Clear communication is critical in providing good healthcare. Recently, Chicago-area healthcare providers had two laminated CommuniCards developed so they could tell emergency room visitors about getting primary care treatment from lower-cost health clinics.

Communication is especially difficult for the healthcare field where special medical terms often have no simple translations. As a hospital junior volunteer, I was occasionally asked to translate for Chinese-speaking patients using my everyday knowledge of the language. I managed to get the point across most of the time, but picture cards would probably have been helpful.

Sylvia Acevedo, founder of CommuniCard LLC, said:

Often, when people want to help non-English speakers, they automatically assume translation will do the trick. But many non-English speakers are not literate in their own languages and even native-born Americans may lack basic reading skills. What is needed is a proper tool that helps.

Austin Business Journal, December 29, 2005

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