Providence Swedish and nonprofit law firm Disability Rights Advocates on Friday announced an agreement that signifies Providence Swedish’s strong commitment to ensuring deaf patients’ access to health care services at facilities across the Puget Sound region, according to a news release.
Over the last year and a half, Providence Swedish worked with deaf patients represented by Disability Rights Advocates and Moloy Good of the Good Law Clinic to develop a comprehensive plan for strengthening deaf patients’ access to communication when they seek health care services at Pacific Medical Centers, Providence Medical Group clinic locations, the Swedish Edmonds and Swedish Mill Creek campuses and Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
Under the settlement, the hospital admitted to no law violation, wrongdoing or misconduct but agreed to adopt policies and procedures that ensure that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing receive auxiliary aids and/or services (including sign language interpreters when necessary) that ensure effective communication and train its staff on the ADA’s effective communication requirements.
As an initial step, Providence Swedish has retained a deaf access consultant to build on existing policies and training so that they are not only legally compliant, but also deaf-friendly. Providence Swedish will take steps to improve staff understanding of circumstances in which an interpreter should be provided in person rather than remotely and has pledged to defer to a patient’s request for in-person interpretation.
Providence Swedish will also undertake an evaluation of existing connections and hardware for video remote interpreting (VRI) to analyze whether they can meet the Americans with Disabilities Act’s technical specifications. To review the actions Providence will take, read the full agreement.
“Providence Swedish values and respects the dignity of every patient who seeks care at any of our locations,” said Kristy Carrington, RN, chief executive, Providence Swedish North Puget Sound. “Our collaboration with Disability Rights Advocates ensures patients from the deaf community have access to the vital communication services necessary to receive the high-quality care they deserve.”
Kate Spencer, a deaf Providence patient who engaged in these discussions, said, “I am excited that we were able to come to an historic agreement to improve accessibility at many of Providence’s locations in the Puget Sound area. I look forward to seeing those improvements soon for a more deaf-friendly experience. A big thank you to Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) for taking our case and working hard on it!”
“As a result of these improvements, Providence will become an industry-leader for deaf-friendly health care and set the standard for other providers,” said Meredith Weaver, senior staff attorney at DRA.
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