Fourth Translation Experience

On Monday November 7, 2011, I volunteered as a translator for Dr. Earthman, an endocrinologist. We saw patients who were either pre-diabetic or diabetic. Diabetes, as Dr. Earthman says from years of experience treating mostly Hispanic and/or poverty stricken patients, is a major problem in the poor Hispanic population. Every patient we saw had one thing in common: they either had or were in the process of becoming diabetic and they needed to lose weight to counter the effects of diabetes. I felt my translation of his message to the patients of the importance of weight loss gave a better impact than when he attempted to assert the importance of weight loss. It was interesting to see that all patients could have lesser symptoms with simple weight loss as opposed to medication, but that this is a challenge since they would need to not only have a better diet, but also find time in their very busy schedules - that they must have in order to support their family, as many patients have claimed - to exercise.