Disability Access
Initiative Update
In 2009, BWH and MGH undertook an intensive six-year
initiative to improve access to care for patients with disabilities. This
resulted from internal reviews of patient experiences and from feedback
provided by the Boston Center Independent Living, a Boston based advocacy
group. We are just past the halfway mark and want to update you on some of the
work that has been done.
Accessible Medical Equipment: We have purchased more than100 power,
height-adjustable exam tables, 20 wheel chair-accessible scales and many hip
chairs and portable lifts for distributed campus practice locations. We also
added hearing enhancers to the Owen & Minor inventory and installed more
than 25 power operated doors.
Barrier Removal: We modified seven inpatient rooms in
the Tower to make them fully accessible, including fully accessible bathrooms.
We also have upgraded accessible public bathrooms across the organization and
added three family bathrooms at the main campus.
Training: This month, we are assigning a disability
access training module in HealthStream to all active staff providers. All other
staff were assigned a similar module last year, and more than 90 percent have
completed that training already. In addition, we are incorporating disability
awareness concepts into existing program such as new employee orientation and
other administrative and clinical training programs.
Over the next three years, BWH will continue its work to
improve access, including surveying and improving access in all outpatient
practices, purchasing accessible equipment as needed, offering educational
programs and information and making print materials available in alternate
formats.
If you have ideas on how we may improve access, please
contact Janet Razulis at jrazulis@partners.org.
For more information, visit http://www.bwhpikenotes.org/Employee_Resources/DisabilityAccess/default.aspx