“You can’t imagine all the religions of the patients we have here,” said Don Stiger, an ELCA pastor and vice president of Lutheran Medical Center in New York.


Cultural L


ast year an oversized banner that read “Eid Mubarek, Happy Eid” hung from the ceiling in the Lutheran Medical Center’s (LMC) lobby. Te New York City


hospital wished its Muslim patients a happy Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. On another day, the sign might mark the Chinese New Year, convey holiday wishes in Spanish, or instruct people in Russian, Italian and other languages to avoid spreading germs by cover- ing their cough. In the ever-changing world of health care, treating


patients from ethnic communities is as much about cultural care as it is medical care. Patients want to feel comfortable and understood, knowing that their health-


40 www.thelutheran.org


crossroads


Lutheran Medical Center in New York serves its multcultural com- munity with not only state-of-the-art medical care but care for their cul- tural and religious needs, including signage in their languages, says staff member Virginia Tong.


In N.Y.C., Lutheran Medical Center meets needs with cultural competence By Wendy Healy


care providers speak their language, honor their culture, embrace their traditions and provide state-of-the-art medical care. Located in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, LMC


serves several heavily concentrated ethnic neighbor- hoods, including Latino, Chinese, Arab, Russian, Italian, Haitian Creole and Hasidic Jewish, said Virginia Tong, director of cultural competence. “Since the 1990s, Lutheran Medical Center has


always been about the community and trying to serve their needs,” said Tong, who joined LMC almost 20 years ago from a health-care facility in Manhattan’s Chi- natown. “We saw a lot of Chinese moving into Sunset


WENDY HEALY


WENDY HEALY


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