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Case Study: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Reach a Global Audience | TLD

About the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) conserves and manages the American fish, wildlife, and plant habitats. They collaborate with other agencies and organizations to preserve, protect, and enhance natural ecosystems so that present and future generations can live in mutual benefit and balance. The Endangered Species Act is one of the USFWS’s many accomplishments since the agency’s inception in 1871. The act conserves various habitats and combats illegal wildlife trade. Their combined efforts have led to the recovery of species such as the bald eagle, American alligator, and gray wolf.

About The Urgency Room

The Urgency Room specializes in treating severely injured and ill patients. Their dedicated physicians provide exceptional medical services in a comfortable environment to their patients throughout Minnesota.

Details

About the Project

Beyond managing wildlife ecosystems, the USFWS renders financial and professional technical assistance to states and enforces regulations to protect wildlife from illegal trafficking. This mandate includes interpretation and education programs to inform the public about the possible consequences of environmental changes and create an ethical mindset towards nature.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must host two-hour virtual Alumni meetings every nine months for an international multilingual audience. Each meeting has different topics and presenters, which the agency must translate for non-English speaking attendees.

Problem

Language barriers to effective meetings

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service required two French, two Spanish, and two Portuguese interpreters for their virtual Alumni meetings, but finding such professionals proved challenging:

  • The interpreters had to be proficient in their working language and have experience organizing and hosting meetings.
  • The interpreters needed to be available for many two-hour meetings over nine months.
  • Lastly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had to find interpreters to complete this work within their budget—many quotes the agency got were too expensive.

Problem

Language barriers to effective care

As most of The Urgency Room speak English, treating non-English speaking patients presents an additional challenge to complicated medical emergencies.
Urgency is vital to ensuring patients get the care they need, but to get high-quality medical translations, either over the phone or in person, would take too much time. These delays put patients in danger, increasing wait times while adversely impacting the quality of care staff could provide while waiting for a translator.

The Urgency Room wanted to reduce these delays and find a medical translation service provider capable of delivering fast translations—primarily, American Sign Language, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong.

Solution

Effective Interpretation from The Language Doctors

The USFWS contracted The Language Doctors (TLD), an interpretation and translation agency, to communicate accurately to its international audience.

TLD was able to find the experienced interpreters the USFWS needed and ensured they were available for all the two-hour meetings over the nine months. TLD also helped prepare interpreters with the relevant USFWS materials, including meeting links for the various languages.

Solution

Effective medical translations from The Language Doctors

The Language Doctors designed a bespoke solution to solve The Urgency Room’s translation issues with a modern solution using technology. We strategically placed iPads with The Language Doctor’s proprietary software throughout The Urgency Room’s emergency rooms.

The Urgency Room staff could access these iPads anytime to instantly contact interpreters and translators in over 200 languages, including the much-needed American Sign Language, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong.

The Language Doctors significantly reduced wait times, often connecting The Urgency Room with an interpreter or translator in under 30 seconds—for video and audio translations. Staff no longer experience translation delays and provide every patient, no matter their language, with high-quality, urgent care.

“The staff at The Urgency Room have been extremely happy with this improvement and know that when language services are needed, they no longer need to wait on the phone or for an interpreter. They grab an iPad and are ready within 30 seconds.” — Jeremy Nebelsick, The Urgency Room.

Thanks to TLD’s high-quality, fast translations, physicians easily find a common language with their patients, which increases their trust and loyalty to The Urgency Room.

Results

With the help of The Language Doctors, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was able to host their meetings successfully, ensuring everyone felt included and had accurate information in French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Additionally, the nine months of USFWS meetings were under budget, and there were no surprise fees from TLD.

The Language Doctors quickly responded to any requests, ensuring high-quality service delivery. As The Language Doctors interpreters had worked together before, communication and collaboration were smooth and seamless.

The USFWS case study demonstrates the importance of choosing qualified, certified interpreters who can convey information clearly to a multilingual audience. These highly qualified interpreters ensure audiences fully understand and engage with the content.

The Language Doctors is a multi-certified agency with a global network of 2,000+ translators and interpreters serving over 200 languages. Contact us to discuss how The Language Doctors can solve your cross-cultural communication challenges with an effective translation or interpretation solution.