The Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center (Kennedy Community Health) welcomes individuals of all ages and families from diverse backgrounds. We create an environment where our providers and staff reflect the diversity of our patient population in language, culture, race, sexual orientation, and physical ability.
Through our comprehensive Interpreter Services program, we are able to interpret the over 90 languages our patients speak. At last count, over 75% of our 340 providers and staff are bilingual and over 15% of those are trilingual. Most speak Spanish and/or Portuguese, the two most common languages our patients speak other than English. Staff speak over 30 additional languages as well such as Albanian, Arabic, Farsi, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Russian, Twi and many more.
Because there are a growing number of refugee populations resettling in our region, the Kennedy Community Health is committed to understanding and meeting the needs of people that experience linguistic and cultural barriers to accessing health care. One of two providers of required refugee health assessments in Central Massachusetts, we are the first health care provider these individuals see and many stay on to become our patients. They come from over 19 different parts of the world including Bhutan, Burundi, Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia and Sudan.
We provide medical interpreters for each patient who needs care in a language other than English. Written materials are available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and some materials, including signage, are provided through pictures and/or diagrams.
It is our mission to empower our patients to overcome barriers to living healthy lives.