All the right signs
Highlights
- ACU graduate Jenna Kelley is bringing Auslan to paramedics to help improve healthcare services for the deaf community.
- Jenna graduated from ACU with a Bachelor in Paramedicine in 2021 and has been working with Ambulance Victoria in Cowes ever since.
- She started AV Healthy Signs, an initiative which encourages AV employees to learn Auslan to improve their patient interactions, after learning the language at ACU.
Paramedic Jenna Kelley tries to make people’s worst day a bit better. And her new initiative, teaching Auslan sign language to healthcare workers, promises to do just that for the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Jenna graduated from Australian Catholic University (ACU) with a Bachelor in Paramedicine in 2021 and has been working with Ambulance Victoria (AV) in Cowes ever since.
She started AV Healthy Signs, an initiative which encourages AV employees to learn Auslan to improve their patient interactions, after being introduced to the language at ACU.
While still a relative beginner herself, Jenna had noticed that several of her hard of hearing patients were finding it difficult to lip read and interact with staff wearing PPE.
“For the deaf and hard of hearing community, a medical emergency is a very frightening time – especially during the pandemic with people wearing masks,” she says.
“They don’t know what is going on, and patients need to know what’s happening every step of the way. If we can communicate with them in their language, it makes their time less stressful.”
Paramedics can ask their patient what they prefer – written notes, sign language, lip reading, or even phone apps that translate speech into writing or visual signs – and communicate accordingly. And they can organise an interpreter at the hospital to make the transition a little easier.
It’s incredibly reassuring for a hearing-impaired patient to know that frontline staff can understand them and convey the information they need.
“You can see that utter relief in the patient’s eyes,” says Jenna. “It shows that we’re trying to bridge that communication gap as well, because there is still that gap.”
Healthy Signs, a collaboration between AV and an external Auslan provider, offers courses to paramedics at a discounted rate.
The initiative has been welcomed by Jenna’s colleagues, and she received an Ambulance Victoria Community Engagement Award in 2021 for introducing Auslan to the service.
A unique language
Jenna first discovered Auslan as a first-year paramedicine student in 2018.
“I did a basic introduction to Auslan course at ACU, and I loved it,” recalls Jenna, who has a background in emergency management and emergency medicine and studied at ACU on an Ambulance Victoria scholarship.
“It’s something I was just drawn to. I thought it would be a positive thing for me to have as a healthcare worker. Another tick in the box for gaining employment as well.”
Learning Auslan was like learning a new language.
“The language of deaf people is unique,” Jenna explains. “You drop words out, there are signs for different things… You’re having a conversation, but it’s not like having a conversation in English.”
