Communication is essential to everyday life―from the smallest details such as ordering a meal to more complex communications such as collaborating with healthcare providers. Healthcare professionals interact and speak with patients about medical issues, health concerns, plan of care, and outcomes. Healthcare providers ensure that the patient can ask questions, understand his/her medical issues, and have the knowledge to be able to manage such issues.

            This task can be difficult when communicating with a hearing patient, but communicating with a hearing-impaired patient requires the health professionals to use various tools to bridge the communication gap. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires hospitals to provide an effective means of communication with hearing-impaired patients. Ideally, the patient can access interpreting services at a hospital. Interpreting services will help the patient understand and communicate any health-related concerns or questions to a healthcare provider. However, qualified interpreters are few and sometimes far away. In some facilities, healthcare providers try to compensate by using their own hand gestures, speaking loudly and deliberately, or by writing everything down. Each of these comes with its own difficulties and potential liabilities: not all hearing-impaired patients can read lips or read gestures, and speaking loudly is not an effective means of communication.

            To bridge in the gap, a number of facilities nationwide are using a system called Deaf-Talk. Deaf- Talk is a video-conferencing system usually set up on a portable cart with a TV monitor, camera, and speaker. The system allows an off-site interpreter to be on-site via satellite within minutes. These interpreters are certified and capable of handling medical situations.

            The Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, a 637-bed hospital, is one of the facilities using DeafTalk. Liana Rogers, Interpreting Services coordinator at The Medical Center, says, “Ideally, we’d have an interpreter available 24/7, but we currently contract with only two interpreters in the Central Georgia area, and it can be at least thirty minutes before either can arrive. We needed reliability at a  moment’s notice, and Deaf-Talk’s certified-ASL interpreters are available whenever we need them. We can begin communicating with our patients within minutes.”

            The Medical Center began using Deaf-Talk in 2002. The MCCG Auxiliary bestowed a grant to purchase the equipment, and the hospital installed ISDN lines to connect to the Deaf-Talk system. There are currently three units available: one in the main hospital, one in the children’s hospital, and the third in the WT Anderson Clinic. Rogers explains that using the Deaf-Talk system is simple. “As soon as the hearing-impaired patient arrives, the staff requests the Deaf-Talk system, and follows easy, step-by-step instructions to conference with the Deaf-Talk interpreter. Once they are connected, the nursing staff and the patient can begin communicating. The interpreter can see the patient via the camera, and the patient can see the interpreter on the television screen. The interpreter can hear the doctor or nurse and sign to the patient. The interpreter will speak what the patient is signing via the speaker.”

            The hospital staff can access Deaf-Talk whenever they need it. The portable system is available 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, including holidays, and especially in an emergency, staff can communicate effortlessly with a patient. “Our patients are often grateful for the system,” says Rogers. “Once they use it, they know that it’s fast, and reliable. We can communicate effectively and ultimately break down communication barriers. As a result, our patients are satisfied and can rest assured that their health and good outcome is our ultimate goal.” Rogers strongly suggests hospitals consider using the Deaf-Talk system. “It provides qualified interpreters in a timely and cost-effective manner. Qualified freelance interpreters are scarce in our service area and the cost of retaining interpreters from the Atlanta area is not cost effective nor delivered in a timely manner. Also, Deaf-Talk provides more services than just ASL interpreters. They have expanded to include spoken language interpreting services for non-English speaking patients, too. In the end, Deaf-Talk is an effective tool enabling us to provide quality healthcare in our hometown.”