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Submitted by Carol Fay
RIRID general meeting 1/28/17 at the RI School for the Deaf. President Hayley Baccaire led a positive and dynamic meeting with members resulting in several outcomes beginning with: We had a quorum! President's Report highlights: Hayley announced that Maureen McEntee has volunteered to be our new recording secretary. Bridgemark will be hosting a Healthcare Literacy workshop for interpreters date TBD. RICDHH will be interviewing for a Staff Interpreter, RIRID declined participation to avoid any conflict of interest. Four CDHH Bills and proposed legislation were explained and discussed. RIRID membership voted to support them. The Board held a retreat and established "Big hairy audacious" goals: 1. To double our savings 2. To partner with Deaf colleagues in public speaking presentations about Deaf Culture. 3.To re- establish trust. 4. To communicate and partner with the community. 5. To increase the pool of working interpreters. This last goal led to the formation of a subcommittee including Heather, Rosa and Carol to discuss the use of mentoring. Vice President's Report: Heather focused on workshops: What would you like a workshop on? Also, you can provide a workshop and earn CEUs. All RIRID sponsored workshops provide free CEUs to members. Treasurer's Report: Michele announced that our current balance is $11,171.11. We will be meeting with an accountant to reinstate our 501(c)(3) status which requires a conflict of interest statement. An ad hoc budget committee was formed to review our finances and develop a budget approval process. Corresponding Secretary's report: Charly announced that we have 17 members and cards have been emailed to them. He will keep the membership informed of deaf/interpreting community events on a weekly basis. Recording Secretary's report: Maureen contacted DOH regarding the backlog of interpreter licenses, there are now only 5 pending and those applicants have been contacted. The new board of licensure candidates will be presented to the Legislature by the end of January. Updates: Charly and Heather will be attending the LEAD conference in Utah. Thank You to Bridgemark for sponsoring one attendee! Upcoming events: on 2/18 Heather will host the next interpreter round table at her house. Future RIRID meetings are: 4/8, 6/24, and 10/17 all at Perspectives in Warwick from 10 am to noon. RIRID will hold a special meeting to discuss Tier 1 and Tier 2 for interpreters, stay tuned! The following minutes were approved: 11/12/16, 6/25/16, 2/20/16, and 10/17/16 Kudos to Hayley Baccaire for running such a productive meeting! And many thanks to those who have stepped up to volunteer for committees and actions to get the work done! Great team work!
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Happy New Year! 2016 has been a great year for RIRID, and we are looking forward to 2017.
2016 Workshops April 2016 Emergency Referral Forum and Survey Building on our November 2015 Forum, we hosted a forum on Emergency Services where the lack of ASL interpreters was discussed. Findings were shared with RICDHH who is now discussing various solutions to the challenge of securing interpreters for emergent needs. Foundations III Betty Colonomos hosted Foundations III at Perspectives in October 2016. RI interpreters partnered with interpreters from across New England to improve the way we talk about interpreting with our peers. New Board Roles Thank you to our board members for volunteering their time and mental energy throughout 2016. A very special thank you to Rosa Norberg, who has given lots of love, attention to detail, and support for the deaf community. She stepped down from president and handed Hayley Baccaire the reins for President. Because of Rosa’s work, there is a vibrant heartbeat to our organization. Again, thank you Rosa for your dedication throughout the decades! Other board members include Heather Anderson as Vice President, Michele Neiley as Treasurer, Charley Thorn as correspondence secretary, Heather Niedbala as Member at Large and Rosa Norberg as Recent Past President. We are grateful that Michele has been willing to learn the role of the treasurer so RIRID can continue to thrive. Heather Anderson has put in an incredible amount of time and energy to process CEUs and generate a positve cash flow for RIRID. Thank you to her for her tireless attention to CEUs. We will vote on filling the vacant secretary position at our January meeting. If you would like to be considered, please send your name to Heather A at riridvicepresident@ririd.org Advocacy Coordinated 2016 Election Video RIRID partnered with the members of the RI Deaf Community to create a video on the 2016 ballot questions. The project was our first attempt at creating a translation of public information. We look forward to continued projects based in the community. To see the video, click here. https://youtu.be/ZxJozZicZ5o Thank you! Throughout 2016 we have received support from RISDeaf and Perspectives. They have both donated space for our events, which allow us to maintain reasonable costs for workshops. They have also allowed us to use their projectors which allows us to conduct our meetings via powerpoint. Thank you RISDeaf and Perspectives for your contribution to our events. Another special thank you to RICDHH for including RIRID members in discussions on interpreting services in RI. Last but not least, thank you to our membership who has continually been engaged and supportive of the interpreting and Deaf communities. I know participation comes in all shades, checking in on Facebook and reading email, to hosting events. Whatever your ability to participate, we thank you for your involvement. RIRID would cease to exist without our members. 