Hospital Translators/Interpreters

[Bayleaf]

It sounds like he'll be taking a suitcase of notes with him, with details of all latest tests. He won't know or understand the test results, but at least he can give it all to the anaesthetist and now a translator will be present, hopefully it'll be less stressful. Poor chap, he's been in and out of hospital like a yo-yo for the last few weeks/months!

[Blaze]

So, big phew!! Still, shows there's a gap there in Périgueux for other translators though

That's good news for a translator, Bayleaf ! He doesn't need to understand all the notes as anything relevant should be explained to him.

With so many Brits/Dutch etc living in the Dordogne, there must be various associations such as Franco-Anglo, Franco-Dutch etc etc. It would be easy enough to get up a list of people who would be willing to act as bénévole interpreters for the local hospitals. It just needs someone to organise it. We were fortunate here because there was the motivation to do it, which sadly seems to be lacking elsewhere ...

[exile]

From some of the replies it seems that some here think your MT and/or the hospital should have a complete and full history of all your ailments. Not so. For example, unless you have mentioned it or sought some sort of intervention, varicosed veins may well not be apparent to anyone but can be important in choosing an anaesthetic as well as in the monitoring of blood pressure during the op.

[Spardo]

I wonder if anyone here has sufficient medical/French knowledge to interpret the short conclusions to the dossier we got after my wife's MRI scan yesterday. The purpose of the scan was to determine if she has alzheimers as well as the vascular dementia she was diagnosed with after the first of her 3 mini strokes. I can translate the words, but can't understand the English.

Atrophie cortico sous corticale globale liee a l’age.
Atteinte vasculaire associant des microbleed et une importante leucoencephalopathie.
Atrophie hippocampique grade IV.

[Blaze]

You really need a medical person to get a proper translation to avoid misinterpretation. Our interpreters generally ask the doctor for a simple explanation so that we can transmit this to the patient. Obviously the full version will be passed on to the patient's doctor.
Did they not give you an explanation at the time ?
I would go and see your GP (sorry not to be of more help)

[Spardo]

Thanks Blaze, no, no explanation at the time, just handed the dossier after a 10 minute wait. I will be phoning our surgery on Monday for a rdv after making 2 copies and, if I can, get the lady who came with us after Fran's fall to come with us. She is English and fluent in French but does have family commitments of her own. The only other person I know is the aide de toilette who comes in once a week, but she is extremely busy doing that job as you might imagine. Might nip into the mairie on Monday and ask if they know of a translator service if she can't make it.

Neither our surgery or the specialist who saw us in Perigueux earlier, and was the one who ordered the scan, have email addresses so passing on the dossier will have to be done by hand or mail. Maybe our doctor will communicate with him.

I have had 2 English medical opinions today of the results and both agree that the first 2 lines are what I expected but say that the 3rd line does lean towards the probability of alzheimers.