Monaghan, Brendan Patrick Oakes, PA-C

I was there for labs. I have a sharp pain in my right back. I asked to see Dr. Miller but it was early and he was with patients. Jasmine said his PA could see me within just over an hour. That worked great. The PA and his nurse was very helpful. Gave me meds and to follow up with Dr. Miller. I will follow up with Dr. Miller on Monday. It was very helpful. Thanks

Provider and nurse were excellent. My PCP was out of town so I was working in with another provider and received excellent care from entire team

Ronica, and Brendan show me the upmost respect. I don't feel rushed during my visit.

Thank God for them.

I wish the NH-DIMA staff knew more about how to best speak with pts who are hard-of-hearing (HOH). How to change the staff person's voice pitch, speed, enunciation, and so forth so as to maximize the chances that the HOH pt will comprehend what the staff are asking or telling them. Both the CMA and PA spoke way too rapidly for me to understand what they were saying -- even after I had told (reminded) them I was HOH and even after I had to ask more than once for them to repeat what they'd just said or asked. I could tell they wanted me to understand them, but didn't know what they had to do to make that happen. I understood perhaps 10% of what the CMA and PA said to me. When I left the exam room at the end, I went by the Front Desk to ask the wonderful, long-time receptionist there whether the PA had set up a return appt for me (he hadn't so far as we could tell, which was a surprise) and whether I had other instructions he might have communicated to her electronically. Note too that face-masks eliminate the ability of the HOH pt to use lip-reading to assist them in the rapid-fire guessing game we have to do all the time to understand other folks. Lip-reading is a game-changer for HOH people, especially in 1:1 or small group settings as in a doctor's office. And we understand and agree that b/o covid, we all need to be masked up. I'm NOT asking DIMA to remove their masks! But there are masks the staff could use with HOH pts that have a clear-plastic window over the staff members lips, so that the HOH pt can lip-read the staff. UNC Audiology, for one, uses them by default. And physicians at NCEENT have them on hand to use if a pt asks them to use one (as I have). It makes all the difference in our comprehension of the key medical information the staff want us to have, and thus our enjoyment of coming to the practice and our compliance with instructions afterwards. Thus, I would beseech DIMA to (1) quickly train all their physicians and staff in best communication practices with the hard-of-hearing, and (2) buy some lip-read-compatible masks for all the staff to use if they must interact with an HOH person. Thank you.