Interpreters

Inova wants to keep you safe and provide you with excellent care. To ensure effective communication, Inova will make interpreters available at no cost to you. Let us know if you need assistance with communication due to hearing, vision and/or speech impairments, or if you want to communicate with your providers in a language other than English. Our healthcare team respects the unique attributes of our patients and families and we promote quality care that is sensitive to all patients' needs.

Interpreters and auxiliary aids

The Language Services Program at Inova provides professional medical interpreters to patients and their companions who are limited-English-proficient or who are deaf. Interpreters are available 24/7 to all patients and families for appointments, procedures and hospital stays. There is no cost to patients or families for interpretation at the hospital.
The hospital provides appropriate auxiliary aids free of charge, including: TTYs, written materials, telephone handset amplifiers, assistive listening devices and systems, telephones compatible with hearing aides, closed caption decoders, and open and closed captioning of most hospital programs.

How do I get an interpreter?

• When scheduling your hospital appointment or service, if not asked, please let us know that you need interpreter services
• When you come to the hospital, tell a hospital staff member if you need an interpreter
• Our staff collectively speaks more than 40 languages and dialects. Your provider can locate volunteer interpreters who are Inova employees and volunteers and who have been screened and trained as medical interpreters. Your provider can look them up by facility and language in our Language Bank or by asking the hospital operators.
• Spanish staff interpreters are available onsite, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Every department has a telephonic interpreter service that provides immediate interpretation for more than 200 languages and dialects

Hearing and vision impaired services

• For the vision impaired, ask about the availability of braille. Also, important forms can be read aloud to the patient.
• Video remote interpreting (VRI), enabled with point to point video calls (VRS), text functionality (TTY) and access to national relay service (711), is available in most emergent areas, supporting the need for immediate communication with patients who are deaf and their companions
• Sign language interpreters may be requested by your Inova provider by calling our scheduling office at 703-776-7641

For additional assistance, please contact the Patient Relations Department at 703-391-3885 or 703-391-3607.