在紐約叫救護車 現在你可以說中文了

In the back of an ambulance the other day, an anxious father-to-be rattled off his wife’s medical history in Cantonese as she went into labor. It took the two emergency medical technicians onboard, both fluent in Chinese, just seconds to act, and they pulled the ambulance over to the side of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive in Manhattan after learning that the couple’s first child had been born quickly.

不久前的一天，在一輛救護車裏，一位焦急的準爸爸急促地用粵語說着妻子的就醫史。她即將臨盆。車上的兩名急救醫務人員都能說流利的中文。在得知這對夫婦的第一胎生產過程很快時，他們只用了幾秒鐘時間便採取行動，將救護車停在了曼哈頓富蘭克林·D·羅斯福大道(Franklin evelt Drive)的路邊。

In less than two minutes, they delivered a howling baby boy.

過了不到兩分鐘，一個嚎啕大哭的男嬰降生了。

“The fact that I can speak their language was a tremendous help,” said Jason Lau, 26, one of the medical technicians who helped deliver the baby.

“我會說他們的語言這一點幫了大忙，”26歲的賈森·劉(Jason Lau)說。他是幫助接生的醫務人員之一。

The dramatic birth was a first for a new service started by a private ambulance company in Brooklyn that provides Chinese language emergency medical care to New York City’s growing population of Chinese immigrants. The company’s three amubulances with Chinese-speaking health care workers have already responded to calls beyond Brooklyn — including Chinatown in Manhattan and Flushing, Queens.

這是布魯克林一傢俬人救護車公司推出的新服務第一次遇到這麼驚心動魄的生產。該公司爲紐約市日漸增多的中國移民提供中文緊急醫療服務，擁有三輛配備了會說中文的醫護人員的救護車。這三輛車的服務範圍已經擴大到了布魯克林之外的地方，包括曼哈頓的唐人街和皇后區的法拉盛。

The service was started last month by Alonzo Rapisarda, 42, who lives in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn and traces his family’s roots to a great-grandfather who immigrated to the United States from Italy. During the three generations of Rapisardas who have run the family business, Midwood Ambulance, the south Brooklyn area has changed, from historically Jewish and Italian to largely Chinese.

這項服務是42歲的阿隆佐·拉皮薩爾達(Alonzo Rapisarda)在上月推出的。拉皮薩爾達生活在布魯克林的灣脊，其曾祖父是來自意大利的移民。名爲先鋒救護車(Midwood Ambulance)的這個家族企業，在拉皮薩爾達家傳承了三代人，在這期間，布魯克蘭南區變了，從歷史上以猶太人和意大利人爲主變成了中國人的天下。

Bensonhurst, one of its main service areas, is now home to one of the city’s largest concentration of Chinese residents. From 2000 to 2013 the number of foreign-born Chinese in the borough increased by nearly 50 percent, to 128,000 from 86,000, according to the census.

本森赫斯特是該公司主要的服務地區之一。聚居在那裏的華人規模在該市名列前茅。根據人口普查數據，從2000年到2013年，該行政區的華裔增加了近50%，從8.6萬增至12.8萬。

Unlike city-run ambulances, which respond to 911 emergency calls, private ambulance companies have their own direct phone numbers and will, among other services, transport ill patients from their doctor’s offices to hospitals or take women in labor to hospitals.

市政運營的救護車會在接到911急救電話後出車。和它們不同的是，私人救護車公司有自己的直線電話號碼，提供的服務包括將病患從醫生的辦公室轉移到醫院，或是送臨產孕婦就醫。

The city is home to a small network of private ambulance companies that cater to certain neighborhoods, including a few that serve non-English speakers, such as Chevra Hatzalah, whose workers speak Hebrew, and Assist Ambulance, which focuses on Russian-speaking patients. Ambulances operated by the city, as well as private companies, do have access to telephone-based translation services, but people facing medical issues often find it easier and more comforting to speak to emergency responders in their native language, according to doctors, and emergency medical provider.

該市的私人救護車公司構成了一個小網絡，它們專門面向某些社區，其中一些公司服務於不會說英語的人羣，比如急救公司(Chevra Hatzalah)的工作人員會說希伯來語，愛施慈救護車公司(Assist Ambulance)的重點客戶是說俄語的患者。市政機構和私人公司運營的救護車的確都可以使用電話上的翻譯服務，但據醫生和提供急救服務的人表示，遇到醫療問題的人往往會覺得，用母語和急救人員溝通更容易、更放心。

Over the years, Mr. Rapisarda’s regular crews — 107 ambulances in all — found that they were frequently unable to speak with their patients.

此前的多年裏，拉皮薩爾達的常規團隊——包括總計107輛救護車——發現，自己常常無法和患者交流。

“If you can’t communicate with your paramedic, you could leave out something, or the paramedic could misunderstand something,” Mr. Rapisarda said.

“如果無法與急救護理人員溝通，就可能會有遺漏，或是導致急救人員產生誤解，”拉皮薩爾達說。

He said patients sometimes confused chest pain for indigestion, particularly older people. His workers, he feared, “might miss something if you’re not fully able to understand them, or them, you.”

