Hi, my name is Hannah and I am a Registered Nurse. I am hearing impaired and wear BTE hearing aids. I lost my hearing at the age of 2 year old. I work for a Mental Health Outpatient center in Aurora, IL. Recently, our department had to move to a temporary location because our permanant building is being rennovated to accomodate HIPPA laws. The temporary building is quite small and everyone feels "crammed in". Due to the small and limited space, I am forced to share an office with 2 other nurses. The noise is constant and it is worse on the days of clinic (Mondays and Thursdays) because lots of people are in the office at one time, clients, client's family members, counselors, drug reps. At the same time, phones are ringing. It has been extremely stressful and frustrated for me to hear on the phone. I have been using the TTY and the relay center to make outcoming calls. I do have incoming calls from my clients, doctors, and other resources that need information or answers to questions. Many times I have asked other co-workers to help me hear on the phone, including my voice mails. Sometimes I would go into another office that is not bein used to listen to my voice mail, but this is not always possible due to limited space. My biggest frustration is with the incoming calls that I cannot hear due to the noise level in the office. My clients have a mental illness and they do not know how to call relay to get in touch with me. I want to be quickly accessible for my clients and the doctors, and other resources if they need to get in touch with me for any reason and using the relay takes time. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this situation a little less frustrating and more managable???
Thanks,
Hannah Handschuh,RN
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I might suggest that you go to one of the local electronics stores (don't know if I am allowed to suggest a name or not) that are well known nationally, to the extent that there are usually several of these stores in every town and purchase a phone with an amplifier.
I have one on the desk next to my computer. It has a "boost" button, a clarity/power sliding (increase and decrease) switch and a jack for a headset.
I'm sure your co-workers wouldn't mind if you took this phone to work and plugged it into the phone jack that is most accessible to you.
I believe my phone cost around $90 approx.
It doesn't cost anything to go to the store to look and ask questions.
Hope this helps.
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