The Student Alliance for People of All Abilities is seeking UNMC medical, nursing and other health professions students to take part in its 2025 Deaf-Centric Hospital event, set for April 12 at UNMC.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing volunteers play the role of medical and other health professionals at the event, while students take the part of patients trying to communicate their symptoms and concerns.
Ben Hynes participated in the event as a second-year medical student.
“Having to go through this exercise, trying to find ways to communicate with a provider without using words, and as someone that doesn’t know American Sign Language, I developed an appreciation for some of the barriers to health care that we as students don’t necessarily get a lot of exposure to,” he said. “This is a way to see what that feels like on the other end for the patient, get a sense for these communication barriers that many of our patients face.”
Hynes said he was profoundly frustrated.
“I had information I needed to get across, and I could tell I wasn’t able to convey that adequately,” he said. “It was pretty difficult to communicate with the medical provider in that scenario.”
Hynes found the experience valuable enough so that now, in the role of SAPA medical co-chair director, he is focused on increase student participation in the event across the university.
“Historically, it’s been primarily medical students participating,” he said. “We’d like to broaden that; we think other UNMC students will find value in this experience, as well.”
UNMC medical, nursing and other health professions students who are interested in taking part in the event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 12, can register here or contact SAPA.
At the event, student participants are given a piece of paper with information on their medical complaint or condition. Volunteers, acting as doctors, nurses or health care providers, get a script that explains how they should respond to a given condition.
Following the interactions, the day closes with a debriefing exploring some of the communication challenges and frustrations the students became aware of during the exercise.
The annual event is a collaboration between SAPA, the Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the nonprofit CAHS Consulting.
Ronda Rankin, founder of Deaf-Centric Hospital and interpreter services coordinator at Children’s Nebraska, said the local Deaf community has rallied around the event.
“We always have quite a few Deaf community members that are participants and excited to share what their experiences has been in health care,” Rankin said. “They also appreciate that UNMC students are interested to learn about the challenges that the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community can face.”