When social worker June Walatkiewicz of Beaumont Hospitals' Center for Human Development wants to talk with some of her clients, she turns to a television monitor in her office instead of her phone.
That's because Walatkiewicz's TV monitor is equipped as a videophone, thanks to a VRS Sorenson system that's attached to it. With it, Walatkiewicz provides counseling and other services to some of her deaf or hard of hearing patients or the deaf or hard of hearing parents of the center's other patients.
She also uses the system and provides American Sign Language interpretation for other staff who need to interact with deaf or hard of hearing patients or parents. This could include answering questions, clarifying instructions, making appointments or refilling a prescription. Deaf patients who do not have a videophone at home can also make calls from June's office.
The VRS system is provided at no charge - the hospital's costs are for the system's installation, a TV monitor, phone line and high-speed cable access. If the caller doesn't know American Sign Language, VRS can provide a video relay interpreter.
The system has benefits over older technology to communicate with a person who's deaf or hard of hearing and when a caller has limitations or lacks knowledge of American Sign Language. It's faster and enables clinicians like Walatkiewicz to assess her patients' facial expressions and body language for signs of trouble such as depression. That's because both Walatkiewicz and the person she calls can see other in real time, providing immediate visual feedback.
Walatkiewicz - who specializes in the field of deaf and hard of hearing services - currently restricts her video counseling to private-pay clients because the government and private insurers don't pay for video counseling. However, that may change in the future. Walatkiewicz applied to Medicare to see if the government program would cover her services. And a clinic in New York approached her to see if she could do remote video counseling for its clients.
In addition to her workload at the center and her insurance coverage efforts, Walatkiewicz has been working to have more locations at Beaumont Hospitals equipped with videophones, including the emergency centers and some patient rooms. She's currently evaluating a portable videophone for the Royal Oak hospital, and checking with several vendors to see if their product will work with the hospital's wi-fi. If Beaumont's Information Technology department and the service provider can support such a system, it would provide portability and the flexibility of multiple access in places where the resources are needed.
"The technology just keeps coming faster and faster," she says.
Walatkiewicz, the child of deaf parents, is mental health chair for the Michigan Coalition for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She is also a Quality Assurance III-level ASL interpreter, the highest level attainable in Michigan. Certification such as hers has become increasingly important lately, with the recent passage of a Michigan interpreter law that requires facilities such as hospitals and other accommodations specified under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to have qualified sign language interpreters.
Since the passage of the interpreter law, resources have become limited at a local level. The introduction of videophones represents one approach that can improve services to deaf and hard of hearing patients and their families. -- www.beaumonthospitals.com
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