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Issue link: https://emsworld.epubxp.com/i/852553
28 AUGUST 2017 | EMSWORLD.com improved my hearing and ability to function in the workplace. I was soon promoted to paramedic. I've had to work hard to gain the trust and respect of my peers and management and overcome any doubts I could perform the requirements of my job safely and effectively. I've joined our bike team, in which I ride a bicycle equipped with ALS gear at large functions such as triathlons, cancer walks and other crowded events. I also finished a critical care program and hope to join our critical care/NICU division soon. I'm a member of the Minnesota EMS Honor Guard; we perform at line-of- duty death funerals and other important functions. (Sometimes orders given with the guard are silent or in whispers—you can imagine the difficulties that can present!) With the proper equipment, suppor t from management and coworkers, and assistance from the audiologist, I reached my original goal of being in 9-1-1 and am loving every moment of my job. If You Have a Problem… I've been approached by many people, both senior EMS personnel and students, who complain of a wide variety of hearing issues and want advice. Their challenges may include general hearing loss, tinnitus or working with someone with hearing loss. Here is my advice to them: If you suspect you have a problem, don't try to hide it. Seek help from a specialist. There are many kinds of hearing loss, as well as many solutions that are new and not well known these days. Some hearing aids are so small, they fit deep in your ear and never need to be removed. Even if you don't qualify for hearing aids, stethoscopes come with amplifiers. One of the best things you can do is protect your hearing before it's damaged: Wear earplugs when driving with sirens on or working on noisy scenes. An audiologist or supportive employer may get excited about helping you and recommend fancy high-tech equipment to use in your day-to-day operation. Sometimes this can be a bad thing—you can be overwhelmed by the options or burdened by wires that may be needed to use all the functions of the hearing aid. Devices like this may be fine for an office job, but they're not always agreeable in a fluid environment such as field EMS. For example, I used to have wires connecting my radio to my hearing aids via a device worn around my neck. On top of that, my partner had to wear a similar device that doubled as a microphone. This usually resulted in tangled messes and crabby partners. Instead I found a low-tech solution that has worked fantastically: piping radio communications directly to my ears. Working with the audiologist and a molding company, we drilled a secondary chamber into my hearing aid mold to insert the speaker coil from a Motorola radio accessory. Succeeding in EMS Deaf personnel have excelled in a variety of emergency-services capacities, proving that deafness is no obstacle to providing good service. They often come to the attention of mainstream media. Amber Tansey, from Santa Rosa, Calif., prepared for a potential EMS career by running calls with San Francisco firefighters. She credits her success at it mainly to good communication skills: Tansey communicates via hand gestures, computer messages, written notes, sign language, eye contact, lip reading and even assistance from an interpreter in some instances. She says she's become very observant of what's going on around her. A former instructor called Tansey "driven." 1 Chad Grabousky struggled to find EMS work before being hired at Pennsylvania's Global Medical Transportation Services, where's he's liked by patients and coworkers and outperforms some hearing staff, according to his boss. Grabousky also serves as EMS lieutenant for a local volunteer fire company. He communicates through sign language, lip reading and hearing aids. He says his greatest challenge was communicating over the radio, but his colleagues have "Don't be nervous about hiring or working alongside people with hearing disabilities—they had to pass the same exams and clinicals you did."