Volunteer interpreters help hospital patients communicate in French

An association in Brittany is providing vital help to tourists and foreigners who end up in hospital in France, thanks to a group of volunteer interpreters. 

Maux sans Frontière (Sickness without border - and a play on words for mots/words) was founded in 2004, originally to provide help to tourists and merchant sailors in Saint-Malo (Ille-et-Vilaine). 

The association covers the hospitals and major clinics in the Saint-Malo region. 

“There was a realisation that foreign languages, even English, were not widely understood by the hospital staff,” said Mike Storey, 69, who has been a volunteer interpreter for nine years. 

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“The idea was to have these interpreters who had not only the language, but perhaps the cultural background to communicate between the patient and the hospital staff, and to relieve the stress and disorientation of being ill and far from home.” 

Mr Storey, a retired naval officer, moved to France from Dorset in 1998 with his wife Sally, a retired police officer. 

They joined Maux sans Frontière after being invited to play music at a fundraising event for the association.

The hospitals that the association covers treat some 900 foreign patients a year. Not all of them need interpreting help, but a “significant proportion” do, Mr Storey said. 

Cases can range from “simple hospitalisations – somebody falls over and breaks a leg – to the effects of domestic violence, abortion, heart attacks and terminal illness”. 

A particularly memorable case for Mr Storey was helping an American man after the death of his wife – they had lived in France for some time and she spoke French but he did not. 

“He was absolutely lost, the poor chap. We went to the funeral directors and to the mairie and that sort of thing to work out all the paperwork. It wasn’t as if I knew what to do exactly, but I could ask the right questions, which is the main thing,” he said. 

Members let the association know their availability in advance, and are added to a list of interpreters. If a hospital has a patient they think could benefit from an interpreter, they call the first available volunteer on the list. 

It is not unusual for volunteers to receive phone calls in the middle of the night. They are essentially on call. 

“The person will react immediately, no matter the hour of day or night. We’ll go to whatever hospital or clinic needs us,” said Mr Storey. 

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However, members are not obliged to take on a case they are uncomfortable with. 

The association’s role has expanded, particularly with the arrival of refugees from Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere. 

It worked quite extensively with Ukrainian refugees at the start of Russia’s invasion. 

There are about 90 members, around half of whom are French with a foreign language. Mr and Mrs Storey are the only two native English speakers. 

Among members there are more than 40 languages spoken. 

Anyone interested in volunteering can get in touch with the association via its website: mauxsansfrontiere.org/fr/.

Prospective volunteers will be invited for an interview. They must have a decent level of French. 

What do the couple get out of volunteering for Maux sans Frontière?

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“We believe the only way to integrate with society is to join in and do things,” Mr Storey said. “Maux sans Frontière is great because we mix with other nationalities, other than just French, and we discuss all types of affairs. It’s given us a deeper insight into how the medical system and French bureaucracy work. 

“And we can give something back to the country in which we live rather than just paying our taxes.” 

Mr Storey encourages others to get involved and is “astonished” the idea has not been rolled out more widely. To his knowledge, Maux sans Frontière is the only one of its kind in France. 

“Every time I have done it the hospitals have been over the moon,” he said.

“The American chap who I helped when his wife died wanted to give me some money. I explained it wasn’t necessary but he wrote a cheque to the association for quite a large sum of money.

“I’d heartily encourage any expat to join in things like this and be more involved in the life of the country generally.”