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With the population aging, more patients are coming through the doors of BWH with physical or cognitive disabilities. “We need to recognize this and go above and beyond to make this the hospital of choice for these patients,” said Janet Barnes, executive director of Compliance and Risk Management.
More than a year ago, the BWH Disabilities Awareness Council formed with representation from across the hospital to address obstacles for patients with disabilities.
“We identified areas we need to improve through patient feedback,” said Barnes, who co-chairs the council with Kathleen Gordon, RN, director of Patient/Family Relations, and Janet Razulis, administrative director of Patient Care Services. “Those include physical access to the building, equipment and resources and staff awareness.”
Building off the success of the Neurology Clinic’s pilot, the council is identifying other areas to pilot. “We have done walk-throughs in a lot of ambulatory areas to assess equipment needs and will be focusing next on 850 Boylston St., BIMA and Rheumatology. Many areas have identified areas for improvement on their own, and we will help them get the equipment they need to make practice changes,” Razulis said. “Later this year, we will provide hospital-wide training around disability sensitivity.”
There are federal mandates that require organizations to provide a minimum of access to people with disabilities. BWH is in compliance with those mandates, but aims to go above and beyond to make BWH the hospital of choice for patients and the employer of choice for staff.
“We are doing a good job with this now, but there are ways we can do better,” Razulis said.
Anyone who is interested in joining the council or has questions or ideas should contact Janet Razulis at jrazulis@partners.org