If you need an interpreter for your BMC visit, please tell your healthcare provider. They will make sure that there’s an interpreter available for your time at BMC.
Boston Medical Center’s Interpreter Services Department is one of the oldest interpreter services programs in New England. Our department works to ensure making sure that all patients who speak a language other than English or are deaf or hard of hearing can get all the care they need in their own language.
We provide qualified medical interpretation to patients and families who want to receive health care information in a language other than English, including American Sign Language.
Interpreters are available free of charge 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For deaf and hard of hearing patients we have TTYs and assistive listening devices available upon request.
Interpreters are available in person, over the phone, and on video to ensure access to more than 150 languages spoken by our patient population, including interpretation for the top 14 languages our patients speak:
- Spanish
- Haitian Creole
- Portuguese
- Cape Verdean Creole
- Vietnamese
- Arabic
- Albanian
- Amharic
- French
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
- Somali
- Tigrinya
- American Sign Language
Please do not bring anyone to interpret for you or use family members for medical interpretation, as this is not allowed under federal law.
BMC also provides written health information in a variety of languages, including after visit summaries, as well as MyChart, our patient portal, in Spanish.
Office Information
Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Yawkey Building
850 Harrison Ave.
Basement, Room BN-38
Boston, MA 02118
For more information, call Interpreter Services Department at 617-414-5549.