Role

The primary role of the HIN Membership Committee is to identify strategies and develop activities for recruiting and retaining organisational and individual members on an annual basis. The committee may be involved in research, development and implementation of membership benefits and incentives

Committee Responsibilities

  • The crafting of the Agenda and organization of the Quarterly meetings and Annual General Meeting of the Network
  • The development of activities which are of interest to and contribute to the professional development of:
a) Member organizations committed to advancing their knowledge and expertise on the best practices for                    working with patient populations who have limited proficiency in English.
b) Interpreter practitioners who work in the health care sector.
  • Identification of the benefits which are gained through membership of HIN and the development of material for communicating with the membership, through the website, newsletter articles.
  • Development of membership service strategies and ensuring effective communication in routine membership management activities, such as updating contacts, renewal of Membership and membership fee collection.

2008-2009 activities

During the 2008-2009 year the Membership Committee organized and hosted 3 very successful meetings:
  • January 2009: Certified, Trained, Accredited, Tested…. What does it all mean?”
Panel members from HIN, the Immigration and Refugee Board, Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario, Language Interpreters Services, Across Languages, Niagara-Mohawk-Seneca College’s language Interpreter Training Program and the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.  The overall objective was to compare qualifications required for interpreters working in health, law and social services. Guest panelists also had the opportunity to clarify and discuss issues pertaining to training and credentialing of interpreters in their organizations.  All panelists agreed this is a wonderful start of the conversation and most importantly, they committed to continue working together towards the development of the professionalization interpreters services in Canada.
  • June 2009: Recruitment Fair
14 host organizations recruiting staff and contract interpreters, and close to 150 freelance interpreters networked with these organizations and other interpreters.
  • 2009 Annual General Meeting

Attendance at all 2009 Networking Meetings broke HIN records. 
HIN membership has tripled in the last two years, from 25 members in 2007 to 75 members in 2009.

HIN Website Recruitment Page
In collaboration with the Policy Committee, the Membership Committee helped launch the Recruitment page, which allows individual members to post their resumes, and institutional members to post vacancies or calls for contract interpreters looking for specific languages.

Membership Committee
Healthcare Interpretation Network
Chair

Dorothy Wong
North York General Hospital
email: membership@healthcareinterpretationnetwork.ca
Members of the Board

Soheila Khatami
Association of Professional Language Interpreters - APLI

Meri Petrov
Interpreter

Dorothy Wong
North York General Hospital
Members at large

Ema Dantas
Language Marketplace

Elena Davydova
Interpreter

Elba De Leon
St. Joseph Health Centre