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CATEGORY: Manpower and Personnel 
ISSUE ITEM #: 
 
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SUBJECT: Foreign Language Requirement 
 
BACKGROUND: Several patients seen in the 609th Contingency Hospital did not speak English. To meet language 
needs, especially Spanish, native speakers within UTCs need to be identified to provide for the communication needs of 
nonEnglish speaking patients. Had we received several coalition forces casualties we would have had a difficult time 
communicating. 
 
DISCUSSION: Inability to communicate with several patients jeopardizes the medical care we are able to provide, as well 
as our ability to provide for the non-medical needs of our patients. 
 
ACTION RECOMMENDED: A method of early identification of staff members fluent in another language should be 
standard procedure at contingency hospitals. Also need to identify language requirements based on expected patient 
workload and ensure the facility is augmented with the required language specialist. 
 
SUGGESTED OPR: HQ USAF/SGHR, HQ USAFE/SGAX 
 
 
 
 
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