Health in translation

With more than 45 years of experience as a physician in Vancouver, Dr. Francis Ho has seen a lot of change. But one thing has remained the same since he first opened his practice: patients from non-English speaking communities don’t always have access to the medical resources they need.

Language is the key barrier. To address the need for wider dissemination of medical information, Ho has hosted a number of television and radio programs about health-related issues for people from diverse cultural groups. Most recently, he has been involved with the Chinese Online Health Network (iCON), a web-based project for Chinese-speaking people that was initiated by the eHealth Strategy Office at UBC’s faculty of medicine.