June 2006 Redmond Business

Como Puedo Ayudarlo? How Can I Help You?
by Pam Mauk

Step into Family Resource Center’s Rainier Room on a recent Tuesday or Thursday and you would find staff members from nonprofit agencies throughout our campus, including me, repeating after Senora Francia:
Bienvenido.  (Welcome.)
Que necessita? (What do you need?)
Voy a buscar ayuda. (I am going to get you help.)
No es el consultorio del medico. Esta alla (This is not the doctor’s office. That is over there.)

We are practicing any number of scenarios that we encounter daily. People seeking help and having trouble expressing what they need. Staff members who are charged to help, often looking blankly in response, feeling slightly desperate.

Thus, we practice with Senora Francia, who with her colleague Marcella Scott, has put together a tailored program aimed at the information and referral needs of the 18 health and human services organizations on the Family Resource Center campus.

The Hispanic/Latino population has more than doubled between the last two censuses to almost 6% of Redmond’s citizens, a development we’ve seen for years on our campus. Along with speakers of Russian, Chinese, Korean, and so many more languages (I helped someone with my college German a month ago), Spanish-speaking customers routinely struggle to assist their families with the same services we all use:  medical and dental care, legal assistance, youth counseling, housing and more. 

As our community changes, our customers change. At Family Resource Center, we are working to make sure that all members of the community find the help they need.

Pam Mauk is executive director of Family Resource Center. For more information on the Center, call 869-6699. (For information and referral to community services, call 211.)

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