Announcement
Hamilton announced that Hamilton Web Captel works on the iPhone.
Web Captel can be accessed through any wireless provider.
Northwestern's RID Test Site to Close
RID Test Site Coordinator Paul Atkinson has announced that the test site at Northwestern Connecticut Community College will close for an indefinite period beginning in January. At present, only four active Local Test Administrators (LTA's) are trying to meet the high demand for test appointments, and many requests are being turned away. Atkinson is seeking at least five more eligible, certified RID members who will agree to add their names to Northwestern's LTA list and commit to administer at least three tests every year. LTA's are compensated $25 for each performance test and $35 for each written test. When NCCC's test site closes, only four sites within 200 miles of Connecticut will remain as options for performance test candidates. If you are intersted in serving as an LTA, please contact Paul at 860-738-6388 or PAtkinson@nwcc.commnet.edu
Great News!!
Emergency medical interpreting services for nights and weekends continues!!
A collaborative effort by menbers of the Deaf Community, the Office of Protection and Advocacy (OPA), the Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA), Family Services Woodfield (FSW), the Connecticut Commission on the Deaf and Hearing Impaired (CDHI), and the Connecticut Chapter of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (CRID), has succeeded in re-establishing the hospital emergency interpreting service program. Deaf Citizens can now feel comforted. Sign Language Interpreters will be dispatched to hospital emergencies whenever possible on nights, weekends and during holidays, 24/7.
How it works:
It works pretty much like it has in the past!
A Deaf patient in a hospital emergency room.....
The hospital may try "Video Relay Interpreting (VRI)" for information collection (forms and paperwork) and early preparation, or triage, until an interpreter arrives.
Protocol I:
The hospital will call 211 (or CDHI and CDHI will refer to 211).
211 will check the FSW list.
211 will call and dispatch the available FSW "on-call" interpreter to the hospital.
Protocol II:
If no FSW interpreter is available, 211 will tell the hospital to call (860) 231-7623, the CDHI emergency interpreting telephone number.
The hospital will call the CDHI emergency interpreting number. The CDHI answering service will contact CDHI Coordinators. CDHI Coordinators will call the hospital for details. The Coordinators will try to locate an available interpreter and dispatch the interpreter to the hospital.
Protocol III:
If no CDHI interpreter is avaialble, CDHI Coordinators will encourage the hospital to write a brief note to the patient stating: "No FSW interpreter, no CDHI interpreter available now. Still trying. Time don't know."
The hospital should then call private hospital resources for interpreter(s). If still no interpreters, start over with Protocol I and then Protocol II.
