Better Emergency Care for the Deaf Population through Improved Communication

Abstract

This piece outlines the elements that were involved in my project designed to improve communication between the Deaf population of Bowling Green, KY and the Fire Department, Police Department, and Medical Center. This was done by placing the burden of facilitating communication on the emergency response teams through creating training for them in essential American Sign Language (ASL) signs as specified by the Deaf community. These ASL signs were collected from the Deaf Community through standardized interviews and then utilized to create a training video, poster charts, and brochures