Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Partners with Ferris State University to Bring Education and Awareness to Pharmacists in Michigan
A growing partnership between Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services (D&HHS) and the Ferris State University pharmacy program will take a big step forward on February 22 when members of both organizations combine forces to present on “Supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing Patients in the Pharmacy” at the 2020 Annual Convention and Exposition of the Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA).
The MPA event will be held February 21-23 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center and will offer more than 40 continuing pharmacy education (CPE) programs, one of which will be the combined D&HHS/Ferris State presentation.
The MPA notes that programs were planned to “meet the needs of pharmacists, residents, pharmacy technicians and student pharmacists in a variety of practice settings as well as those in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.”
Ferris State pharmacy professor David Bright will present at the MPA event with Nicole Bailey, a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) student at Ferris State, and with Nancy Piersma, Community Education Coordinator at D&HHS. Piersma is also an American Sign Language (ASL) instructor, Deaf community member and advocate for the Deaf.
Their presentation will include practical and hands-on aspects for pharmacists who want to do a better job serving Deaf patients, including:
- How to greet and not greet a Deaf patient in the pharmacy (don’t talk louder or shout, don’t exaggerate mouth movements to encourage lip reading and don’t attempt communication while looking away)
- Things to keep in mind when working with interpreters (look directly at the Deaf, DeafBlind or Hard of Hearing individual, do not ask the interpreter for an opinion and do realize that communication will take more time)
- An overview of available technology that can assist communication
Attendees also will learn a few basic signs and gestures that can help facilitate very simple communication.
Larry Wagenknecht, CEO of MPA, noted that “the MPA believes that strong pharmacist-patient communication is critical to improved health care, and we are excited to support this program to help ensure that pharmacists are supporting their patients regardless of any communication barriers that may exist.”
Bright said that the partnership between the Ferris State pharmacy program and D&HHS has its genesis in Bailey, who came to his office as a first-year student in the PharmD program and asked when the pharmacy students would learn more about working with Deaf patients.
For Bailey the question had a personal connection. She knows some American Sign Language (ASL) because she has Deaf grandparents who communicate via ASL. But Bright also has a personal investment in the topic. He has a daughter who can hear but cannot speak using her voice and communicates using ASL.
Bright asked Bailey if she wanted to work with him to bring something concrete to Ferris State pharmacy students, the two then had a follow-up conversation with Patti Whiting, a pharmacy student who had taken a D&HHS ASL class in Big Rapids, and the trio then reached out to D&HHS about a pharmacy-specific program.
“(D&HHS executive director) Deb Atwood and Nancy Piersma couldn’t have been any better to work with,” Bright recalled, “and from there we all explored what a collaboration might look like.”
Last year D&HHS offered ASL classes for pharmacy students at Ferris State, and things went so well that Bailey and Bright suggested a combined presentation at the MPA convention and exposition.
“We had some discussion about what next steps could be to expand on our initial successes,” he noted. “We wanted to find a way to reach practicing pharmacists. The Michigan Pharmacists Association has a very large annual meeting that is attended by both practicing and student pharmacists. We submitted a proposal to provide a pharmacist continuing education program at the annual meeting, and we were very pleased when we learned that our proposal was accepted.”
Bright said that what D&HHS has added to the Ferris State pharmacy program has been invaluable as part of its offerings of elective and co-curricular opportunities that allow students to go deeper and explore areas where they want to personally grow as clinicians.
In addition to the upcoming MPA presentation, Ferris State and D&HHS also are looking to make an impact at a national level.
Said Bright: “We thought that sharing about our collaboration on a national stage might encourage other pharmacy schools to create similar programming at other pharmacy programs across the nation. Nicole will be presenting about the collaboration at two national pharmacy meetings during this academic year, and we have submitted an article to a pharmacy journal to hopefully share the idea with other pharmacy educators as well.”
For D&HHS executive director Deb Atwood the growing partnership is another example of what her organization tries to do on a daily basis.
“Our mission is pretty simple,” she said. “We work to provide equal communication access, education and advocacy to the Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing in pursuit of all life’s opportunities. But we are a pretty small organization, and we get no federal funding and only a little bit of state funding. So, we rely on partnerships with lots of agencies and organizations to get the job done. The Ferris State partnership has been extremely gratifying and to have Nancy be part of this presentation is just terrific. We are grateful to Ferris and to the MPA, and we look forward to the upcoming opportunity.”
LINKS
https://www.ferris.edu/pharmacy/profiles/pharmaceutical-science/