19/08/2025
THE PEOPLE OF MICHIGAN MEDICINE: JAMES CECH, ASL MEDICAL INTERPRETER
Welcome to the next installment of The People of Michigan Medicine, a place where we highlight the personal side of things. In this space, we ask colleagues to provide experiences, talents and viewpoints personal to them, while also sharing what makes Michigan Medicine a special place to be.
This month, we highlight James Cech, senior American Sign Language interpreter for Michigan Medicine.
A day in the life
Cech’s work is anything but routine. As an ASL interpreter, he facilitates communication between patients and providers across a vast network of clinical settings.
“A typical day is literally anywhere in the hospital,” Cech said. “We cover everything from the emergency department to ambulatory care, inpatient encounters and every clinical building from Saline to Northville to Flint.”
Cech is also a regular presence at Michigan Medicine’s town halls, providing accessibility while gaining insight into institutional leadership.
“I’ve done every town hall except maybe two since the pandemic began,” Cech said. “It’s given me backstage access to how decisions are made and how leadership communicates.”
The scope of an interpreter’s work is immense, but what sets Cech and other interpreters apart is their deep understanding of ASL’s linguistic complexity.
“It’s not just knowing signs,” Cech said. “It’s understanding sentence structure, regional variations and how medical histories like intellectual developmental disorders affect language use.”
Cech’s training allows him to interpret atypical signing patterns and adapt to the unique communication styles of each patient.
“Every person has a slightly different sign,” Cech said. “It’s like accents in spoken language. You have to be able to recognize and respond to that.
Becoming an interpreter
Cech’s first exposure to ASL was through his childhood friend, Daniel, who is deaf. At that time, though, Cech didn’t think interpreting would be his career.
After a stint in Los Angeles as an actor and performer, Cech returned to Michigan in 2008, uncertain about his next steps. His stepmom was teaching at a college in Michigan that offered an interpreter training program, and Cech was immediately intrigued.
“I took my first classes and that was it,” he said. “I knew it was the right fit.”
Graduating in 2010, Cech became certified, an essential step during which interpreters must pass rigorous exams to practice. To work at Michigan Medicine, he also earned a medical mental health endorsement, proving his specialized training and experience.
A career shaped by performance
In addition to his technical training, Cech’s background in acting continues to inform his work.
“ASL is mostly about how you move your face,” Cech said. “People think interpreters are performing, but that’s just the language. You can’t convey urgency or concern without being visually dynamic.”
Cech also sings and plays guitar, and these skills helped him land the starring role of Dewey in a recent community production of School of Rock in Owosso, Michigan. Although he views music more as a hobby than career, his talents contribute to the performance piece of interpreting just like his acting background.
Reflecting on his career, Cech was struck by how his performance experience enhances his medical interpreting.
“Visually reconstructing what's happening in your body requires a lot of performance, so that kind of thread throughout my life has really informed and made my ability to interpret medical information much more effective,” Cech said. “The more dynamic you are, the better you are at performing and explaining what's happening in your body. And in the end, there will be more understanding between you and the patient, and that’s the most important thing.”
