{"id":78560,"date":"2026-08-17T13:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T20:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78560"},"modified":"2026-08-17T13:18:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T20:18:51","slug":"health-language-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/health-language-and-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging the health gap between language and culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good healthcare is not only about medical knowledge, but also about human\u00a0connection.\u00a0Understanding patients’ needs and histories goes a long way toward providing high-quality care.\u00a0A new\u00a0undergraduate certificate\u00a0at NAU aims\u00a0to give\u00a0students a\u00a0unique\u00a0set of tools\u00a0to help them\u00a0succeed\u00a0in the industry\u00a0by\u00a0bridging\u00a0the gap between language and culture\u00a0in healthcare.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Juliana\u00a0Suby<\/span><\/b>, teaching professor, and\u00a0<\/span>Jersus\u00a0Colmenares<\/span><\/b>, associate\u00a0teaching professor,\u00a0both\u00a0in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures, have been working together to design and implement the\u00a0<\/span>Spanish for the Health Professions undergraduate certificate<\/span><\/a>. This\u00a0program\u00a0is designed for students who are pursuing careers\u00a0in,\u00a0or are\u00a0already\u00a0employed in,\u00a0health-related professions. It focuses on Spanish language acquisition for cross-cultural communication\u00a0and emphasizes cultural and social knowledge necessary for the better development of healthcare practices.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Suby said it all started when Colmenares designed a Spanish for\u00a0the\u00a0Health\u00a0Professions\u00a0course at the 300 level that minors and majors from their department could take.\u00a0They were met with overwhelming demand\u00a0from\u00a0students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0had\u00a0an explosion\u00a0of interest,\u201d Suby said. \u201cIt was amazing!\u00a0Almost\u00a0immediately,\u00a0native speakers, heritage speakers and non-native Spanish speakers were attracted to this class. It was so\u00a0popular\u00a0that\u00a0we had\u00a0a waiting\u00a0list\u00a0for the course.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Colmenares\u00a0taught\u00a0the class on a more regular basis,\u00a0and\u00a0he and Suby\u00a0explored\u00a0the idea of\u00a0expanding the\u00a0curriculum\u00a0into\u00a0a certificate program.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the defining factors\u00a0that turned the abstract idea of creating this certificate\u00a0into a reality was an accident that happened on Highway 180, where a little boy from a Spanish-speaking family visiting Arizona was hit by a car crossing the highway,\u201d Suby said.\u00a0\u201cI was told that\u00a0one of the first responders said that\u00a0the grief\u00a0and the inability to communicate with the family broke his heart. That was the tipping point for me. By then, the class was already taking off, so\u00a0I told Jersus that we needed to put this\u00a0idea\u00a0into action.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hands-on training<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Colmenares, who has worked as a medical interpreter in the past\u00a0and has volunteered\u00a0for the city of Flagstaff, had a personal understanding of the\u00a0need\u00a0for Spanish\u00a0speakers in healthcare and\u00a0used his experience to help design the curriculum. Both\u00a0he\u00a0and Suby did a deep analysis, interviewed faculty members, looked at textbooks and\u00a0materials\u00a0and\u00a0spoke to\u00a0nurses, physical\u00a0therapists\u00a0and other\u00a0healthcare\u00a0professionals\u00a0to get a clear idea of what students needed to learn to be successful and help their communities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u00a0patients\u00a0go to a healthcare center, a doctor\u2019s appointment or any similar scenario and see that there is a way to communicate that is more comfortable for them, they can express themselves more freely,\u201d Colmenares said. \u201cAddressing this gap, which is huge right now in the United States, is crucial in programs like ours. Understanding what the needs are in the labor market today can put our students at an advantage. This is a skill that will get them ahead.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0the final class, students\u00a0are required to\u00a0do nine hours of volunteer work. Colmenares said\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a chance for students to\u00a0use the medical vocabulary they are learning\u00a0while gaining\u00a0hands-on experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kai Taras<\/span><\/b>, a graduate student in speech-language pathology, said\u00a0this component was the one\u00a0of the most rewarding aspects of the course since she had the opportunity to volunteer at Flagstaff Medical Center as a Spanish interpreter and gained invaluable hands-on experience using medical Spanish in a\u00a0real clinical\u00a0setting.