A deaf physician and a Highland Hospital resident team up to practice in Brighton

By Greg Livadas
Staff writer

(March 7, 1998) -- Deaf patients normally have to rely on lip reading, written messages, body language or interpreters to communicate with their doctors.

But two physicians proficient in sign language are gearing up to open a "deaf-friendly" practice in Brighton on March 23.

Dr. Carolyn Stern, one of about 25 deaf physicians in the United States, is moving to Rochester from Chicago, where she's worked since 1990. She's teaming up with Dr. Timothy Malia of Rochester, who is finishing his residency at Highland Hospital.

"Carolyn's arrival is real important," said Robert Pollard, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical School. "The addition of each new sign-fluent health care provider in the community is a large addition."

Pollard said deaf patients may feel a closeness to a deaf doctor, even though UR has several programs that teach medical students deaf culture and how to interact with deaf patients.

Stern and Malia practice family medicine and will treat anyone, although they are targeting deaf and hard of hearing patients.

Their office will be equipped with TTYs, or text telephones, and receptionists are being hired who know sign language.

Examination rooms will be equipped with flashing lights that will be activated when a doctor is ready to enter the room. Traditionally, doctors knock on the door before entering an exam room.

"The positive thing is the communication," said Howard Mann, special services coordinator for Group Health Medical Centers. "Now there's a place to go where there's a doctor who can communicate with the deaf."

Stern, 33, a graduate of Northwestern University, specializes in obstetrics.

"We will do the full spectrum of family medicine," she said. "We will deliver babies, take care of infants, all the way up to seniors."

Her deaf patients who know sign language will be comfortable talking with her. But she is also sensitive to those who have lost their hearing later in life and do not know how to sign. She will use her voice to speak with them.

"Communication will not be a barrier," she said.

Malia, 32, graduated from Albany Medical College. His interest in deaf culture began 10 years ago with the "Deaf President Now" movement at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. He completed two intensive American Sign Language courses at Gallaudet and serves on a task force that tries to improve health care for the deaf.

"Not only do patients have barriers to care, but providers have barriers to provide that care," Malia said. "Most doctors and staff don't have an idea of how the deaf use a telephone."

The doctors' offices will be in Folsom Medical Center on Brighton-Henrietta Townline Road. Folsom is targeting deaf patients because of its proximity to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, said Cynthia Kesselring, medical center manager.

"The deaf population has been underserved, and having doctors who knew sign language was a need in the community," she said.

Dr. Christopher Lehfeldt, a deaf dentist who moved to Rochester in 1991, said Rochester is now the only city he knows of that has a deaf dentist and deaf physician targeting deaf clients.

"I'm just thrilled that Carolyn is moving here from Chicago as I was always frustrated that several patients of mine would need medical attention but have no clear understanding of their situation due to an inability to communicate well with a physician," Lehfeldt said. Mann said there are no other physicians in town who use sign language. Stern worked most recently at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill., where about 300 of her 1,600 patients were deaf.

Although a deaf physician is a rarity, she said there's almost nothing she can't do as well as her hearing counterparts.

She has an amplified stethoscope and plans to get one that records sound digitally. Her biggest problem is taking notes and listening -- by looking at her patient -- at the same time.

"I can't understand on the phone, but really, there is much I can do," she said. "I truly listen to my patients and I care about them and I look at them. I think that's what people like."