Serving people who are Deaf or hard of hearing

Hello my name is leira danice and I am deaf. I am from Saint john

I am 87 years old, my hearing is difficult sometimes. I also struggle with balance when walking. My son advised me to get a hearing test.

Though I'm not deaf, I was in the ER waiting room for 18 hours recently and there was a deaf patient in the waiting room as well and I observed their difficulties. I acknowledge in an ideal world every nurse, doctor and nursing assistant would be certified in sign language, however staff are stretched thin sometimes doing double shifts and requiring them all to learn sign language on top of that is a huge ask right now. Perhaps you could look into some of latest progress in A.I sign language interpreters that could be run from an tablet that could speak what the patient is signing and sign what the medical staff are speaking as a stopgap solution. The tablet could be given to the patient on check in and retrieved from them on checkout allowing them to also communicate with other patients in the waiting room to help pass the time instead of sitting in silence for hours.

Closed captions and/or a text transcription for all video content on Horizon pages.

Make sure that it is actually noted on a patient's chart when they disclose that they are deaf/hard of hearing, face patients when speaking to them, when a patient asks you to slow down or repeat do so, if a patent asks for a nurse or someone who is a native speaker in there chosen language (English or French) to interpret becuse they can't understand your accent accomodate the request instead of taking offence or ignoring the request, make sure that clear masks are available in all units and physicians offices

Please ensure training of all staff is done periodically as to the importance of interpreting services. Knowing the rights of the Deaf person as well as the rights of the medical professional. Family members, for example a mother of a Deaf child, has the right to be there as the mother, not trying to facilitate all the things happening in the room and missing key information.

This survey needs to be accessible for Deaf people to access. English is a second language for many.

Respect the language and not think “we are communicating just fine because you have a poster or YouTube a few different signs’

Especially in a medical situation ALWAYS ensure interpreter is present. Best case is in person. The iPad is very hard to understand.
Remember interpreter is there for Deaf person, but also there for doctor. So please get it.

ASL is our first language. In case of medical and police services we require a Professional Sign Language Interpreter as per our rights by law!
EMERGENCY INTERPRETER SERVICES
NB Interpreting Services Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm 506-633-0599 ext. 3
After Hours, Holidays & Weekends- 1-800-442-9799

These phone numbers are for hearing staffs to call. Thank you!

where is ASL video on this page?

I am hard of hearing & have a cochlear Implant, however I use lip- reading to also assist me in understanding people. Masking makes communication very difficult for hard of hearing.
There are masks with a window that might help, or written instructions when procedures are performed such as cataract surgery would be very helpful. Thank you for this opportunity. Linda Currie

Hi there! I think creating medical sign language posters would be really useful. Working on a floor, although a patient may be on a single nurse's assignment, there are constantly multiple members of the staff going in all the time to assist them as well - examples include PRA/s, nurses covering breaks or answering call bells, PCA's. It would be a super helpful resource to have medical sign language posters we can stick on the wall at the time of admission when we receive a patient. They're a hands-free resource, useful, and memorization would not be needed to effectively communicate with a patient. It increases the speed at which we can understand our patients - allowing for their needs to be met in a more timely manner, creates an ease of care, and I imagine it would make the patient feel more included and understood, and autonomous. We have tried to print our own medical sign language sheets and put them in the rooms, and it was a good experience! Unfortunately they are all so well pay walled it is difficult to access them, and our library services were not able to find any easy and ready to use resources we could convert into a poster ourselves. I know our library just purchased a medical sign language for dummies book which will prove to be helpful, so maybe posters could be developed using that.

Please maintain eye contact when speaking to me.
Please speak more loudly than you normally would.
Please avoid using a mask if at all possible.

Call the agency ( NBHHS) and interpreters.
Best to have a live person vs an iPad ( iPad is great for spoken languages not for visual )