Refugees, Trauma, and Mental Health at Language Access Event

WASHINGTON - March 24, 2015 - PRLog -- The National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) will feature two keystone speakers, Rosa Garcia-Peltoniemi and Sahra Noor, at the 9th Annual NCIHC Membership Meeting (AMM) on June 5 and 6, 2015 at the Courtyard Minneapolis Downtown in Minnesota. Dr. Garcia-Peltoniemi is Senior Consulting Clinician at the Center for Victims of Torture, and Sahra Noor is the Executive Director of People’s Center Health Services, both located in Minneapolis.

Dr. Garcia-Peltoniemi was recently awarded the Minnesota Psychological Association’s Diversity in Leadership Award.  She has lectured extensively on refugee mental health topics and has served as a consultant to the National institute of Mental Health’s Refugee Program.  Her clinical and research background is in cross-cultural assessment and intervention with survivors of political trauma.

Ms. Noor was recently chosen as one of the top 40 young business leaders under the age of 40 by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.  Prior to joining People’s Center Health Services, she held leadership roles at Fairview Health Services as director of community health and language services, and at UnitedHealth Group as director of clinical operations for Medicaid populations in several states across the United States.  Noor holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from St. Catherine University and a master’s degree in Nursing and Health Systems Administration from the University of Minnesota.

“Both women are long-time advocates of language access in their respective fields,” said Enrica Ardemagni, President of the NCIHC Board of Directors.  “Since our theme this year is ‘Language Access for the Whole Person -- Body, Mind, and Spirit,’ we are delighted that both will be sharing their remarkable work with our NCIHC members.”

NCIHC, a multidisciplinary organization whose mission is to promote and enhance language access in health care in the United States, formalized in 1998 after a series of working group meetings that began in 1994. Since then, NCIHC has organized an annual gathering of hospital administrators, policymakers, researchers, healthcare providers, language access advocates, interpreters, and interpreter educators from around the nation. The two day event consists of interactive and structured information sharing, networking, and brainstorming discussions as well as time for informal focused meetings throughout the event.

For more information about NCIHC, visit http://www.ncihc.org. For continuous updates about the 9^th Annual Membership Meeting follow hashtag #NCIHC2015 on Facebook and Twitter.