A doctor in Trinidad and Tobago has learned Spanish to help refugees feel welcome
A doctor in Trinidad and Tobago has learned Spanish to help refugees feel welcome
Emergency Medical Specialist Dr. Felicia Mathews, based in the public healthcare system at the Sangre Grande Hospital in Trinidad and Tobago, participated in a UNHCR-funded Spanish for healthcare workers training program in order to better communicate with refugees and migrants.
Back then, when a very ill Venezuelan girl arrived with her parents at the Emergency Department in Sangre Grande, Dr. Mathews, an Emergency Medicine Specialist, was not able to talk to them about their daughter’s health and the need to urgently transfer her to a more equipped facility. She tried different ways to explain the situation, but the parents could not understand her and were clearly in distress. Dr. Matthews recalls that episode as highly challenging. Eventually, another parent volunteered to interpret, and the child was transferred to the Children’s Hospital to receive the treatment she needed.
This was the first time Dr. Mathews realized that learning a new language in her English-speaking country had become a core medical skill. Until then, Dr. Mathews' day-to-day routine encompassed treating physical and emotional trauma, but communication had not been an issue. When Spanish-speaking refugees and migrants started appearing in her emergency room, she felt impotent. For the first time, her words could not assist or comfort them.
For Dr. Mathews, ensuring her patients have access to quality healthcare, regardless of their language, is fundamental.
Having worked for decades with emergency patients, she understood how difficult it was for people forced to flee to access medical care and communicate about their health issues in another context and language – especially when it comes to complicated emergency approaches:
“They do not understand the procedure, and I might not be able to explain it thoroughly; they may be even more scared because they don’t understand what I am saying or what’s happening. I guess they would still understand body language, that I am speaking calmly, and the body language is not aggressive and not angry, but it would still be scary for them, and I would feel uncomfortable because I am not sure how much of what I am saying or doing is getting across to them,” she explained.
Shortly after the episode with the Venezuelan girl, Dr. Mathews saw an ad for a UNHCR-sponsored language course for Frontline Healthcare Workers and signed up to learn Spanish.
“I decided to do the course because we have a lot of Venezuelan refugees and migrants that come to the emergency department, and I found it difficult to treat someone if you can’t figure out what exactly the problem is. Even getting basic phrases would assist us with communication, so we wouldn’t always be looking around for a translator or trying to fiddle with a translation app that may not be too accurate,” says Dr. Mathews.
Dr. Mathews said the course made her more confident dealing with Spanish-speaking patients. Previously, she would search for nurses who spoke Spanish or rely on someone else to interpret. Today, with a few phrases, she gets the discussion going: “¿Cómo se llama?”, “¿Cuál es su fecha de nacimiento?”, and “¿Dónde le duele?”
When using Spanish, her patients’ surprise quickly breaks the ice, making them feel more comfortable.
“If I could advise other healthcare workers in dealing with patients who don’t speak the same language as them, I would tell them they don’t have to be fluent in the language. Just learn a few key phrases that you are most likely to use in your field.”
For her, ensuring everyone has access to quality healthcare – regardless of where they come from or what language they speak – is fundamental. The language course taught Dr. Mathews enough Spanish relevant to emergency medicine. Her patients feel she is trying to communicate in their language, making them feel more at ease.
She said this was important for humanitarian reasons, as well as for public health issues, such as combatting the spread of infectious diseases or supporting a healthy workforce.
“They are part of a whole. It is important for me to be empathetic to all patients who come to me because it is a basic human right.”
In 2024, over 33,000 asylum-seekers and refugees were registered with UNHCR in Trinidad and Tobago, originating from over 41 countries. The largest group is composed of people from Venezuela who primarily speak Spanish. Trinidad and Tobago has a non-national health policy that provides free public healthcare in emergency and primary health.