Lawmakers renew push for translated nursing assistant exams
Photo | Flickr | Ajay Suresh
The Massachusetts State House
Aspiring nurse aides should be allowed to take the certification exam in languages other than English, lawmakers and advocates said Thursday as they sought to revive support for a measure that died at the legislative finish line last year.
Spanish and Chinese could be potential language options for the certified nursing assistant exam under proposals from Sens. Jo Comerford and John Keenan and Rep. Tackey Chan (S 1336 / H 3609). The Department of Public Health -- with help from an advisory group that includes CNAs who are immigrants -- would ensure the exam is based on national standards, and DPH can remove questions that are ambiguous or "unlikely to be understood," according to the Senate's legislation.
One-quarter of Massachusetts residents speak a language other than English, Keenan noted during a Joint Committee on Public Health hearing.
Expanding language options on the exam would reflect the diversity of Bay Staters and help more patients to be able to communicate with their caregivers, Keenan said. It could also help address the state's 4,200 CNA vacancies, he indicated.
"We owe our friends and neighbors who speak Chinese and Spanish a chance to take CNA exams in their native tongues," said Keenan, as he contrasted the availability of the learner's permit exam in nearly three dozen languages.
Lawmakers had approved a similar measure as part of a sweeping economic development bill in November. Then-Gov. Charlie Baker returned the provision with an amendment calling for an implementation date and other initiatives tied to mental health exams for incarcerated individuals, but lawmakers -- who at the time were meeting only in informal sessions -- did not take up his proposed changes, and the term ended without any additional action.
Urging favorable reports on the legislation filed this session, Chan on Thursday asked lawmakers to imagine themselves in an assisted living facility, where they are trying to get medical care from staff who don't speak their language.
"Now imagine this is happening during COVID when you're now very afraid because you really don't know what's happening, and the medical teams are running around you scrambling," Chan said. "Nothing is scarier than receiving health care and not knowing what is happening. Now imagine it's even scarier when you're not that far from home."
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