During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, more and more deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind people are concerned about communicating with doctors, nurses, and others at the hospital. Many hospitals and medical facilities are changing their policies to create a safer environment which may impact your access -- now, many hospitals will not allow in-person interpreters, family members, or visitors to come into the hospital. You may be alone for a long time, depending on how severe your case is. Doctors and nurses wear masks and may talk with you from behind a window or curtain. However, you still have the right to decide your care.

A coalition of deaf and hard of hearing consumer advocacy organizations, deaf doctors, and other experts worked together to provide special guidelines for deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind people and medical personnel to use during the coronavirus pandemic.

Learn more: Link

SIGNER: Today there is a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. If you need to go to the hospital, you need to be prepared. This guide is to help you be prepared for your hospital visit.
Because of the pandemic, hospitals are changing and will be different now. Before the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals have good services that help you communicate clearly and ask you what services you need. This might include in-person sign language interpreters, Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), lip-reading, written communications, text, captioning or CART. Now, during the coronavirus pandemic, most hospitals are very busy seeing a large number of patients and often cannot provide the same services like before. There are new rules now. Many hospitals will not allow in-person interpreters. Family members or visitors cannot go in with you. You may be alone for a long time when you are in the hospital. Most doctors and nurses now wear masks and gloves and may talk to you from behind a window or curtain, so it may be harder to communicate. You have the right to decide your care. This means you will need to bring a few things to the hospital, including communication tools. Print out a page saying you are deaf or hard of hearing and need hospital staff to communicate with you differently. If you have a smartphone, you need to bring this with you. Before you go to the hospital, download several VRI apps and/or speech-to-text apps. Some of those apps are free. A list of apps is available at the end of this document. Before you go to the hospital, you need to first test the apps to be sure they work well. Keep in mind that some hospitals may not have WIFI. You may have to use your smartphone using your cellular connection. When you get to the hospital, ask hospital staff to let you use their WiFi. If you go to a hospital room, make sure that room is an area with strong WiFI. Tell hospital staff to communicate with you through your smartphone with VRI or speech-to-text apps. If you do not have a smartphone, bring papers or white board or ask hospital staff to bring papers or white board to write on. Bring an emergency bag. Label the bag with your name and place a list of items that are inside the bag. Label each item with your name, including cables and other things. Label each item. Leave space on the label to add your hospital room number. The emergency bag can include: Paper and pens; white board and markers; Plugs and chargers for your smartphone, laptop, or tablets; A cellular hotspot in case the hospital WiFi is not working; An extension cord or power strip in case your bed is far from an outlet; Extra eyewear supplies you might need, such as reading glasses to read the speech to text on a phone app; Extra batteries for your hearing aid, cochlear implant, or assistive listening device; If you have an advance medical directive, please put a copy of this in your bag. You can find more information and instructions to make an advance directive on AARP's website; Emergency contact information for family members or friends. If the hospital staff refuses to communicate with you or does not respect your wishes, demand an “ethics consultation.” You can also contact Link for help. We are sharing a short list of known applications in ABC order. While we do not endorse any specific tool or vendor, there are separate lists for people who use sign language and people who speak, listen and lip-read. It is important to test and practice any application before you go to the hospital. Please print DEAF/HARD OF HEARING MEDICAL PLACARD. I AM DEAF/HARD OF HEARING. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU WITH YOUR MASK ON. MY NAME IS __. HERE IS MY IDENTIFICATION CARD / DRIVER’S LICENSE. PLEASE SPEAK INTO MY SMARTPHONE. I AM USING IT TO UNDERSTAND YOU. PLEASE RESPECT MY LEGAL RIGHT TO UNDERSTAND YOU AND PARTICIPATE IN MY CARE BY ALLOWING ME TO USE THE SMARTPHONE. IF MY SMARTPHONE IS NOT WORKING WELL OR AT ALL, PLEASE WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU ARE TELLING ME.