At Maimonides Medical Center, we recognize that providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services for our diverse patients and their loved ones is crucial to optimal patient care. Our Medical Center has recruited multilingual personnel – particularly in patient care areas – and, as a result, over 70 languages are represented among our staff members. Many of our patient representatives act as interpreters, and a significant number of volunteer interpreters are trained to assist patients who wish to communicate with our staff in a language other than English. In addition, a telephone interpreter service is available to provide support in 150 languages twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In order to orient and inform our patients and visitors, multilingual signage has been placed throughout Maimonides, and important documents, such as the Patients’ Bill of Rights, consent forms and Health Care Proxy forms, are available in multiple languages.