American Red Cross Signs National Agreement With Language Line for Instant Interpreting Services

WASHINGTON — (June 28, 2006) — The American Red Cross announced today a national agreement with Language Line Services, the leading provider of over-the-phone interpretation services. Under this agreement, Language Line will offer Red Cross chapters the opportunity to individually register for its services at discounted rates.

The agreement with Language Line is the Red Cross' second major national initiative this hurricane season to increase language capacity and improve service delivery to non-English speakers. The Red Cross began a partnership with the American Translators Association (ATA) in May to recruit professional ATA interpreters to serve as Red Cross volunteers.

“We at the American Red Cross are convinced that the language capabilities of Language Line Services and the ATA will surely equip us with the tools to better serve our limited English speaking clients when they seek our help for whatever emergencies they might encounter,” said Rick Davis, Director of Emergency Communications at the American Red Cross.

“Being able to communicate with our clients in their own languages is a critical part of effectively serving our clients,” said Mori Taheripour, Vice President of Corporate Diversity at the American Red Cross. “As a volunteer-based organization, the Red Cross is grateful to be able to rely upon the affordable and immediate support that Language Line provides, especially in the wake of a major disaster when time is of the essence.”

Language Line resources can be tremendously helpful to Red Cross disaster response work. In fact, the Red Cross National Response Center assisted more than 9,200 non-English-speaking people affected by Hurricane Katrina last year in 15 different languages, thanks to Language Line. The company provides instant, 24-hour telephone access to professional interpreters in over 150 languages, every day of the year. It also offers translation of forms, documents and signage. These services can help Red Cross relief workers and their clients communicate, and it can provide shelter signage and other materials in the appropriate languages.

Language Line can also support other Red Cross services. For instance, preparedness materials can be translated into appropriate languages. Interpreters can aid Red Cross emergency communication services for military members and their families.

Language Line interpreters can also assist Red Cross phlebotomists and non-English-speaking blood donors, a critical step toward increasing blood donations from minorities. Increased blood donation is an important goal, especially among the Hispanic community, of which 57% has universal blood type but of which less than 0.2% donate.

Language Line's interpreters hold all client information in high confidentiality. Each interpreter has signed a confidentiality agreement and abides by Language Line's “Interpreter's Code of Ethics” ( http://www.languageline.com/page/code_of_ethics/ ).

The Red Cross is excited about the added capability that this agreement provides. However, the Red Cross continues to seek bilingual volunteers for additional support. If you are interested in helping your community by volunteering your time and services, contact your local chapter or visit www.redcross.org .

About the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross has helped people mobilize to help their neighbors for 125 years. Last year, victims of a record 72,883 disasters, most of them fires, turned to the nearly 1 million volunteers and 35,000 employees of the Red Cross for help and hope. Through more than 800 locally supported chapters, more than 15 million people each year gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their homes, communities and world. Almost 4 million people give blood—the gift of life—through the Red Cross, making it the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The Red Cross helps thousands of U.S. service members separated from their families by military duty stay connected. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a global network of more than 180 national societies, the Red Cross helps restore hope and dignity to the world's most vulnerable people. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.

About Language Line Services

Language Line Services, the world’s leading provider of language services, is recognized as a trusted partner to thousands of U.S. based organizations focusing their marketing efforts on the limited English speaking community, which is growing rapidly in both size and affluence. The company provides access to the industry’s fastest service at highly competitive rates to all major sectors including government, health care, telecom, financial services and insurance by connecting them to customers, patients and sales prospects in over 170 languages. The growth of the industry has soared with increased immigration and government and regulatory compliance policies mandating organizations provide services to limited English speakers in their own languages. For more information about Language Line Services’ suite of video and over-the phone interpretation services, document translation, and bilingual testing and training please call (800) 752-6096 or visit www.languageline.com .