Menu
The words Dream Team often evokes images of basketball stars in the Olympics; at Sentara the Dream Team refers to the language services team. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are highlighting Gladys Zito, a Language Services Coordinator at Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital (SRMH).
Gladys says her Hispanic heritage helped shape her upbringing, and it remains a focal point of her personal and professional lives. At SRMH, Gladys has spent about seven years helping Spanish-speaking patients communicate with their care teams more effectively.
“I am a Salvadoran-American, but there are more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries, and they are all represented in America,” says Gladys. “Every day I honor Hispanic heritage by learning something new—a tradition, word, or way of life—from our diverse Hispanic cultures.
Gladys first started working at Sentara as a Spanish medical interpreter, which she credits for helping to transform and evolve her bilingual capabilities. In her new role, she’s able to help Spanish-speaking individuals as well as other Limited English Proficiency patients.
“Like Sentara, I’m super passionate about providing kindness, respect, and compassion to all, especially to those who look, speak or think differently than me,” she explains. “Being from multiple cultures allows me to approach situations in ways that allow for better mutual understanding and through that, we achieve better communication.”
Gladys and the Dream Team are proud of the positive impact they have on the hospital and their patients.
“We may be few, but our team goes above and beyond for our patients,” she says. “We always make the extra effort to understand not only what the patient is saying, but also what the care team is hearing. Communication is a two-way street and ensuring that both sides are on the
same page as to what is occurring is something that brings us great pride.”
Gladys loves travelling the world to learn about cultures and sharing her own culture with her two children. She teaches them the importance of speaking multiple languages and reads them books in Spanish, including one of her favorites, “El Silabario Hispano Americano.” Gladys, who also holds Italian citizenship, loves experiencing culture through food. Her husband is a chef, and the whole family enjoys making and eating classic Salvadoran food as well as finding new, adventurous foods.
The words Dream Team often evokes images of basketball stars in the Olympics; at Sentara the Dream Team refers to the language services team. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are highlighting Gladys Zito, a Language Services Coordinator at Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital (SRMH).
Gladys says her Hispanic heritage helped shape her upbringing, and it remains a focal point of her personal and professional lives. At SRMH, Gladys has spent about seven years helping Spanish-speaking patients communicate with their care teams more effectively.
“I am a Salvadoran-American, but there are more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries, and they are all represented in America,” says Gladys. “Every day I honor Hispanic heritage by learning something new—a tradition, word, or way of life—from our diverse Hispanic cultures.
The Sentara Healthcare team is nearly 30,000 people strong, all working with a unified objective to create an environment of health and healing for our patients. Join us today.
Sentara is recognized nationally for clinical quality and safety and is strategically focused on innovation and creating an extraordinary health care experience for our patients and members.