Patients and health care providers who do not share the same language skills or cultural background face many health care challenges. Through the Illinois Health Education Consortium/AHEC’s Bridges to Health project the overall health of Latinos is improved by increasing physical activity and improving the linguistic and cultural competence of health professionals, students and volunteers through:

• Spanish Immersion Programs
• Cultural Sensitivity Workshops Learn more about pilot project training at Sarah Culbertson Hospital.
• Peer Education for Latinos with diabetes
• Active Living by Design project promoting physical activity in the Logan Square neighborhood. Learn more.

One activity in this project is a language and cultural immersion experience for health care professionals or those training to be future providers. Immersion includes regular language and cultural instruction, residential placement with a family that uses that language and whose culture is related, and consultation in clinical practice settings.

These projects involve many cooperating agencies including:

• University of Illinois at Chicago-College of Nursing
• John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Network Diabetes Program
• Centro San Bonifacio
• Logan Square Neighborhood Association
• Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Rural Health

Helpful Websites: Spanish Medical Terminology:

Medical Spanish for Health Professionals:

http://www.123teachme.com/medical_dictionary

List and Glossary of Medical Terms: Spanish

http://users.urgent.be/~rvdstich/eugloss/ESlijst.html

Common English/Spanish Anatomy Words

http://www.gringospanish.com