TAKE CARE

TAKE CARE: HEALTHCARE LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR MIGRANTS

SUMMARY

History shows an on-going voluntary and involuntary migration flow of people from their birthplace to other countries. Especially in the EU, more and more people settle to live in a new country. They face though many challenges before they can feel a part of the new society and function properly in the new surroundings. Serious problems arise especially when they need medical help. Because of lack of language skills and lack of basic knowledge on the healthcare system in the new country they become extremely vulnerable compared to the local population. There is also another group of people, belonging to low-skilled and/or elderly migrant societies, who have lived in the country for many years, that experiences communication problems when paying a visit to a doctor or other healthcare provider because of lack of specific language knowledge.

Not only migrant patients are confronted with these communication problems. Also healthcare providers find it difficult to help people when they cannot properly communicate with them. Effective patient-provider encounters are based on mutual understanding between providers and patients. When a provider cannot communicate effectively about a disease and treatment or when a patient cannot describe an experience of illness, it becomes difficult to build the trust in the provider-patient relationship.

Objectives:
The aims of the project are to help migrants gain language skills about health matters in a new language and improve their integration; to create a European wide network of associated partners and contribute to intercultural communication.

Outcomes:
The main project product is a Healthcare Language Guide for Migrants containing: a language learning phrase book (in Bulgarian, Dutch, English, German, Greek, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish) a glossary in 17 languages, necessary information on the national health care system in each partner country and a basic language emergency kit for healthcare providers. The developed materials are used for trainings for organizations and institutions responsible for the integration of migrants and also for holding of short language courses for migrants.

Website of the project: www.takecareproject.eu

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