Resources for Delivering Health Care to Deaf Patients Gallaudet University's Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center Web site offers comprehensive resources for clinicians, patients, parents, and caregivers on topics including healthcare delivery services for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients. The Center offers both a simple and complex way to search, depending on the searcher's level of expertise and need for precision. http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/ InfoToGo The National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) is a comprehensive source of information for patients and healthcare professionals. Their resources include free publications, including some in Spanish. http://www.nidcd.nih.gov The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national, professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 103,000 audiologists; speech-language pathologists; and speech, language, and hearing scientists. ASHA provides resources for healthcare professionals and consumers on hearing loss and deafness in both children and adults. Professionals and students can contact ASHA by calling toll-free: 1-800-498-2071. The toll-free number for the public is 1-800-638-8255. http://www.asha.org The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is the Nation's largest consumer organization safeguarding the accessibility and civil rights of 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans in education, employment, healthcare, and telecommunications. http://www.nad.org The American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC) is a national organization of families and professionals committed to educating, empowering, and supporting parents and families of children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. The ASDC Web site includes informative resources for clinicians, patients, and patient caregivers. http://www.deafchildren.org

A Defining Moment Serves One Deaf Community

For Gary Kaufman, his defining moment in life came in the form of a deaf student who sat next to him during "a really boring college art class." During the course of their time together, he discovered that only two options were open to his friend for communicating with a health care clinician: bring Mom along, which was awkward if he needed to talk about personal health-related issues; or write notes to each other, a slow and tedious process, unacceptable for discussing more complex medical issues.

Kaufman seized his moment by first becoming proficient in American Sign Language, and then following a course of study at Chicago's Rush University to become a doctor of both internal medicine and pediatrics.

Little did he realize, however, that his greatest challenge still lay before him.

The question that faced him upon graduation was how he might fulfill his dream of providing quality care to the deaf—who also happened to be poor and uninsured, or underinsured—while paying back the hefty educational debt incurred along the way. "You want to work hard and do what's right by taking care of patients who don't have money. But big loan debt forces you into high paying practice. It's an ethical dilemma, really," says Kaufman.

The same determination that had conjured his vision led Kaufman to the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program as the solution to his dilemma. "The NHSC has been a godsend," Kaufman enthusiastically admits. "It has been the difference between staying with parents 'til I'm 60 so I could pay off my debt, or living in my own house while serving the deaf community."

These days, you will find Dr. Kaufman providing flagship health care services to a largely poor and deaf population at Mount Sinai Hospital on Chicago's West Side. His salary may be significantly lower than his classmates who chose more upscale clinics and communities. But as an NHSC Loan Repayor, his lifestyle and independence are every bit as stimulating as theirs. More importantly, Kaufman works with the satisfaction that he began his career exactly where he wanted, and it will only get better from here. His patients are the ones who have convinced him that his path is real and that his place is with them when they tell him, "For the first time, someone has cared to listen to me. I can finally communicate with my doctor."

It is a rare person who is gifted with a defining moment like Dr. Kaufman's. An even rarer person summons the courage to seize that moment and turn it into a lifelong reality. With the NHSC as the catalyst to supplying the Nation with America's Health Care Heroes, Dr. Kaufman is able to bring quality care to those who need it the most.

Learn about other NHSC success stories.