About
FuzeVRI was presented at the Greater Atlanta Sheraton's Conference in 2015 for the Georgia Public Health Association's 86th Annual Meeting addressing Advocacy in Action.
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Louisa Benitez was a panel speaker at Washington's WASCLA Summit V, “Ensuring Language Access in the 21st Century: Striving for Excellence” (CEU and CLE offered), speaking with interpreters, attorneys, and medical administrators on "Sensible Contracting: Understanding Contractual Relationships in the Interpreter Services Industry; Considerations for Interpreters, Agencies and Providers". Included in this summit were other top-notch presenters that have led the country in a variety of interpreter services issues - from both the National Council on Interpreting in Healthcare and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department and the Enforcement Committee of the Federal Interagency Working Group on Limited English Proficiency.
COLLEAGUES AND REFERENCES:
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Members of SAIL, NOTIS, WASCLA
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Boyer Children's Clinic
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City of Seattle
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Harborview Medical Center
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King County Pubic Health Depts.
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King County Behavioral Health
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King County Public Health Department
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NW Kidney Center
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Northwest Hospital and Medical Center
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Pacific Cataract & Laser Institute
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Providence Health Systems throughout W. WA
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School Districts in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties
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Seattle Children's Hospital and Medical Center
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Seattle Radiologist
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Swedish Hospital and Medical Center
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University of Washington Medical Center
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Valley Medical Center
ABOUT FUZEVRI
Louisa Benitez began networking with interpreters in 1994. For more than two decades as an Interpreter Services referral agency owner she has processed communication between healthcare and social service organizations, law enforcement, school districts and a variety of government and private agencies and businesses - and the spoken language interpreters who serve them.
She has been considered a leader in the Interpreter Services industry in shaping how interpreters are viewed and treated as freelance professionals. She has worked alongside local leaders with respect to serving underserved populations. Their thoughtful, caring, talented efforts led the way in their community and in Washington State at a time when some well-established, federally-funded organizations were still using unidentified volunteers in their emergency rooms to interpret for hurting patients.
Ms. Benitez participated in several "firsts" in the Pacific Northwest, including developing of one of the first "MAA-authorized" medical interpreter tests on behalf of interpreters serving Medical Assistance Administration within the Department of Social and Health Services in 1995, participating in early forums concerning interpreter services referral, testifying in the State Capitol about spoken language interpreter services, and assisting with client-supported Interpreter Access Training. She has assisted DSHS and Hopelink in training both medical and social services providers regarding compliance issues concerning the use of interpreters and their compliance with JCAHO, HIPAA and Risk Management protocol.
The Language Connection, LLC, owned by her and her husband, was acclaimed as the first in the Pacific Northwest to develop an acceptable Interpreter HIPAA agreement in response to the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
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While the training modules highlighted here are not comprehensive and cannot dispose of formal, in-person training and education for interpreters and those who use their services, we believe FuzeVRI represents a much-needed, long-awaited addition to the growing but still niche-like availability of interpreter services-related education.
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(Materials included in FuzeVRI's modular interpreter training do not constitute any form of legal or medical advice.)
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