06 Mar Emergency Medical Coverage Funds

Several weeks ago, a friend and freelance colleague fell in the cafeteria of the courthouse where some of us work. The floor was wet and the “wet floor signs” were out of her line of vision. Once she was embarrassingly sprawled on the floor, the signs were pointed out to her, where they were pushed completely out of the way and facing different directions. As she fell on the wet floor, the cafeteria staff, before even inquiring as to her physical well-being, were insisting that the floor was not wet, despite the fact that my friend had a wet dress under her!

Needless to say, she was not offered any help to get up from the cafeteria workers and would have had to stay on the floor if not for a helpful offer from someone who appeared to be an attorney.

Having been placed in a chair, the cafeteria personnel proceeded to push her, chair and all, toward the exit door into the corridor. My friend was left there, alone, in pain and scared until she was able to get a hold of one of our colleagues who went in search of the interpreter coordinator and her supervisor who were in a meeting. The coordinator and her supervisor came to keep my friend company while she waited for the ambulance, as she was unable to get up or walk.

The cafeteria employees may have been under precise instructions not to intervene. Nonetheless, my friend is basically traumatized by the terrible experience she suffered and from not having received any help when the incident occurred.

She suffered a broken hip and has been convalescing for the last seven weeks. She is recovering nicely thanks to her good metabolism and overall fitness, but the experience kept her and her husband from earning money during a great part of those weeks. They are also facing pretty serious expenses for doctors, hospitalization, medicine, and more, and some of those expenses will have to come out of pocket.

A family member that recently started working as a freelance interpreter after working for years in corporate banking was telling me that the income for interpretation doubled the employment one. Well, I had to suggest that all the extra money should be held in the business checking account to pay for all the extras that we as freelancers do not have access to, such as vacation, holidays, sick days, retirement funds, health insurance, and taxes due at the end of each year.

The collective experience reminds us that as freelancers, we must add to our fees a cushion to cover all these sorts of additional expenses, such as medical and disability insurance or attorney fees if litigation becomes necessary. The level of skill required to be an interpreter does not need explanations as to why we charge the fees we charge; however, it is good to have these additional expenses in mind the next time we raise our fees.

If we are lucky and share expenses with a loved one, such as a husband, wife, other family member or partner, it would not be as hard as facing these health issues alone, but there are many of our colleagues who are single or not sharing everyday life with someone, and they will have a hard time providing for themselves during emergency circumstances such as the one my friend went through.

For good measure it would not hurt to investigate some type of personalized disability insurance policy.

The courthouses where we work can also make an effort to send a get-well text, e-mail, or phone call. I know there can be legal implications, but courtesy can never hurt, right? I leave that one to the legal minds. For our part, we as professionals and friends can keep in mind that, since we are not employees, taking an interest in all our per-diem colleague’s well-being can make a great difference to all of us.

Hilda Zavala-Shymanik is a state certified/approved Spanish court interpreter and translator with more than seventeen years of experience in legal, medical, corporate, and non-profit settings in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Wisconsin and is certified/approved in those four states. Hilda is a former Vice Chair, Board Member, Treasurer, Conference Committee Chair, member of the Training and Education and Advocacy Committees, and current member of the blog team and Chair of the Elections Committee of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, as well as former president of the New York Circle of Translators.

She is an active and voting member of NAJIT, ATA, MATI and other professional groups. Hilda has two certificates in Legal Interpreting in Spanish and English, the latest one from NYU. Hilda is the current staff interpreter of the 23rd Illinois Judicial Circuit as well as a Cook County (Illinois) Spanish Interpreter employee. Hilda is a former Staff Interpreter at Essex County Superior Court in New Jersey, where she worked for six years. Born in Chicago, Hilda lived for twenty years in Mexico and loves traveling. She continuously looks for opportunities to promote and advance the interpreting profession. Contact: hshymanik@yahoo.com

Featured photo by Camilo Jimenez on Unsplash. Text-body photos: watch-your-step sign by rfind at pixabay; Water On The Deck by Peter Griffin at PublicDomainPictures.net.