics for grant reporting here is an example of what we do:

The Multicultural Resource Office is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. We act as a single entry point for non-English Speakers in the community to get information, education, referrals and any type of assistance that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to facilitate a smooth transition into our county.

The Multicultural Resource Office opened its doors in December 2001; in 2009 we helped 215 unduplicated families. The number of families we have seen has steadily increased since 2001. This year, however, we saw fewer clients than we had seen during the last two years, this can be attributed to the fact that some people have moved away. Table 1 shows the number of families, people and children that were served each year since 2002; 2009 shows a decrease in the numbers of families, people and children served. The current economic situation has affected our clients so much that they have had to leave Gunnison, some have returned to their native country and others have gone to other cities or towns where they might be able to find work. On average, we saw 104 families per month during the 2009 year, down from an average of 116 families per month in 2008.

All of the families, family members and children that are represented in the statistics provided are not in Gunnison at all times.

For more statistics please look at our most recent newsletter or contact us for more information.

We work with community providers to promote culturally diverse, sensitive and affordable health services:

• Gunnison Valley Hospital has been the pioneer in Gunnison Valley in providing culturally competent services. Before the Office was established in 2001, they were using Interpreters to assist providers of care. They have continually worked with the Community to meet the growing needs and have established their own system of working with Interpreters. This includes requiring Interpreters to be trained at minimum through the Multicultural Resource Office but also encouraging Interpreters to go through the "Bridging the Gap" Medical Interpreter program that is forty hours of training and taught by the Spring Institute of Intercultural Learning of Denver. This program was brought to Gunnison by a joint effort between Western State College Extended Studies and the SIRFI Immigrant Integration grant. Medical Interpreters must pass a tuberculosis test before going through the Hospital training.
• Gunnison Police Department is currently training their own group of Interpreters to be specific to their needs. The Multicultural Resource Office is working with them to provide a group of trained Interpreters who will be available on call. These Interpreters are trained in safety and the workings of the Police Department and are paid for their services.
• Public Health provides many services to all people in Gunnison Valley.

Funding for the Multicultural Resource Office is provided by the following organizations:

• The Office of Health Disparities funds Ellen Pedersen’s position as Coordinator
• Caring for Colorado Funds Selenia  Rascón’s Position as Health Navigator
• State Tobacco Education & Prevention Program
• Cancer, Cardiovascular, and Pulmonary Disease Prevention Program
• Gunnison County
• The Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Family Initiative (SIRFI) on Immigrant Integration is a statewide initiative that is funded by the Colorado Trust; a grant making foundation in Denver. This grant ended July, 2009. It provided funding for Ellen and Selenia 
• Local Grants
• Donations from clients and community members
• The Light Program is a Low Income Sliding Fee scale Voucher that provides the uninsured access to Healthcare. All primary care physicians and practitioners in the Valley are participating in this pilot program. Qualifying clients who meet the Federal Poverty Level guidelines will pay $20-$35 for an Office visit. The goal of this program is to provide access to healthcare without duplicating services offered elsewhere in the Valley. If a client can receive services or financial support from another program, they will be referred to that program first. The Light Program is funded by the Community Services Block grant and private donations. A coordinator of the Program is paid by SIRFI funds and is available every day, Monday thru Friday. Call Public Health at (970) 641-7999 for more information on qualifying. A limited number of vouchers is available.

Interpreters

Selenia Rascón

Health Navigator

We provide interpreters as needed for clients and community.

The Multicultural Resource office has a list of 23 bilingual or multilingual volunteers. Together these volunteers speak seven languages, these are: Czech, Danish, English, Hebrew, Slovak, Spanish, and Sign (ASL / PSE).

In 2009 the volunteers did 263 hours of interpretation or translation through events or appointments that were set up through this office.

