Three times in a row Tom Nickerson showed up to a hospital emergency room and he didn’t get the care he needed.
The Lower Sackville resident, who is deaf, found there was no interpretive services immediately available, or an up-to-date computer program that could communicate his ailments to hospita staff. Each time he waited and waited until he got the care he needed.
He showed up to Province House in Halifax on Thursday hoping the province would address the current inequality of care.
The NDP introduced legislation hoping to close the gap and ensure that Nickerson and the more than 58,000 people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing in this province have interpretation services available during a medical emergency.
The legislation would also ensure all employees of the Health Authority receive training on assisting people with hearing difficulties, and would require hospitals to have up-to-date computer programs to provide interpretation when an interpreter is not available in person.
“I use a card saying I need an interpreter and that’s where the issues start to happen and my major concern is what if someone my age is in major distress and they’re reaching out for interpretive services and there’s none there?" said Nickerson, who was speaking through an interpreter. “We should have the interpretive service ready and set to go. I know that a lot of people in the deaf or hard-of-hearing community are very concerned about this."
"It will avoid misunderstanding. If doctors misunderstand what is wrong, there may be wasted time and wasted tests. We need the sign language interpreters for safety and clarity. Use of our language, for us, is necessary. It is the only language that we have."
Tammy Martin, NDP Health critic, tabled the bill Thursday and her message was blunt.
“People who are deaf or hard-of-hearing shouldn’t have to be concerned that there will not be interpretive services available for them at hospitals in the event of an emergency.”
Christopher Sutton, executive director of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, is in support of the bill and said stories like Nickerson’s are not uncommon.
"Communication within long-term care facilities, hospitals, most government facilities is a long-standing problem," said Sutton." Health care facilities don’t recognize it as an accommodation or they don’t know how to use the accommodation. A lot of misdiagnoses and mismanagement, misinformation comes as a result of this.”
Health Minister Randy Delorey said there are programs , including video interpretive services, at all regional hospitals in the province that support residents that need the service. Delorey pledged to look at the man’s case but said The Nova Scotia Health Authority has a system in place" recognizing a variety of languages for people that require that service."
