Community Health Network - Health Assist 1-21-09

A Press Release from Health Assist Tennessee:

For Immediate Release Contact: Nia Stephens

Health Assist Tennessee

January 21, 2009 615.313.9841 x. 304

New Telehealth Partnership Offers Medical Translation to Patients in Rural Tennessee

Nashville, Tenn— In 1974, minutes before surgery, a young woman reached out to nursing student Gina Richiuso, desperate for help. But Richiuso could not understand her frantic gestures. Another nurse found a pad and pen so the patient could write down her request—a plea to see her husband before entering the operating room. “She deserved better,” Richiuso says, shaking her head.

Ten years later, Richiuso graduated from the Sign Language Interpretation Program at the College of Staten Island, New York, committed to ensuring that deaf patients could receive the same level of care and communication that English speaking patients often take for granted.

Richiuso now works at Health Assist Tennessee, a Nashville-based non-profit that strives to help Tennesseans overcome barriers to health care whether due to financial problems or difficulty with English. On Monday, Richiuso interpreted for a deaf patient in Knoxville without leaving Health Assist Tennessee’s office in Nashville, using a computer equipped with a video camera and microphone. Richiuso says it was, “An amazing experience.”

In partnership with the Community Health Network, Health Assist Tennessee is now offering translation in 13 languages across the CHN Telehealth Network, currently installed in 55 locations across the state. The Telehealth Network uses specialized computer video equipment and digital medical devices to connect patients in rural areas with medical specialists in larger cities. But Monday marks the first time this equipment has been used for medical interpretation in Tennessee.

“Health Assist Tennessee offers interpretation in twelve other languages statewide,” explains Belma Ismailovich, coordinator of Health Assist Tennessee’s Interpretation Services. “But it’s impossible to do a sign language interpretation over the phone.” According to the Tennessee Association of the Deaf, more than 500,000 Tennesseans are deaf or hard of hearing. It can be hard to find trained interpreters in urban areas, and in rural areas, they are even more rare.

Richiuso was communicating with Dr. Ingrid Fernandes at Community Health of East Tennessee (formerly REACHs), a community health center in Jacksboro, TN. "It was just like having the signer in the room with the patient,” says Dr. Fernandes. “This technology truly can enhance the patient and physician experience in the exam room, breaking the barrier between hearing impaired patients and providers in healthcare."

Health Assist Tennessee’s telehealth equipment will not be used just for sign language interpretation, but for all the languages they offer. As Dranda Whaley, executive director of Health Assist Tennessee, notes, “Interpretation means more than literally translating words. Physical and cultural cues are integral to communication, and accurately interpreting that level of communication can make a huge difference in treatment recommendations and health outcomes.”

Health Assist Tennessee is nonprofit organization that helps Tennesseans get the health care they need, whether that means helping them sign up for public health insurance or finding an affordable community clinic. Their services are available state-wide and calls are free. To reach a counselor, call 1-800-269-4038.

For more information about the organization, call Health Assist Tennessee’s Community Awareness Coordinator at 615-313-9841 x. 304.

Caption: Sign language interpreter Gina Richiuso uses videoconferencing equipment at Health Assist Tennessee’s office in Nashville to communicate with a patient and her doctor in Jacksboro.

###