Our volunteers are trained each year and many are trained in Medical Interpreting. There are opportunities for some contract work with different agencies in town. The Gunnison Valley Hospital and Gunnison Police Department have their own lists of interpreters who are specific to these areas. We help any agency setup, train and maintain a list of qualified Interpreters.

Code of Ethics for Interpreters in Gunnison County

• The interpreter treats as confidential, within the treating team, all information learned in the performance of their professional duties, while observing relevant requirements regarding disclosure.
• The interpreter strives to render the message accurately, conveying the content and spirit of the original message, taking into consideration its cultural context.
• The interpreter strives to maintain impartiality and refrains from counseling, advising or projecting personal biases or beliefs.
• The interpreter maintains the boundaries of the professional role, refraining from personal involvement.
• The interpreter continuously strives to develop awareness of his/her own and other cultures encountered in the performance of their professional duties.
• The interpreter treats all parties with respect.
• When the client’s health, well-being, or dignity is at risk, the interpreter may be justified in acting as an advocate. Advocacy is understood as an action taken on behalf of an individual that goes beyond facilitating communication, with the intention of supporting good  outcome. Advocacy must only be undertaken after careful and thoughtful analysis of the situation and if other less intrusive actions have not resolved the problem.
• The interpreter strives to continually further his/her knowledge and skills. The interpreter must at all times act in a professional and ethical manner.
• The Interpreter is aware of personal limits in Interpreting and must disclose anything that may render a poor interpretation because of language skills or emotional attachment or detachment.

How to Obtain and Use Interpreters

Multicultural Resource Office interpreters are in most cases volunteers. The going rate to pay an interpreter (which many agencies, organizations and businesses do in town) is $15-$30 an hour (but can be up to $150/hour or more). The interpreters use volunteer time to practice and broaden language and interpretation skills. Many are trained in a specific areas such as the Medical or Courts so they may not want or be able to interpret in a different situation.

The Multicultural Resource Office will be able to help you with your specific needs so please always call them first. The hours interpreters put forth are used to obtain grants to sustain the Office so it is crucial to report them.

Please contact the Multicultural Resource Office when you need an interpreter and never call the interpreter directly.

Talk to the non-English speaker directly, the interpreter is just the “voice.”

Interpreters are encouraged to talk in the first person- just as they hear it.

The interpreter will interpret everything that is said to the best of their ability.

The interpreter will stop the session if they feel there is misunderstanding or if they need clarification. They are also encouraged to explain cultural differences if needed.

Using an Interpreter takes more time, be patient and plan accordingly.

Refrain from turning the interpreting session into a tutoring lesson if you can speak some of the second language. If you would like help, ask the interpreter after the session.

Interpreters are encouraged to bring a notebook, pen and dictionary. Please accommodate them if needed.

Many of our Spanish-speaking clients are Cora Indians who speak Spanish as a second language. We do not have many Cora interpreters so know that there will be some gaps in the language since most interpreters will know more Spanish than the clients.

When speaking, pause regularly so that the interpreter can do their job.

Volunteers

Thank you to the following volunteers: Beatriz Alarcón, Elba Alarcón, Arden Anderson, Timothy Bakken, Monica Billow, Sylvia Bonham, Mary Burt, Luke Danielson, Joan Grant, Karen Hausdoerffer, Karen Immerso, Laurie Lokie, Manuel Manzano, Verónica Méndez Maqueo, Angélica Mora, Laura Rascón, Daniela Runge, Patricia Sabino , Cinthia Sáenz, Brady Snow, Clara Valdez, Janet Welsh Crossley, and Marketa Zubkova.

And special thanks to those who volunteered for seven or more hours: Elba Alarcón, Timothy Bakken, Sylvia Bonham, Luke Danielson, Joan Grant, Karen Hausdoerffer, Karen Immerso, Angélica Mora, and Marketa Zubkova.

Office Staff / Advisory Board

Office Hours

Both Selenia and Ellen are full time employees, but very often we need to go to interpret or to meetings. Please call or email before coming to the office.

Contact Information