Breaking Barriers through Service Excellence
When a recent patient came to All Care Health Center, who could only speak Dari, Stephanie Vazquez-Serrano took it upon herself to make sure the patient received quality needed care. The patient, a recent refugee from Afghanistan, needed dental assistance for an infected tooth needing a root canal. All Care Health Center was unable to provide the service, because of the complexity of the tooth socket’s location. Due to the language barrier, Stephanie could not simply refer the patient to another local dentist. Stephanie called the dental office, informed them of the situation and got the patient scheduled with that office. Not only did Stephanie take time to make this patient’s appointment, she offered her direct assistance to arrange for help if further translation assistance was needed.
Stephanie Vazquez earned a Service Excellence Award for going above and beyond to advocate for this patient. Her colleagues share that it is routine for her to offer quality service to patients, without hesitation, and with the welcoming attitude that patients appreciate. Stephanie started her journey with All Care in November 2021 and is one of the first faces that patients see when they enter All Care Health Center. She works as a Patient Access Representative at the front desk of All Care’s dental department and also performs as a Certified Dental Assistant. She was able to receive training for this certification while working All Care Health Center.
Stephanie has helped many Afghans through her work, as hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan have relocated to the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro since 2021. Afghanistan is a linguistically diverse country with over forty languages spoken. The primary languages are Dari and Pashto. All Care Health Center is able to help individuals of many languages, due to our Bilingual staff and our use of Martti. Martti stands for My Accessible Real-Time Trusted Interpreter; it enables All Care staff and providers to make video calls to certified interpreters. Martti interpreters speak over 250 languages, fluently, including Dari. Martti also services those who communicate through American Sign Language.
Stephanie often eliminates language barriers because she has the ability to speak both English and Spanish. All Care’s bilingual staff and translation services are just one way that All Care Health Center breaks barriers to provide affordable, comprehensive, and high-quality healthcare to the entire community.
In addition to dental care, All Care provides primary medical services and mental health services through two Council Bluffs community health centers. Our home medical center is at 902 South 6th Street and the Florence M. Lakin Health Center serves its neighborhood at 1415 Avenue J, Suite 2. Mobile services are provided to students of the Council Bluffs Community School District and through community partnerships. To schedule an appointment at All Care Health Center, call (712) 325-1990.