practice partner
Are You
Being
Heard?
For patients with
hearing loss, doctors
foster care with clear
communications
DOC TALK
By Stuart Foxman
Illustration: sandy nichols
I
n his family practice in Toronto, Dr.
Salvatore Scala can converse with
patients in English or Italian. For one
long time patient who lost his hearing, he relies on a third language: American
Sign Language (ASL).
Dr. Scala learned it when he served as
Medical Director at the Bob Rumball
Centre for the Deaf. He understands that
few doctors in Ontario know ASL. (Ten list
it on CPSO’s public register, or just two
more than speak Zulu.) But all doctors can
look for ways to better communicate with
patients who have some sort of hearing
impairment.
The need is widespread. Statistics Canada
reports, based on the Canadian Health
Measures Survey, that 20% of adults have at
least mild hearing loss. That prevalence rises
with age. While 7% of those 19-39 have
hearing loss, the number jumps to 16% for
people aged 40-59 and 47% for the 60-79
age group. For children and youth aged
6-18, an estimated 5% have hearing loss
that was considered mild or worse.
As the Canadian Hearing Society (chs.ca)
notes, hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic condition in older adults. Now
consider that in 20 years, almost one-quarter of Ontario’s population will be 65-plus.
Next year already, for the first time, seniors
will comprise a larger share of the population than children aged 0-14.
“If there’s any place a patient with hearing loss needs clear communication, it’s
with their doctor,” says Gael Hannan, Vice
President, Canadian Hard of Hearing Association (CHHA).
Issue 2, 2016 Dialogue
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2016-06-16 12:27 PM