Medical Access
No one likes to go to the doctor! Doctors scare most of
us; actually, it's not the doctor as much as the possibility that he'll
find something wrong with us. So just visiting a doctor can be a
stressful situation. For people with hearing loss, the stress is
multiplied significantly.
The past 10 years have seen the culturally Deaf make
significant strides in assuring their communication access in medical
situations. There have been a number of recent lawsuits that found
medial providers liable for refusing to provide interpreters as
requested. But what if you need CART, or an Assistive
Listening Device? Are medical providers required to provide those as
well? That's a legal question whose answer depends on the particulars of
the situation, but they are required to provide reasonable
accommodations.
If the answers aren't easy, people are at least starting
to study these situations. One effort to understand the issue is in the
form of a Health and Human Services Study.
December 2000 - Representatives of Delmarva Foundation
for Medical Care in Easton, Maryland and Gallaudet University in
Washington, DC have recently drafted a set of recommendations for health
care for people with hearing loss. Here is an
article summarizing their thoughts.
May 2001 - The full
text of the Delmarva Foundation recommendations is available here.
July
2003 - Here's a wonderful essay by Bev Biderman on the
problems of trying to lipread someone wearing a surgical mask.
September
2003 - Communications access in a hospital setting has long been a
problem for people with hearing loss. Now a company called LifeLinks is
offering a clever product that promises to solve that problem. Oh, yeah,
and it earns money for the hospital, too. Here's the
information!
November 2003 - Hospitals seem to be
especially difficult environments for people with hearing loss, because
most of them seem to have little understanding of how to deal with a
person with hearing loss. Here's an article about a rare
exception.
February 2004 - Hospitals are horrible
places, and probably lots worse for those who don't hear well. An
organization called Hard of Hearing Advocates (HOHA) has put together an
inexpensive hospital kit that improve the comfort of a
hospital stay for a person with hearing loss.
April
2006 - Stethoscope
Solutions for Hearing Aids
July 2008 -
Helping your health
care provider to hear you and vice versa
March 2009 -
How to Manage Communication with a Hearing Loss During
Your Hospital Stay
March 2009 -
Hearing Loss Not Well Documented
in Electronic Medical Records
April 2010 -
Amplified Stethoscope Options for
Professionals with Hearing Loss
February 2011 -
See-Through Surgical Mask Eases Communications for Those
with Hearing Loss
July 2011 - Nevada
Medicaid Can't Afford to Provide Cochlear Implants
July
2011 - Advisory Panel Examines
Cochlear Implant Coverage
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April
2006
I
am looking for a solution for BTE users who use stethoscopes. I have
seen adaptors for the ear pieces for ITC and CIC users, so what is the
best way to hook up a BTE user?
Thanks
for this question. I would like to answer it from a broader perspective
and talk about the various types of options available for persons who
wear all styles of hearing aids, or even if the user does not wear
hearing aids to begin with. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2011
Sam-Go Products has introduced a new see-through
surgical mask and respirator mask that can help those with hearing loss
communicate with their physicians. Many people with hearing loss rely on
visual clues from the face and mouth to aid in understanding the speech of
a clinician. However, traditional sterile surgical masks are opaque and
prevent those with hearing loss from reading lips. The new Next-Gen Clear
Surgical Mask from Sam-Go is a clear mask that will allow persons with
hearing loss to communicate and understand dentists, surgeons and nurses
through their facial clues and lip reading. The Next Gen Mask is reusable
and reportedly has a life-expectancy of over a year. The mask is also
designed with a filter that offers 240 hours of filtered air protection,
which can subsequently be replaced.
SOURCE: Sam Go Products
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2011
What she prays for during each therapy session at
the South Rancho Drive office of Hope Communication and Feeding
Specialists is that her only child won't have to rely just on sign
language to communicate. "Dr. (Matthew) Ng says that with a cochlear
implant she'd probably be able to learn to hear and talk," Rosales said.
"But now no hospitals in Las Vegas are doing the operations because
Medicaid and insurance won't pay enough for them. I pray my daughter
doesn't have to be deaf for life because of money."
Full Story
