Dating back to 2005, the Franklin County hospital systems have worked together to address health education needs for low literacy and limited English-speaking patients by launching www.healthinfotranslations.org. The website offers free patient education materials that are easy to read in English and 14 different foreign languages.

To view an overview of the Health Information Translations website, which can be used to educate community stakeholders of this resource, click here.

Our hospitals recognize that more and more central Ohio residents with limited English language skills or low literacy skills have a need to better understand healthcare related information.  HealthInfoTranslations.org helps patients access the information they need, and has become an important source of information for patients and the community.

HealthInfoTranslations.org includes more than 3,500 free resources, including information on medication safety, diagnostic tests, diseases and conditions,  exercise and rehabilitation, food and diet, health and wellness, home care, pain and comfort, pediatrics, pregnancy and baby care, safety, stress, and  disaster preparedness. The education materials are translated into 19 languages, including Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

In 2023, more than 47,000 individuals visited the Health Information Translations website, viewing nearly 170,000 pages.  Most users come from Ohio, but there have been users from all states in the country with 26% of visitors to the site coming from outside the U.S. The site has been identified by the National Libraries of Medicine as setting the gold-standard for translated materials and has been cited by Joint Commission as a premier example of evidenced-based practice in patient safety. The initiative received the Cheers Awards by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in 2008.