Latest Data Reveals Geographical Impact of Diversity
Big Changes in Midwest
There have been substantial geographical shifts in limited-English speakers as they become more dispersed throughout the country, affecting language demands at local hospitals and health care facilities. Among the trends is that suburban and rural areas are seeing notable influxes of minorities.
For the first time, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that one in 10 of all U.S. counties are now majority-minority, that is, a majority of their population is composed of minorities. And these minority populations are speaking a wide variety of languages.
During 2007, 143 languages were used to communicate with patients at U.S. hospitals, according to CyraCom, a leading language services provider. Its proprietary database, the Language Index, draws from more than 1,000 hospitals and health care facilities nationwide.
Arabic moved from fifth to fourth place in numbers of requests for over-the-phone interpretation across the United States between 2006 and 2007. Others in the top five, following Spanish as the most requested, were Russian, Vietnamese and Korean.
According to the Language Index, there was a significant shift in the number of languages used by region. While the Mid-Atlantic region remained at the top, the Midwest moved from sixth to second place from 2006 to 2007. The West moved from No. 2 to No. 3 and the Southwest fell to No. 5 during that same period, demonstrating that the nation’s hospitals and health care facilities must be aware of changes to adequately serve their limited-English proficient patients.
New York continues to lead the nation in the number of languages used in its hospitals with 113 in 2007. New York’s languages differ from the nation as a whole as Polish, French and Haitian Creole are among its top five, rather than Russian, Vietnamese and Korean.
For the first time, two Hispanic surnames appear in the list of the top 10 most common surnames in the United States, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. Garcia and Rodriguez rose to the eighth and ninth positions, respectively, according to its most recent data.
Tucson-based CyraCom is the nation’s leading health care language services provider, offering over-the-phone interpretation and document translation, as well as medical interpreter testing and training services. For the complete CyraCom Language Index 2007 Year in Review (in PDF format), e-mail your request todiversitystudy@cyracom.com .