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Natalia Canaan<\/span><\/b>, a chemistry, psychology and Spanish junior, saw firsthand the impact the class had\u00a0in the community\u00a0as she designed a tool\u00a0that will make a difference to those\u00a0who struggle with the English language.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis certificate has had a huge impact on both my career goals and the way I already serve patients as a pharmacy technician,\u201d Canaan said. \u201cFor my final project, I created a Spanish-language pamphlet with step-by-step guidance on how to obtain medication discount cards.\u00a0<\/span>More than just improving my Spanish, the class really\u00a0impacted\u00a0the way I think about healthcare, advocacy and serving underserved communities.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More than just language<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Spanish for\u00a0the\u00a0Health Professionals\u00a0undergraduate\u00a0certificate consists of\u00a019 credits and begins with the introductory\u00a0101 and 102 classes. Students then take three series of three\u00a0Spanish for Health Professions\u00a0courses, where they get the opportunity to interview experts in different fields and learn to work with artificial intelligence by training chatbots. Colmenares said the class not only\u00a0teaches\u00a0students\u00a0Spanish and medical terminology, but also cultural sensitivities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents learn a lot about disparities and context that comes with immigration, language and cultural barriers,\u201d Colmenares said. \u201cThis is not only about language coding or morphology, but also\u00a0about understanding who\u00a0the unique person is\u00a0that we have in front of us and their particular needs that go beyond\u00a0language but\u00a0rather entail a very complex background.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Catherine\u00a0Garrido<\/span><\/b>, an interdisciplinary\u00a0studies, health wellness\u00a0coaching\u00a0and biology\u00a0student\u00a0who\u00a0graduated this spring, said the certificate helped her\u00a0home in on\u00a0her passion for breaking down barriers in health care.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis class helped me solidify my intercultural knowledge and vocabulary,\u201d Garrido said. \u201cI often felt that many classes I took were separate\u202ffrom patient interaction, but this certificate reinforced\u202fwhy this is such an important certificate and topic.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To\u00a0students who are interested in the Spanish for\u00a0the\u00a0Health Professionals\u00a0undergraduate\u00a0certificate, but feel intimidated by the\u00a0language learning process,\u00a0<\/span>Larissa Axtell<\/span><\/b>, a senior studying nutrition and food with a minor in Spanish, said not to worry.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first heard about the certificate, I was interested but also nervous about taking the classes, but after taking them for two semesters, I can confidently say there is no reason to be,\u201d Axtell said. \u201cSo much is covered, yet it does not feel rushed. When I started, I could hardly understand and was struggling. After working with Juliana,\u00a0I feel so much more confident in my Spanish-speaking skills\u00a0and in\u00a0my reading and writing. I also feel more knowledgeable\u00a0about\u00a0the\u00a0language\u00a0struggle within the medical field.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information about the\u00a0<\/span>Spanish for the Health Professionals undergraduate certificate<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0email\u00a0<\/span>Jersus Colmenares<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>Juliana Suby<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good healthcare is not only about medical knowledge, but also about human\u00a0connection.\u00a0Understanding patients’ needs and histories goes a long way toward providing high-quality care.\u00a0A new\u00a0undergraduate certificate\u00a0at NAU aims\u00a0to give\u00a0students a\u00a0unique\u00a0set of tools\u00a0to help them\u00a0succeed\u00a0in the industry\u00a0by\u00a0bridging\u00a0the gap between language and culture\u00a0in healthcare.\u00a0 Juliana\u00a0Suby, teaching professor, and\u00a0Jersus\u00a0Colmenares, associate\u00a0teaching professor,\u00a0both\u00a0in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures,…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3019,"featured_media":78562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1829],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics","category-student-edition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78560"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78566,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78560\/revisions\/78566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}