By Linda A. Moore
The Commercial Appeal
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Pam Kiestler, Emergency Medical Services Division chief with the Memphis Fire Department, touched a button on a small electronic device, then she asked a question.
“Tell me where you’re hurting?” Kiestler said into the device that’s a little smaller than a paperback book.
Promptly, a live person translated her question into Spanish for Kiestler’s mock patient, Javier Carrasco, a firefighter and paramedic.
As the trial evaluation continued, the translator was able to translate questions about past heart problems (he had a heart attack four years ago), medications (just aspirin) and allergies (none).
The cellular device is called ELSA (Enabling Language Service Anywhere) and is the department’s newest tool to care for a multilingual community.
ELSA connects emergency responders with live interpreters who speak 180 languages and dialects and replaces an interpreter service that required a telephone on a landline.
The city bought four devices at a cost of $500 each, so there is one for each quadrant of the city, Kiestler said.
“Since Spanish is the language that’s the most frequently found second language in the United States, when you hit the button once you automatically get Spanish,” Kiestler said.
Hit it twice and the user can choose the language.
Memphis also has large Laotian and Vietnamese populations and visitors from around the world.
“There’s plenty of calls we make in the city on a day-to-day basis where you’re not going to have someone like myself who speaks Spanish,” Carrasco said.
“This device can help a lot in that area where you run into foreign languages that are not really popular,” he said.
Often, someone at the scene speaks English, but on a domestic violence call, there may be a reason not to trust that person’s translations, Kiestler said.
The fire department plans to see how useful ELSA before deciding to purchase more.
“If the usage is there and the demand is there, we’ll certainly look at putting more into the field,” Kiestler said.
Training on the new devices is set for next week.
The Shelby County Fire Department has also purchased ELSAs for its first responders.
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©2015 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)