Feature - Communications
Kwikpoint Visual Language Translators offer medical providers these advantages: 1. A visual vocabulary of more than 1,000 universally‐recognizable and understood symbols and graphical images.
2. A variety of formats, including passport, wallet, and brochure‐ size, and coming soon, mobile applications for smartphones and tablets.
3. Instant access to communication support to initiate appropriate care quickly and accurately.
Kwikpoint VLTs ….
communication between two parties who do not speak the same language, regardless of language differences or injuries preventing speech.
We have all heard the adage “A pic‐ ture is worth a thousand words”, but to best understand what Kwikpoint does, consider that with Kwikpoint, “A picture is worth a thousand words, in ten‐thousand languages” (or at least the 6,909 living languages catalogued by
Ethnologue.com).
4. Are language independent because they are picture ‐based: they work regardless of what lan‐ guages are spoken.
5. Are perfect for first responders, emergency management teams, police, and military personnel as well as for travelers.
6. Are durable, flexible, waterproof, and can be easily sterilized.
Using a
moments of a medical emergency with a non‐English speaking victim, what is a paramedic in the field or an emergency room nurse supposed to do if and when an interpreter is not immediately available or cannot be reached at all? An Alexandria, Virginia‐ based com‐ pany called Kwikpoint hopes to fill this gap by offering an quick and easy way to instantly convey critical information in those crucial first few minutes of a medical emergency. Kwikpoint designs and publishes a wide variety of colorful, purpose‐specific Visual Language Translators that can be used to foster
32 EMS PRO Magazine
Kwikpoint visual language tool allows people to communicate both basic needs and complex ideas quickly and easily by simply pointing to universally recognized graphics and symbols. Kwikpoint Visual Language Translators (VLTs) include content on injuries from cuts, burns, falls, assaults, and inges‐ tions; victim identification, language identification, location, and family rela‐ tionship; symptoms; allergies; type and intensity of pain; and much more. Quite simply, having a Kwikpoint VLT a hand could mean the difference between success or failure in a medical emergency.
“I used the Kwikpoint Medical Visual Language Translator on a call with a man who had surgery on his throat three days earlier. He couldn’t speak well. Using the VLT, I determined what was bothering him – he was having pain in his legs and overdosed on med‐ ication.” ‐EMS Lieutenant, Fairfax County
“Here in Iowa I used the Medical VLT in my civilian EMS position during a car accident with a Sudanese family that spoke no English. The family under‐ stood what the translator was for
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