Cultural Navigators
Why use a cultural navigator?
Staying at a hospital is a stressful situation. The language, environment, and expectations may be different from what you’re used to. At the same time, a lot of your energy is spent healing. You may feel confused or not listened to, especially if there are language, cultural, religious, financial, and other barriers.
A cultural navigator helps lessen or eliminate those barriers so that you can focus on recovering from illness or an operation. They can advocate for and facilitate communication between you, your family, and the healthcare team.
We have cultural navigators for patients who are:
- African American/Black
- American Indian
- LatinX
- Somali (male or female)
What does a cultural navigator do?
- Support, advocate for and uplift patients so that they feel confident and in control of their care, including help to resolve complaints or concerns you have
- Create and locate resources for patients in the community, such as food, transportation and financial support
- Offer emotional and spiritual support
- Help to dismantle harmful practices in healthcare that are rooted in racism that prevent patients from thriving
- Develop space for care teams to honor and incorporate the patient's culture into care plans
- Create resources to guide others on caring for community members