FEATURE COVER STORY COMMUNICATE AND APPRECIATE Accessibility is not my passion, but rather a necessity of life B BY DR. EMILY ROBACK, DC orn with a severe-pro-found sensorineural hearing loss, I found myself in an endless struggle to fit into a hear-ing culture. Looking back, I remember one classmate in elementary school who said I must have been an alien from another planet. I have to admit it was not always easy carrying the label “hearing-impaired” or “profoundly deaf” or referred to as “that little girl with the hearing aid stuff” while at-tending mainstream education. Al-though wearing a box on my chest with cords running up to my ears did give me the privilege of hearing educators with less effort, it did not exactly score brownie points with classmates. To them, I looked and acted different, and that was that. However, if I did indeed come from another planet, then I ended up coming with a mission --to make a difference in the chiropractic profession. If you wish to operate a truly acces-sible and growth-type practice, a good place to start would be to encourage your business administrative team to become more curious. There is an endless suite of tools that can be insti-gated --both formal and informal --to bring curiosity into the fold of your office management team’s daily rou-tine. Accessible business communication systems The workplace environment is a per-fect, low-stakes setting to develop basic accessibility skills with your staff. Here are several entertaining and easy mech-anisms to look for in an accessible business communication system. Everyone, from management, to staff, to patients, can benefit both intrinsi-cally and financially. 1. A cloud-based communication and collaboration business solution for businesses. Find an APP for Desktop with a comprehensive com-munications solution featuring voice, fax, text, conferencing and web-meet-ings. The APP must be available to download onto mobile devices like tablets and cell phones. 2. A leading software vendor in the health industry who develops, provides, and supports clinic-based applications for healthcare profes-sionals. Ensure your software DR. EMILY ROBACK is a North Cowichan chiropractor with 10+ years of clinical experience. She works as an associate at Cowichan Chiropractic and producer at Dr. Emily TV. She has grown her accessible practice from zero to almost 6-figures revenue in twelve months of operation using a combination of proven structures, systems and strategies that she now shares with healthcare business owners across North America who are looking to build an accessible and growth-like business. Visit: www.cowichanwellness. ca or email [email protected]. 14 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor July/August 2021 company choice offers training via documentation, videos-on-demand (closed captioning), live online and in-person sessions. A software program should also provide appointment man-agement, billing & invoicing, claims management, EHR certified, outcome assessments, patient account manage-ment, patient records (written and video), and SOAP notes. 3. Contact information for disa-bility-related help. Contact your provincial or territorial government to find out which programs are available to help individuals thrive in the work-place. Supports may include the fol-lowing: 1) Assistive devices, equipment and technology; 2) Ergonomic sup-ports (ie ergonomic furniture, lighting systems); 3) Attendant services related to work (ie assistance with mobility and sensory); 4) American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting and captioning services; 5) Communication and hear-ing devices related to work; and 6) ve-hicle modifications. The services should be available to individuals who have a work-related barrier due to a disability or functional limitation. 4. Website Accessibility. Website accessibility refers to the tools and technologies designed and developed so those with disabilities can use them. A website is designed fundamentally, to work for all people, whatever their hardware, software, language, location, or ability may be. When the website meets this goal, it is accessible to www.Cndoctor.ca
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