Diversity Matters: Deaf Health Clinic

While Michigan Medicine is the proud home of many innovative clinical operations, many individuals are unaware of its Deaf Health Clinic, one of the few clinics in the U.S. that offers primary care services from two physicians fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), as well as an ASL-fluent mental health clinician within a single location.

The Deaf Health Clinic is located at the Dexter Health Center and is led by Michael M. McKee, M.D., M.P.H., and Philip Zazove, M.D., who have both been with organization for many years.

However, within the past three years, the pair — alongside their team members, Leslie Pertz, LMSW, N.I.C., Kathleen Diehl, LMSW, ACSW and Dylan Secord, M.S.W., LLMSW — has made great efforts to increase the number of staff who use ASL at the academic medical center.

“The Deaf Health Clinic was created for the Deaf community so patients could have a barrier-free health care experience, from check-in to check-out,” said Pertz.

“We now have a front desk clerk who is able to sign with patients, a medical assistant who is currently learning ASL (and actively uses it with patients) and a scribe who is also in school to become an ASL/English interpreter. We are also very excited about adding a nurse practitioner student, who also happens to be Deaf, to our team next year.”

A broad range of services

The Deaf Health Clinic is a family medicine clinic that is also integrated with behavioral health. Therefore, a broad range of primary care and mental health services are available to patients in a single location.

Through the work of Pertz and her team, the clinic piloted tele-mental health services over the last several years. And through this innovative process — which allows experts to virtually meet with patients via videoconferencing — mental health services were made more accessible to Deaf individuals in rural areas of Michigan (using ASL).

“In addition to our tele-mental health efforts, we also host ongoing patient education sessions called ‘Deaf Health Talks’ that serve as educational forums for the community regarding diabetes, obesity, fatigue, high blood pressure and other health-related topics,” said Pertz. “We also hope to start a Deaf stress-reduction group in the early fall of this year.”

Effectively serving the Deaf community

Because of the groundbreaking work being conducted through the Deaf Health Clinic, it was recently featured in The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. The research conducted by the journal’s authors revealed incredible progress regarding the mental health status of various patients within the clinic.

“Interestingly enough, the journal article’s authors found that patients who visit our clinic report very low levels of anxiety and depression,” said Pertz. “And this speaks volumes in regards to how effectively we are serving the Deaf community. Of course, it makes us very proud of our work.”

Before joining Michigan Medicine, Pertz worked as a full-time ASL/English interpreter, predominantly working in the medical and mental health settings outside of U-M.

“Time and time again, I would witness the barriers to accessing mental health care within the Deaf community due to a general lack of cultural understanding by both clinicians and patients,” said Pertz. “And right from the beginning of my career, I had a dream to go on to graduate school and watch that barrier come down. This clinic is a small realization of that dream — and while I know we have a long way to go, I cannot believe how lucky I am to work in this clinic with my incredible team.”

To learn more about the Deaf Health Clinic and its services, click here!