2017 Meeting Dates Saturday, January 28, 2017 10 am Quarterly meeting at RISDeaf workshop to follow & lunch provided Saturday, February 18, 2017 10 am Interpreter Round Table at Heather Anderson’s home in Coventry Saturday, April 8, 2017 10am Quarterly Meeting at Perspectives in Warwick Saturday, June 24, 2017 10 am Quarterly Meeting at Perspectives in Warwick Saturday, October 14, 2017, 10 am Quarterly Meeting at Perspectives at in Warwick Following the Foundations III workshop, RIRID members in attendance recognized there is a need to talk about our work and business challenges as colleagues. We came up with one solution to host regular Interpreter Roundtable Meetings, to gather at rotating member’s homes or coffee shops and touch base. Think of it as a lunch table or teacher’s room at school-the chance to check in and bounce ideas off of each other. As our Quarterly meetings are very structured and specific, roundtable meetings give members the chance to let the conversation flow, then bring issues to quarterly meetings. The next meeting will be February 18 at Heather Anderson’s house. Workshops Deaf Interpreter For-For? by Eileen Forestal, PhD, RSC Saturday, January 28, 2017, lunch available at 12:00 pm, workshop runs 12:30 -3:30 pm Eileen Forestal will discuss the current research and effective practices for Deaf Interpreters and Deaf-Hearing interpreter teams. This workshop will help both interpreters and Deaf people identify the need for a Deaf interpreter (DI) and advocate why a DI is needed for effective communication and important cultural decision making. See Eileen’s vlog here https://youtu.be/DAWMlwQOHJE .3 PS CEUs will be provided by RIRID *FREE* Minutes and Remote Voting RIRID has had a hard time reaching a quorum at our 2016 meetings, therefore we have many minutes that are not yet approved. We will utilize the password protected portal of our site to share the draft minutes to members. I will post a survey with to allow for approval and comments. If you choose to vote remotely, members will submit their name with their vote, similar to raising your hand in a quarterly meeting. I will bring the results to our January 28 meeting, and share the draft minutes a final time with the comments. Hopefully, this method will allow for more members to participate in the voting process. The files and password will be uploaded and shared from January 13-27. If you have technical issues, email me at RIRIDpresident@ririd.org, or glide me. CDHH Hiring a Staff Interpreter RICDHH is hiring a staff interpreter to work at the Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In the past, meetings have been postponed due to interpreter availability. We encourage interpreters to check out the job description and apply, the deadline for applying is 1/13/17. https://www.governmentjobs.com/jobs/1614607/staff-interpreter-ricdhh RID 2017 LEAD Together National Conference This year’s national conference will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah from July 20 -24, 2017. The conference will have two tracks: leadership and skills development. Both tracks have limited seats, and participation will be determined by allocation to member organization/section and then by lottery. There are two seats allocated to RIRID to participate in the leadership track. Right now, RIRID is wondering who would want to attend. If there is a great number, we will figure out a way to select our 2 delegates. The expectation is that the 2 delegates will attend the conference, learn leadership skills to bring back and implement in RI. I am really excited about this opportunity, and look forward to improving our chapter. Please contact me at RIRIDpresident@ririd.org by January 10 if you would like to be considered for a spot. RIRID worked with members of the Deaf Community to create an ASL version of the 2016 ballot questions in ASL Volunteers reviewed the Voter Information Handbook disseminated by the office of the Secretary of State, Nellie M. Gorbea to sign the information that is typically provided in English. Thank you to the volunteers to who volunteered their time for free, as well as the RI School for the Deaf for lending us space to film. We look forward to partnering with the Deaf Community soon.
Our fall 2016 meeting took place on November 12, 2016 at Perspectives Corporation. Interpreters, CODAs, Deaf community members and up and coming interpreters were present. It was the first meeting that Hayley Baccaire was acting as President. There was not a quorum at the meeting, so minutes were unable to be voted on. Minutes and a new conflict of interest policy will be shared via the website and voted on remotely starting in January. Officers gave reports and we learned about updates from RID leadership, the national conference and testing. The board announced they will attend a retreat in January to learn how to use Google Docs and establish goals for 2017. Luce Aubry from Framingham State University came and explained their interpreter training program. The program is the only public interpreter training program that is local to Rhode Islanders. The program is hybrid, which means it requires one day on campus and work can be done online from home, or locally with a mentor. More information is available on our recruitment page. Steve Florio, the Executive Director from the Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing came to speak about the Tier 1 and Tier 2 approach to interpreter scheduling through RICDHH. Currently, there are 8 interpreters who accept a large volume of work via RICDHH; there are also interpreters who accept a lesser volume of state work. Steve is working to create a system through which RICDHH can partner with agencies to ensure that state requests are covered. The model would give priority to the independent contractors on the MPA, Tier 1, then share the unfilled assignment with agencies, Tier 2. Tier 2 is for interpreting companies/agencies that offer sign language interpreters, either in person or remote services. The same goes for CART remote companies. Unfilled assignments would become available to Tier 2 entities one week before the start date of the assignment. If a request is submitted within 72 hours of the start time, the request would be sent to Tier 1 and Tier 2 entities to expedite the referral process. We are hoping to have a larger turn out of interpreters at our January 28 meeting to weigh the pro's and con's of this approach. RIRID would like to present formal feedback to the commission in February 2017. Please make time to come to our next meeting on Saturday, January 28, 2017 10 am - noon at the RI School for the Deaf. It will be followed by a free workshop by Eileen Forestal on Working with a Deaf Interpreter. She will explain how Deaf Interpreters are used by many Deaf individuals to create a more accurate interpretation. Flier to follow soon.
