Care to Translate helps healthcare with translation tools

Care to Translate offers a digital translation tool to help patients and healthcare professionals communicate with each other. In the spring, Care to Translate participated in #vitecherupp and offered the app for free to various healthcare actors. Since then, they have grown and a lot of interest has been shown in the translation app.

Care to Translate was founded in 2015 as a non-profit organization, but has been operating as a company since 2018. The core of Care to Translate is a digital translation tool that helps patients and healthcare professionals communicate with each other. The app offers translation between around 30 different languages and is verified for medical accuracy, context and culture. All to make communication as safe and clear as possible. Linus Kullänger, founder and CEO of Care to Translate, talks about how the company has been doing this spring.

- It was a shattering and turbulent period. We saw how overwhelmed the healthcare sector was by the virus, which required major resources and reorganization. A major problem was the difficulty of communicating about Corona in different languages. At the same time, we already had a tool in place that could safely translate Corona-related information. To strengthen and facilitate the care during the most intense period, we gave the care free access to our organizational solution Care to Translate Clinic, says Linus Kullänger.

Care to Translate was launched for the Chinese market in February along with a large package of Corona-related phrases, that is, when the Corona outbreak there was already a fact. At Care to Translate, as in the rest of the world, they had no idea how widespread the pandemic would be. But once the virus arrived in Sweden and Europe, Care to Translate was ready to support healthcare immediately.

- It was interesting to see how quickly healthcare acted. Generally, there are long lead times for implementing new tools, whether digital or analog. But they were flexible and it was extremely fast to get the app up and running," says Linus Kullänger.

Until April 30, during the most extreme period, Care to Translate offered its service for free to anyone who wanted it. Many people took up the offer during the trial period and usage increased by 300%. Care to Translate is aimed at both health and social care, but the company has noted that the need has been particularly great in emergency care.

- We have received a very good response and have found that healthcare professionals in emergency hospitals, who have had poor access to interpreters, are relieved when they have access to the tool. We managed to set up a pilot at an emergency hospital in one region that was very successful, which was great to see," says Linus Kullänger.

Care to Translate also offers its tool free of charge to non-profit organizations that have had a great need for translation assistance. For example, the tool has been used by a healthcare organization working with refugees and undocumented migrants in Greece, a group that became very vulnerable when the pandemic hit.

- Digital translation tools in healthcare are relatively new, but as the pandemic has exposed major needs and forced healthcare to make urgent changes, the healthcare industry has also become faster to test and implement new solutions. We are positive about this change and hope that it will continue," says Linus Kullänger.