Clear communication is critical to providing quality, patient-directed health care.

St. Mary’s General Hospital, located in the Waterloo Region of Ontario, has a very diverse patient population where 1 in 5 residents do not speak English as their first language. In the past, to reduce language barriers between staff and patients, St. Mary’s utilized a traditional over-the-phone interpretation service provider. This type of service, however, was limited in the languages it offered, slow to connect, inconvenient, costly, and inaccessible.

To address these challenges and improve quality of care, St. Mary’s General Hospital, a member of the St. Joseph’s Health System, partnered with Voyce. Voyce is a technology-driven company providing live, on-demand, HIPAA-compliant language interpretation in over 240 languages and dialects, including American Sign Language (ASL).

Voyce’s technology enables physicians and staff to simply select their preferred language on a tablet or other mobile device, and connect with a medically trained interpreter, often in 20 seconds or less. This cost-efficient solution offers patients a choice between a male or female interpreter and, through video, allows for better interpretation through gestures and facial expressions. Voyce also offers the opportunity to conference in family members and caregivers – an important feature given visitor restrictions experienced over the pandemic – to connect patients with their loved ones in the moments that matter most.

Voyce has completely transformed the way St. Mary’s connects with its patients. Staff are able to provide more accurate and personalized care, all while helping patients feel less anxious and more confident in receiving care using their language of choice.

St. Mary’s completed its commercialization project in four units across the hospital: Emergency, Diagnostic Imaging, Inpatient Medicine, and Inpatient Cardiology. With the early and obvious success of Voyce’s technology in February 2022, St. Mary’s decided to procure the solution for immediate hospital-wide implementation, providing its over 1600 health-care providers with real-time access to Voyce’s services. 

Overview
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Company
Technology icon
Type of Technology
Video Remote Interpretation
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Project Year
2022
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Status
Complete