Wednesday, 16 August 2006
By KENT JACKSON
kent.jackson@standardspeaker.com

The Greater Hazleton Health Alliance treats all patients regardless of the language that they speak, the chief executive said Wednesday after a lawsuit challenging the city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act claimed the alliance turned away a patient because of a communication problem.

"The hospital is here to serve each and every person who enters our hospital, including the Emergency Department, and to provide them with the highest quality medical care and attention possible," Jim Edwards said in statement.


The mission and policy of the alliance is to admit and treat all patients regardless of age, race, color national origin, religious creed, ability to pay, physical or mental handicap, sex or sexual preference, or the ability to speak the English language, the statement said.


On Tuesday, a lawsuit filed in federal court claimed a patient who had epilepsy and speaks little English was turned away from an alliance facility because of a communication problem.


The suit filed by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and three private attorneys used the claim as an example of injury caused by the act, which takes effect Oct. 1.


Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act makes English the official language of city government, but doesn’t regulate language spoken elsewhere in the community.


Hazleton Mayor Louis Barletta said the increased demand for hospital services was among his reasons for proposing the act, which also fines landlords for renting to illegal immigrants and revokes the businesses licenses of employers who hire them.


The hospital subscribes to a translation service through which patients, including those in the emergency room, can talk to interpreters in 150 languages around the clock.


In addition to the hospital, the alliance operates an urgent care center at the former Hazleton-St. Joseph Medical Center on North Church Street and the Dessen MRI Center on the Airport Beltway, near where its outpatient facility is under construction.
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