Sambo Ly, Alameda Health System's manager of interpreter services, has received the Icon Award from Bay Area news station KPIX in recognition of her decades of service to refugees and community members in Alameda County. The award highlights individuals who have made significant contributions to their community, with Ly's work addressing critical language access barriers in healthcare. This recognition matters because it underscores the vital role of language services in equitable healthcare delivery, particularly in one of the nation's most diverse regions where communication gaps can directly impact patient outcomes and safety.
Ly leads AHS' interpreter services department, which handles approximately 2,000 interpreter requests daily across 100 different languages for patients needing communication assistance with healthcare providers. Alameda County ranks among the most ethnically and linguistically diverse counties in the United States, with many AHS patients having limited English proficiency. The department provides in-house interpretation in 10 languages, either in person or remotely, and offers access to on-demand remote interpreters for up to 300 languages. Recent innovations include introducing iPads that enable clearer patient-provider conversations. The scale of this operation highlights the systemic need for such services and their importance in preventing medical errors, ensuring informed consent, and building patient trust in a fragmented healthcare landscape.
AHS CEO James Jackson emphasized that "language access is a cornerstone of our mission of caring, healing, teaching, and serving all. Sambo's leadership and compassion ensure that no patient is left behind because of a language barrier. Her story reflects the resilience of our community and the values that guide us every day at AHS." This statement connects Ly's individual achievement to broader institutional and community values, suggesting that her work is not merely administrative but fundamental to the health system's ethical and operational framework. The implication is that healthcare organizations must prioritize and invest in language services as a core component of quality care, not an optional add-on.
Ly's dedication stems from her personal experiences as a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia. As children, she and her brother were sent to a forced labor camp where her brother disappeared after asking her to mend his pants. When Ly became ill with malaria and witnessed suffering in hospitals, she determined to "walk out of my deathbed and refused to die," which inspired her healthcare career path. Refugee workers helped Ly and her family reach the United States, where she began working at AHS and dedicated her life to helping fellow refugees, immigrants, and underserved communities. This background is crucial because it illustrates how lived experience of trauma and displacement can fuel profound professional commitment, transforming personal hardship into community service. It also highlights the long-term integration challenges refugees face and the importance of culturally competent support systems.
Beyond her professional role, Ly organizes weekly traditional Cambodian dance classes at her home, has assisted thousands with citizenship paperwork, transports Buddhist elders and monks to temples across California, serves as Board Chair of Peralta Hacienda Park, and has organized the annual Cambodian New Year celebration for 15 years—the largest Cambodian event in the Bay Area. Ly expressed humility about the recognition, stating, "I know from my own experience that having a language barrier is an invisible disability. Once I had the opportunity to work at Alameda Health System, I saw an opportunity to give back to my community." These extensive community activities demonstrate that effective language access in healthcare is intertwined with broader social, cultural, and civic engagement. The implication is that addressing health disparities requires holistic support beyond clinical settings, including cultural preservation, legal assistance, and social connectivity, especially for immigrant populations. Ly's framing of language barriers as an "invisible disability" reframes the issue from a logistical challenge to a matter of equity and accessibility, urging systemic recognition and response.
