Silent Language

How one couple navigates healthcare in silence

 John and Helen Balfour have been patients of St. Joseph Hospital (SJH) since 1967. The Balfours, who are both Deaf and use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate, recount how healthcare access for the Deaf and hard of hearing has changed — for the better — over the last 50 years. 

“We had both of our children at SJH, and although staff were friendly and tried to communicate with us, there were many times we were not sure what was going on,” recalls Helen. 

John explained that he and his wife would write back and forth to communicate with healthcare providers and would use a fax machine to make appointments. Unfortunately, this process was time consuming and conversations were superficial at best. For most Deaf folks, English is a second language, and the writing back and forth is not an effective way to communicate. John had to really advocate for himself before his primary care physician of 15 years granted his request for an interpreter. But once his doctor experienced the difference of an interpreter first-hand, he understood. “The doctor told me that he felt more of a connection to me and engaged in more in-depth personal conversations,” John recalls. “In fact, we discovered that we lived in the same town!”

Today, St. Joseph’s ensures patients like the Balfours are provided qualified interpreters to assure effective communication during their healthcare encounters. St. Joseph’s provides auxiliary aids such as interpreters, CART (computer-assisted real time transcription services), video remote interpreting, notetakers, and CapTel phones, at no cost. Helen says now that they have interpreters at SJH, they feel at home. “Over the years, ASL has become mainstream and we are often greeted by staff in ASL, which really warms
our hearts.” 

For more information, call 603-882-3000, ext. 63863 or videophone at 603-718-3444.