Thank you for your curiosity that helps our hearing impaired patients

Kendal Lillard, MSN, Nurse Educator at St Albans Behavioral Health saw the need of a patient and quickly got to work thinking of and researching ideas that would help them while on our unit.  She had the privilege of caring for a deaf patient.  This patient was able to read lips but was experiencing frustration because of the masks that staff have to wear prohibits him from reading their lips.  Kendal quickly went to work looking at our masks and looking at ways that the masks could be improvised in order for the patient to see staff's mouths and staff maintaining the COVID 19 PPE guidelines.  Kendal came up with removing the middle portion of the mask and sewing a piece of clear plastic in it's place.  The plastic can be cleaned with appropriate cleaning cloths without impairing the patient's ability to see staff's mouth.  This made a world of difference in the patient able to effectively communicate with staff.  Thank you Kendal for your curiosity to research a way to help this patient.  We appreciate you!!!