Paramedics can now provide better care to deaf and hard-of-hearing patients.
Ambulance Victoria has introduced basic Auslan and deaf-awareness training for all its staff and volunteers as part of a partnership with Awesome Auslan.
AV disability inclusion program lead Amber Smith said the training would help remove communication barriers during health emergencies.
“Building deaf awareness will also help us to create a safe, fair and inclusive workplace for AV’s deaf and hard-of-hearing workforce and improve how we engage in an accessible way with the community,” she said.
One in six Australians experience varying degrees of complete and partial hearing loss, which is predicted to increase to one in four by 2050.
Sunbury mother Rosie Willaton, whose son Blake required emergency care in 2020, has been advocating for more emergency service workers to learn basic sign language.
“It would have been great if the paramedics at that time were able to communicate with Blake on his level using some sign,” she said.
“It’s going to make a world of difference to people like Blake knowing that paramedics are going to be able to have some basic sign.”
AV is providing staff with a free self-paced online Auslan and deaf-awareness course.
Participating staff will wear a ‘Learning Auslan’ badge to identify their capability to the community.
As part of their work to remove communication barriers to make emergency healthcare more inclusive, AV will continue to work with other partners, including Scope, Amaze and Expressions Australia, to implement new initiatives.