Abdullahi Abdulle hopes a knack for languages translates into business success.

LEWISTON – If Abdullahi Abdulle were to hang a sign outside his Bates Street office, it could be written in English, Arabic, Somali or Amharic.

Abdulle is proficient in all four languages, a skill he’s capitalizing on by opening his business, Smart Interpreters.

Abdulle, a Somali native, is bringing more than just his linguistics skills to the job, though. A trained nurse and educator, Abdulle specializes in offering medical interpretation services, serving as a bridge between the highly technical world of Western medicine and patients who may have little understanding of its language.

“A mechanical engineer or a computer specialist should know the terminology of their fields,” said Abdulle. “It’s the same with a medical interpreter, there needs to be some formal training.”

He got his training on the West Coast, where he underwent a 40-hour, intensive course in cross-cultural health care. Now he’s joining forces with Dale Morrell, director of education for Sisters of Charity Health System, to establish an East Coast program to train more medical interpreters. The program, called Bridging the Gap, covers the technical aspects of medical care, American health care systems, finances, cultural sensitivity and ethics. Morrell said St. Mary’s hopes to hold a license for the program so that more medical interpreters can be trained throughout the state.

“This benefits us and the community,” said Morrell, who estimates the hospital needs medical interpreter services weekly for patients whose native languages range from Somali to Cambodian.

Abdulle leaves in May to get the extended training to become a Bridging the Gap instructor himself. But he already has plenty of life experience in the field.

Since coming to Lewiston in 2001, Abdulle has worked as a medical assistant at Central Maine Medical Center, a position that requires a nursing and interpretation background. Abdulle got his nurse’s training in Somalia but left that country just before civil war broke out. He went to Saudi Arabia where he was a nurse in King Fassel Hospital from 1988-1999.

Although he does other kinds of interpreting such as business, legal or social work, he enjoys medical the most.

“In many ways, I’m a cultural broker,” said Abdulle. For instance, if a Somali woman is seeking health care and the intake form asks whether she has multiple sexual partners, “she’ll say Oh!’ and jump back.

“I have to explain to her that there is no judgment here, this is just the American system of medical care,” he said.

Abdulle opened his business in December and continues to work on a per diem basis at CMMC. So far he counts both hospitals, the city of Lewiston, Department of Human Services and Pediatric Associates among his clientele.

If all goes well, he hopes to train other medical interpreters and expand his business. Success also will mean he can send for his wife and five children who are still in Saudi Arabia.

To that end, he’s been marketing Smart Interpreters at trade shows and getting the word out as best he can. Between that, his job at CMMC and working on his degree, he stays busy.

“I like this work of medical interpreting very much,” he said. “It gives the patient and the doctor comfort.”

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