[Nfbmo] Panel on How the Health Care System Treats the blind

Wed Apr 6 14:48:47 UTC 2016

Hi all,

I'm glad we're having this discussion.  Personally I'm afraid of being
in the hospital or having to spend extended time visiting someone
close to me in a medical facility because not only do we need to deal
with the reason for being there, but we also have to handle attitudes
about blindness that may prove to be obstacles to us.  I commend those
of you who have educated hospital staff in one way or another.

I like the idea of devising ways to educate medical personell now so
that we don't have to do as much educating when we're in the hospital
or trying to help sick loved ones.  Let's not lose the momentum on
this one.

On 4/6/16, K THINK via Nfbmo <nfbmo at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Yes, I agree with you. I had to do the same thing. All we have to do is
> learn the room. When my mom went into the hospital in January she needed
> someone with her 24 hours. I ended up having to stay all night at the
> hospital with her for a week and a half. I found out quickly where the trash
> can was as well as other things in her room.
>
> Kim Killian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gary Wunder via
> Nfbmo
> Sent: Monday, April 4, 2016 1:18 PM
> To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List' <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Gary Wunder <gwunder at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Panel on How the Health Care System Treats the blind
>
> My impression in listening to the panel is that we often get more out of the
> wait staff at a restaurant then we get out of some of the service people who
> work in doctor's offices and hospitals. If there is any place where we need
> one-on-one human contact and some awareness of individual human needs, it is
> in the medical setting, and this doesn't just mean when we are in a bed or
> with a medical professional. When you hand an eighty-year-old an iPad, you
> better expect that many of those folks are going to need help. If you hand a
> blind person and iPad, not only will he need to know how to use VoiceOver,
> but your form will have to be accessible, and you will need to know enough
> about voiceover to help in the same way that you would help sighted people
> if they had trouble with the form.
>
> One of the things I found particularly irritating was a statement by a panel
> member that the university hospital requires paratransit buses to drop
> people at a location where there is no one to help them. The normal visitor
> walks in the front door of the hospital and is immediately greeted by
> someone from the information desk. Because the hospital is large, many
> patients will need a wheelchair to get from one location to another. There
> is no one to offer those wheelchairs where the paratransit service is
> allowed to drop off. We can and should do something about this.
>
> One of the things I think we ought to discuss is what it's like to be the
> visitor at a hospital. In being with my dad over the course of the last year
> or so, I realize that there is certain help that he asks for from family
> members that he doesn't ask from me. He may ask them to grab his water and
> handed to him, and he doesn't feel like he has the energy to direct me to
> where his water is even though he knows that I am ambulatory and would be
> glad to get it. So, in the same way that I ask for some orientation to my
> hotel room to learn how to work the thermostat, perhaps we should figure out
> basic questions that we should be asking when we go into a loved one's sick
> room. Forgive me for being what might be considered vulgar on the list, but
> one of the things my father needed was for someone to help him throw up, and
> this he did repeatedly for almost a day. Now holding that bucket and
> emptying it isn't something that is fun or pleasurable, but the only reason
> it isn't doable if you're blind is if you aren't smart enough to figure out
> that there is a bucket and where it is. The other thing I found that I
> needed to learn was what tubes were inserted in my father and their
> location. Which hand has the IV and which can he use to get water when he
> asks for a cup? Where are the wash clause when he wants help cleaning his
> face? Where is the nursing station relative to his room so that when he
> needs something immediately, I can go and make the demand directly just as
> any sighted visitor would do
>
> I don't know that these are things that the panel could have addressed, but
> perhaps we can wrestle with some of them and come up with answers. Thanks
> for reading.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Garcia via
> Nfbmo
> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2016 12:24 AM
> To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
> Cc: Daniel Garcia
> Subject: [Nfbmo] Panel on How the Health Care System Treats the blind
>
> On Sunday's general session there was a panel discussion on how the health
> care system treats blind people whether they are patients or family members
> of patients. If memory serves me, it was Carol Morgan who talked about the
> challenges of filling out medical paperwork. Due to time Constraints there
> was no opportunity for Q&A or comments from the floor.
>
> If the doctor's office does not send the paperwork by mail in advance of the
> appointment for you to fill out, another way of dealing with this issue is
> to take to the doctor's office a printed paper with the type of information
> they are likely to ask for. Most medical forms ask for your contact info,
> your primary doctor, medicines you take on a daily basis and their dosage,
> allergies, surgeries, family history of certain diseases, etc. Of course,
> the social security number is not something to be said out loud on a crowded
> waiting room as Carol pointed out. This information can be given in private
> to a staff member or nurse once they call you into a room.
> I hope that this message prompts other people to ask the questions or bring
> up the comments they were not able to bring up at convention.
> Best Regards
>
> Daniel H Garcia
> Board Member NFB of Missouri
> First Vice President Kansas City Chapter NFB of Missouri
>
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-- 
Julie A. McGinnity
President, National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division,
Second Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
"For we walk by faith, not by sight"
2 Cor. 7