Karin Ruschke - Founder and President.
Karin holds a master's degree in translation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and founded International Language Services, Inc. (ILS) in 2000 after several years as director of the first community-based healthcare interpreting service in Chicago. Ms. Ruschke has played an integral role in raising national awareness of standards for healthcare interpreters. Serving as Co-chair of the Standards, Training and Certification (STC) committee of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) from 1999 - 2011, Ms. Ruschke has been instrumental in developing and disseminating industry standards such as the National Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Interpreters in Health Care. STC continued its groundbreaking work when it published National Standards for Healthcare Interpreter Training Programs in May, 2011. In 2009 Ms. Ruschke was elected Vice-chair, Certification of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, which is committed to developing and administering a national, valid, credible, vendor-neutral certification program for healthcare interpreters.
In addition Ms. Ruschke was a technical advisor for The Joint Commission research project Hospitals, Language and Culture: A Snapshot of the Nation and was one of only 26 national members on the expert advisory panel for the Commission's project Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient-and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals.
