TRANSLATOR ENLIGHTENS PATIENTS

Open heart surgery can be frightening to the patient about to undergo it. And, if that patient doesn't understand the language of the country he or she is in, it can be even more stressful.

Enter Kathryn Kater, translator of Spanish, German and Italian. At Barnes Hospital in St. Louis it's her job to explain the procedure to non-English-speaking patients and their families.

"I'm in a unique position," Kater said in an interview Thursday after a lecture at Southeast Missouri Hospital. "If you have a bedside nurse she sees (the patients) through one phase. I see them from the time they come in until the time they go home."

Kater is a cardiothoracic nurse specialist in Barnes' department of surgery at Washington University Medical Center. The conference she spoke at Thursday, "Trends in Medical-Surgical Nursing," was held for both nurses and nursing students.

Since 1983, when she began translating, Kater estimates she has spoken to about 900 patients per year. Combine those years and the number tops 7,200.

The patients come from literally "all over the world," said Kater, a Pennsylvania native and Barnes employee of 22 years. Many, she said, are from points all across the United States.

She estimated she works with patients anywhere from a week to three weeks. The dialogue covers explanations of heart surgery especially a new surgery available only at Barnes that prevents strokes and preparing the patient for the procedure, Kater said.

Once the procedure begins, Kater keeps family members filled in, on the hour, on the surgery's progress.

Kater didn't plan on being a translator. More so, she said, her job grew out of necessity: Barnes Hospital needed someone to perform the task.

"So I used the combination of the (heart surgery) material and knowing the language," said Kater. "It really helped to bridge the cultural gap."

Her knowledge of German and Spanish are products of family ties. Her mother is from Austria and her husband is from Argentina.

"Spanish I learned as a survival tool to be able to interact with my husband's family," she said.

Along the way she picked up a knowledge of Italian, a language that is similar to Spanish, from self-instruction tapes.

Kater said her job is very challenging because, not only does she have to interact with the patients, she has to keep up with advancements in the discipline of heart surgery. To accomplish that, she keeps a load of extensive data on her computer.

As a result of the time Kater spends with patients, she gets to know them very well. And it's a job she wouldn't trade for anything.

"This is my niche in life. You get to know these people. It's something that rewards you daily."