CRMH Medical Interpreter Lucia Driscoll Meets End-of-Life Needs

Imagine that your dying loved one is admitted to the hospital and no one in your family speaks English.  Employees enter and exit her room using spoken words and body language that you cannot understand.  What are they saying?  Is she suffering?  Is she passing away?  An angel in our presence, CRMH Medical Interpreter Lucia Driscoll, translated life and death communication from advance directives to symptom management.  She was truly torn between continuing to stay and leaving for the evening.  As the nurse, I was comforted for her to return to the hospital upon the patient's death at 3:30 A.M. to assist the family and staff with post-mortem care which included assessing for cultural and religious needs.  Aside from the task of relaying information, she eased their minds and hearts which I saw in their eyes and actions.  We may have technology at our fingertips for translation needs, but in this situation, the warmth and compassion of the human touch and voice provided by Lucia Driscoll were appreciated by family and staff.  Oye, excelente trabejo!