Colonomos provided a variety of texts for rich discussion and gave us the scaffold on which to build a productive discussion. Her style is filled with compassion and humor, honed by over 40 years of experience. Each interpreter left the weekend with a personal goal based on her own work. Thank You to Rosa Norberg, Heather Anderson and Hayley Baccaire for your time and energy arranging this opportunity for RI interpreters to work with our colleagues from around New England! The snacks and coffee were much appreciated, the room was comfortable and the equipment ran perfectly. Several members of the workshop enjoyed an Italian dinner at Luigi's in Johnston with Betty after the Saturday session. Foundations IV will be offered the weekend of November 18-20 at Advocates in Framingham coordinated by MassRID. We hope to see you there! Carol Fay
RIRID sent out an important e-mail on Monday, May 16, 2016 related to on-call services. Please read and respond to Hayley at RIRIDsecretary@ririd.org
RI RID Board met on May 14 to discuss proposed changes to the RICDHH MPA and Interpreter Referral Service Policies and Procedures. The Board came to consensus on the top three items we wanted to address. On behalf of the Board, I sent a letter to RICDHH and the Commissioners to share our concerns. To summarize, the Board asked that the 1)BEI not be added to the MPA 2) the hierarchy of the MPA be restructured to reflect two categories, Certified and Screened 3) to postpone adding the Tier 1 and Tier 2 until further research can be done by the Board, together with RICDHH. RIRID is looking to fill the following board positions: Members at Large Works with general membership and members interest to assist in the coordination of activities and communication with the membership and serve as membership coordinators. President A. Represents the organization in all appropriate activities. B. Presides at meetings of the Members and Directors. C. Appoints committees. D. Cosigns checks with the Secretary/Treasurer or any other person designated through action of the Board of Directors. E. Provides at least semi-annually reports to the membership concerning business, Board of Directors activities, and financial status of the organization. RIRID hosted our second community forum on April 2, 2016. We had a large turn out of Deaf Community members. We were able to brainstorm feedback to improve the Emergency Referral System (ERS), which was brought to the Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing's committee on ERS. We also discussed RID's changes to testing and Holly St Pierre presented on RICDHH's new scheduling platform. We will host another community forum in three months. Look out for more info soon! RIRID Survey ASL Interpreter Response to Current Emergency Referral System (ERS) The current approach to scheduling interpreters for on-call for emergency visits has not been successful and results in a lack of on-site interpreting services for Deaf patients during critical emergent situations. The intent of this survey is to identify barriers, conflicts, and systemic weaknesses. The data collected will be used to contribute to potential recommendations for improving emergency interpreting services. The current hours for on-call are 4pm-8 am (14 hours nightly) Monday-Thursday, and through the weekend 4pm on Friday through 8 am on Monday. The shifts are determined by interpreter availability and cover hospitals across the entire state. Thank you for your help. RIRID Survey Deaf/HoH/Deaf-Blind Consumer Response to Current Emergency Referral System (ERS) The current approach to scheduling interpreters for on-call for emergency visits has not been successful and results in a lack of on-site interpreting services for Deaf patients during critical emergent situations. The intent of this survey is to help with identifying barriers, conflicts, and systemic weaknesses. The data collected will be used to contribute to potential recommendations for improving emergency interpreting services. The current hours for emergency on-call services are 4pm-8 am (14 hours nightly) Monday-Thursday, and 4pm-8 amFriday- Monday (62 hours consecutively). The shifts are determined by interpreter availability and cover hospitals across the entire state. Thank you for your help. As of July 9, 2015, HB 5695A and SB 0478A, Interpreter Licensure Bills have been signed by Governor Raimondo and made into law! This means that RIRID along with RICDHH and RIAD have successfully lobbied to update the laws governing interpreter licensure. We are grateful to the partners in the community who have supported our work since December 2014. RIRID looks forward to keeping our interpreter licensure laws current and effective in order to safeguard our profession.  |
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Rhode Island Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf RIRID@RIRID.ORG
