March 20, 2008

Broadlawns Launches Spanish Web Site to Improve Health Care Access

Des Moines, March 20, 2008 – Des Moines’ growing Hispanic population will now find it much easier to access health care services in Polk County’s public medical center. Broadlawns Medical Center is the first Des Moines hospital to launch a Spanish version of its entire web site.

“We used the most common version of Spanish in our translation of the text,” said Sammantha Foxen, the project leader.  “We are very excited to be part of this project that is providing valuable information about the medical center to many people who will understand the Spanish version more readily than the English version. This is really helpful to a significant portion of our patient population.”

Foxen, Ana Chism and Armando Gatica make up the Broadlawns internal team of interpreters who translated the existing body of content on the web site. This same team will translate all updates as they are made to the English site.

From the Broadlawns home page at http://www.broadlawns.org/, visitors may click on an “en Espanol” link that will take them directly to a Spanish version of the site. The Broadlawns web site contains a total of 75 pages, 90 percent of which are viewable in Spanish, with the sole exceptions of previous news items and the employment section, since English is required for employment. The web site is updated constantly, although new material will take a few days to be translated. 

“This step helps us reach out to a large segment of our patient population,” said Jody Jenner, president and CEO of Broadlawns. “We’ve long had interpreters to help people when they call or come to the center, but this web site provides them much more information about us when they need it.”

Mikki Stier, Senior Vice President of External and Government Relations for Broadlawns, said that the team was able to launch the Spanish version of the web site in about 90 days. “This puts Broadlawns in the forefront in terms of personalizing service to our Spanish-speaking neighbors,” Stiers said. “We are also launching a complement of Spanish language ads in several publications.”

“This is a great step forward for the Des Moines community,” said JoAnn Mackey, executive director of Latino Resources, Inc. in Des Moines. “I am pleased to know that Broadlawns acknowledges our large and growing Hispanic population living in the area and congratulate them for recognizing the need to provide the website in Spanish.” 

Approximately 9 percent of Broadlawns patients are Hispanic. This closely mirrors the growing Hispanic population in the city of Des Moines, which was estimated to be 6.6 percent in 2005, representing more than 13,000 people. Many Hispanic households speak only Spanish in the home, especially among members of the older generations.

About Broadlawns

With a history that reaches back to 1903 as a community health center, Broadlawns Medical Center first opened its doors as a hospital to the residents of Polk County on April 13, 1924. 
Over the years, Broadlawns has adapted to the changing demands of public health care, yet remained true to its mission of offering quality health services to all Polk County residents and training tomorrow’s health care professionals. Today, Broadlawns Medical Center is composed of:

• An acute care community hospital serving medical, surgical, mental health and primary care needs
• A 60-member physician practice overseeing numerous specialty clinics and outpatient services including advanced foot and ankle, amputation prevention, dental, family health, pain management and pediatrics.
• A family medicine residency program that graduates physician leaders who today serve in 22 of Iowa’s 99 counties.
  

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