他表示，患者有時候會誤以爲胸痛是消化不良，尤其是上了年紀的人。他擔心手下的工作人員“如果不能完全聽懂他們的話，或他們不能完全聽懂工作人員的話，便可能會漏掉某些信息”。

Several years ago, he started hiring Chinese-speaking dispatchers, paramedics and emergency medical technicians. But it was only last year, after Mr. Rapisarda heard a story from a local doctor, that the idea of a dedicated fleet and a 24-hour Chinese dispatch was born. The doctor, Gary Chen, an internal medicine specialist in Bensonhurst, said an older couple who were sick waited through the weekend for a Monday appointment with their Chinese-speaking doctor rather than call an ambulance because they were afraid they would not be understood.

幾年前，他開始招募會說中文的調度員、護理員和急救醫務人員。但直到去年從當地一名醫生那裏聽說一個故事後，拉皮薩爾達才萌生了成立一支專門的隊伍，24小時派遣會說中文的醫護人員的想法。他從本森赫斯特一位名叫加里·陳(Gary Chen)的內科醫生那裏聽到的故事是，一對患病的老年夫婦寧可等上整整一個週末也不願叫救護車，就爲了到週一去看會說中文的醫生，因爲他們害怕對方聽不懂他們說的話。

Dr. Chen’s neighbors suggested that the community needed its own ambulances, and Mr. Rapisarda agreed. Now Mr. Rapisarda has three ambulances emblazoned with English and Chinese characters traveling around the city.

陳醫生的鄰居表示，社區需要有自己的救護車。拉皮薩爾達也同意這一點。如今，拉皮薩爾達有三輛印着英漢雙語標識的救護車，在全市穿梭。

He said the response had been so positive that he was hiring more Chinese-speaking workers and had ordered three more ambulances, each of which costs $76,000. On a recent day in the company’s parking depot in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn, newly hired employees practiced carrying a dummy strapped to a chair up and down a steep staircase. He said this was an essential skill in the city.

他說反響非常積極，因此他正在招聘更多會說中文的工作人員，並且又訂購了三輛救護車，每輛7.6萬美元。前不久的一天，在該公司位於布魯克林格拉夫森德的停車場，新招來的員工正在練習擡着一個被綁在椅子上的假人上下陡峭的樓梯。拉皮薩爾達說，在該市這是一項必備技能。

In New York and around the country, emergency responders have historically been white and male, said Scott Moore, a human resources and operations consultant with the American Ambulance Association, a national trade organization, and an emergency medical technician for 26 years. Beyond translating words, Mr. Moore said, a diverse emergency response fleet can add cultural competency to how their work is done.

全國性的行業組織美國救護車協會(American Ambulance Association)的人力資源與行動顧問、有26年急救經驗的斯科特·穆爾(Scott Moore)說，在紐約和全美，急救人員歷來是白人和男性。他表示，除了翻譯外，組建多元的應急響應隊伍可以增加他們在工作中的文化能力。

Last year, Mr. Moore’s organization issued its first handbook for intercultural communication. “Demographic trends across the United States indicate a growing need for better cross-cultural communication skills among health care professionals,” the guidebook begins.

去年，穆爾所在的組織首次發佈跨文化交流手冊。這本指導手冊開篇寫道，”全美的人口變化趨勢表明，越來越有必要提高醫護專業人員的跨文化交流技巧。”

The profession is “becoming more aware of the challenges” that a diverse patient population presents, Mr. Moore said, “and understanding that care is something more than maybe just taking medical care of them.”

這個職業“更加意識到”多元的患者羣體帶來的挑戰，“並認識到護理不僅僅是對他們進行醫療護理。”

The Midwood Ambulance service has teamed up with the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn, a community organization, which is helping spread the word about the service. Steve Chung, the association’s president, said the service was drawing rave reviews from the community and, in particular, accolades for Mr. Rapisarda. Mr. Chung noted the only-in-New-York factor that the new Chinese-language ambulance fleet was started by an Italian-American.

先鋒救護車公司推出的服務與社區組織布魯克林華人聯合會(United Chinese Association of Brooklyn)合作，後者正在幫助宣傳這項服務。其會長鍾承楚(Steve Chung)稱，社區對這項服務好評如潮，尤其是對拉皮薩爾達的稱讚。鍾承楚指出了一個紐約獨有的因素，即新的中文救護車隊是由一名意大利裔美國人成立的。

But there is a history of collaboration — a long one — between the communities, he said.

但他說，兩個羣體相互合作的歷史源遠流長。

“Think about it, in Marco Polo’s time, he visited China and we gave him good things: spaghetti and pizza,” Mr. Chung said with a laugh. “I think this is the best thing about human culture — we know each other and we’re sharing and who knows what good things pop-up.”

“想想，在馬可·波羅時代，他去中國，我們給了他好東西：意麪和披薩，”鍾承楚大笑着說。“我覺得這是人類文化最好的一面，我們相互瞭解，共同分享，誰知道會出現什麼好東西呢。”