Keelser translator helps provide common language fro common goal Published March 31, 2010 ANGOL, Chile -- Senior Airman Cassondra Johnson, an aerospace medical technician from the 81st Aerospace Medicine Squadron, assisted two primary translators during the recent medical deployment to Chile. "Not only do I have to translate Spanish the Chileans are speaking, I also have to do my job interviewing the patients," said Airman Johnson. "With the language barrier, if someone has a history of a medical problem and we don't translate it correctly, the medical care will be off. Between the translators, we definitely use each other to make sure the patients get the right care." She helped Tech. Sgt. Antonio Andrade, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, and Staff Sgt. Abraham Rodriguez, Brooks City-Base, Texas, support more than 80 Airmen and about 50 Chilean medics and up to 40 Chilean patient at the expeditionary medical support facility. "I didn't realize how important my job would be here until I was in a surgery, translating between surgeons, a Chilean surgeon on my right ear and an American surgeon on my left ear," said Sergeant Andrade. "Communication is key. You can bring all the help you want to another country, but if you don't speak their language, it's going to be very difficult to make the mission happen." "(We) have to be very precise in what we do and how we translate," Sergeant Rodriguez said. "Some medications sound similar, so if we say something wrong, it could get bad very quickly." Keesler's Maj. Sharon Walker, chief of nursing for the mission, is responsible for teaching most of the Chilean medics how to use different equipment in the hospital. "Whenever we do not have a translator, things are really slow," Major Walker said. "The conversation can go on for about 10 minutes over a very small item like an oxygen mask and until someone makes a gesture that maybe you can understand, we get nowhere. When a translator appears, there is a sign of relief from both sides and we're able to actually communicate because we have someone to translate what's going on."