Medical Interpreting and Translation Services

Receiving your healthcare in the language you understand and prefer is essential for optimal health outcomes. RUHS- Language and Cultural Services is committed to facilitating communication between you and your healthcare provider in your preferred language.

We strive to provide culturally competent, accurate and comprehensible communication to you by offering professional interpretation and translation services in several languages at no cost to you. We provide free access to various language services for our deaf and limited English-speaking patients and their families.

Our staff of professional in-house medical interpreters for Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic and American Sign Language are available upon request in-person during regular office hours. We also offer the convenience of telephonic and virtual interpretation services 24/7 in over 220 languages.

TDD and Video Relay Services for the deaf are also available upon request.

Our professional interpreters and translators will always respect your privacy and keep your personal health information confidential. We continuously uphold HIPAA standards and safeguard the patientprovider encounter. Just as important, we are ambassadors of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the spirit of supporting our communities to reduce healthcare disparities.

Should you require the services of an interpreter or a communication device for the deaf, please ask your nurse or other hospital staff members to contact us. You may also call us directly at 951-486-4320 for more information.

Office Hours

Monday - Friday: 8 am – 8 pm

Saturdays: 8 am – 4:30 pm

Sundays: 8 am – 4:30 pm

Closed Holidays

As a patient, you have the right to be actively involved in decision making regarding your medical care and treatment. An Advance Health Care Directive is an ideal way to let your family and healthcare practitioners know your wishes regarding your healthcare in advance of being unable to speak for yourself. RUHS staff will ask you whether you have an advance health care directive. Using this tool also allows you to identify an agent, someone to represent your wishes to your health practitioners on your behalf. Under the California Advanced Healthcare Directive Law, you may identify an agent to speak on your behalf immediately, even while you are still competent to speak for yourself. If you have any questions or wish to receive more information regarding an Advance Health Care Directive, please inform your physician, nurse and/or social worker.

Your Right To Make Decisions About Medical Treatment

This section explains your rights to make healthcare decisions and how you can plan now for your medical care if you are unable to speak for yourself in the future. A federal law requires us to give you this information. We hope this information will help increase your control over your medical treatment.

Who decides about my treatment?

Your doctors will give you information and advice about treatment. You have the right to choose. You can say, “Yes” to treatments you want. You can say “No” to any treatment that you don’t want – even if the treatment might keep you alive longer.

How do I know what I want?

Your doctor must tell you about your medical condition and about what different treatments and pain management alternatives can do for you. Many treatments have “side effects.” Your doctor must offer you information about problems that medical treatment is likely to cause you. Often, more than one treatment might help you and people have different ideas about which is best. Your doctor can tell you which treatment s are available to you, but your doctor can’t choose for you. That choice is yours to make and depends on what is important to you.

Can other people help with my decisions?

Yes. Patients often turn to their relatives and close friends for help in making medical decisions. These people can help you think about the choices you face. You can ask the doctors and nurses to talk with your relatives and friends. They can ask the doctors and nurses questions for you.

Can I choose a relative or friend to make healthcare decisions for me?

Yes. You may tell your doctor that you want someone else to make healthcare decisions for you. Ask the doctor to list that person as your healthcare “surrogate” in your medical record. The surrogate’s control over your medical decisions is effective only during treatment for your current illness or injury or, if you are in a medical facility, until you leave the facility.

What if I become too sick to make my own healthcare decisions?

If you haven’t named a surrogate, your doctor will ask your closest available relative or friend to help decide what is best for you. Most of the time that works. But sometimes