This year marked the 10-year anniversary of the partnership between Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and Health Bridges, a Claremont Colleges student-run nonprofit that provides interpretation services in Spanish, Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese, and aid eligible patients with access to temporary insurance via the California Department of Health Care Services’ Hospital Presumptive Eligibility Program.

The partnership began in 2015 when Pomona College student Hongdeng Gao received a grant from the Napier Initiative, a joint Pilgrim Place and 5Cs program.

“I had envisioned a program in which multilingual students like me could be trained to interpret and advocate for patients in hospital settings so that healthcare delivery could be made more equitable, especially for low income or non-English speaking patients,” wrote Gao in a statement. “Mentors at the Draper Center and fellow Pomona students really inspired and encouraged me to pursue the idea further. I still remember vividly how incredible it was when PVHMC saw the importance of the program. The funding and mentorship that I received from the Napier Initiative allowed me and a group of incredible students at the Claremont Colleges to fully develop Health Bridges—from a mere vision—to an actual program that is still running strong today.”