CHESAPEAKE, Va — A lot of us have been in this situation.
You're looking for an elective to take in college just to complete your coursework as a senior, and you stumble across a class that takes your fancy.
But how many times does the work you do in that elective lead to change in your community?
Students like Cydney DeWees, a senior at Old Dominion University, are helping to enact that change.
“It’s really rewarding. You see people come here for the first time who are nervous to come because they don’t know if they’ll be fully understood or not. And they feel so much more calm and at peace," she tells News 3.
For DeWees's elective slot, she decided to do a practicum instead. She's helping translate much-needed medical information at the Chesapeake Care Clinic into Spanish for residents who struggle to speak English.
“Being able to understand what’s being told to them, and knowing that they are being understood by a provider, is a very big deal to them," DeWees said.
The practicum was set up by Luis Guadaño, an associate professor of Spanish at the university.
"We finally figured out a way of bring my class into a study room next to the clinic so we could be working and interpreting and translating the documents at the clinic,” he said.
Before the practicum was put into place, patients had to bring a friend or relative fluent in English to the clinic to communicate with a doctor. But now, according to clinic personnel, the percentage of Spanish-speaking patients has risen from 8% to 41%.
“I think it’s been three of them did an internship here and then they were hired to keep working at the clinic," Guadaño said. "So that tells me that they’re happy and they’ll keep doing it for a while.”
Not only is it helping students get more comfortable with the language, but it's also helping residents feel more comfortable with something a lot of people fear. Going to the Doctor.
“People will come and talk to us about their personal problems as well and we’re able to be more of a friend as well to them as well as being an interpreter,” said DeWees.
Three ODU students who volunteered last year now have jobs at the clinic. Guadaño says he would like to see more volunteers at more clinics, to help bring care to everyone.
