Interpreter Services
We provide qualified medical interpretation free of charge for patients and their support persons needing language interpretation and patients with sensory loss at Swedish. Patients, family members and Swedish staff can request interpreters 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you do not speak English, or if you are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf blind, you can have interpretation services provided for you at no charge. Tell the person helping you that you need an interpreter.Hospital staff and providers may request in-person interpreters from the list of Approved Contractors at any time. In-person interpreters are provided for over 100 languages and dialects and telephone interpreters are available for over 200 languages. In addition, select locations provide Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) in Amharic, Arabic, ASL Sign Language, Burmese, Cambodian, Cantonese, CDI (Certified Deaf Interpreter), Farsi, French, Haitian-Creole, Hindi, Hmong, Korean, Mandarin, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese.
At Swedish Edmonds, for sign language interpretation, staff and providers should call the Bed Control Office at extension 4444. For help in a language other than English, staff and providers should request in-person interpreters from the list of approved contractors at any time. Patients, companions and visitors may request interpretation whenever needed.
Translated patient forms, large print documents and multilingual signage are available throughout Swedish. Patient information is provided in the Welcome to Swedish Booklet as well as campus-specific guides – available in English and translated versions.
Special Needs
If you have a hearing loss and need assistive devices and adaptive communication equipment, a variety of equipment is available throughout our hospitals and clinics upon request. Please reference our menu of assistive devices to determine the equipment that best serves your need. Certified ASL, Sign and Tactile sign language interpreters are available as needed; please request an interpreter when you schedule an appointment or when arriving at Swedish.
If you need a specialty communication support service, such as CART or Braille translation, please request in advance of your medical appointment, to assure timely provision of service.
When calling a Swedish location, please indicate your language need and an operator or staff person will access telephonic interpretation with interpreters for over 200 languages. Please share your communication need with our staff, whether need for interpreter or assistive device, prior to arrival for your appointment or stay, so we can assure that your needs are met.
For any other services or special requests, please ask any Swedish staff.
Federal and State laws mandate equal access to services for all patients regardless of language needs or disability. Swedish supports ensuring effective communication between patients and their medical providers by providing free, qualified interpretation services for all patients. For patient safety, we do not use patient family members, friends or children as interpreters in order to always provide you with qualified, confidential and accurate medical interpretation. Please contact us at any time to let us know how we can serve you better or to give feedback on your interpreter services experience.
Contact Us
Linguistic Services department
747 Broadway
Seattle, WA 98122
Office Hours: Mon - Fri, 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Phone: 206-215-2362 or 206-386-3019
Fax: 206-215-1731
Swedish Edmonds campus
Main phone number: 425-640-4000