Certified Contract Interpreters and Qualified Staff Interpreters. DCF Direct Service Facilities shall utilize certified interpreters on a contractual basis and DCF Personnel who are qualified to interpret for deaf or hard-of-hearing Customers or Companions when requested by a Customer or Companion for an Aid-Essential Communication Situation or as necessary for effective communication. Although OCR does not consider DCF Personnel who have rudimentary familiarity with sign language or finger spelling qualified sign language interpreters under this Agreement (Section B.15), DCF may use these DCF Personnel to communicate in limited situations involving relatively simple face-to-face conversations with minimal interactive communication, such as when providing written brochures, filling out admission forms, directing Customers or Companions to a particular area of the facility, or other general information. Within one-hundred and eighty (180) calendar days of the Effective Date of this Agreement, DCF shall contract with an independent agency to evaluate the sign language and oral interpreting skills of relevant DCF Personnel to determine which DCF Personnel are qualified to interpret for DCF in accordance with Section B.15. Within ninety (90) calendar days of DCF contracting with an independent evaluation agency, DCF shall utilize this agency to evaluate the skills of relevant DCF Personnel. For those DCF Personnel having rudimentary skills but who are not qualified in accordance with Section B.15, DCF shall utilize the independent evaluation process to identify limited situations in which these DCF Personnel may interpret in accordance with G.2. In addition, within ninety (90) calendar days of contracting with the evaluation agency, DCF shall verify that all contract sign language interpreters are certified by reviewing the credentials of individual contractors or modifying contract language to ensure that contract agencies provide certified interpreters.
