First aid for communication

Maria Middelares General Hospital supports patients who need additional language assistance. The aim is also to ensure quality care for non-native-speaking, hearing-impaired or visually-impaired patients and to give care professionals the opportunity to engage with patients in an approachable way.

The box gives patients who have verbal communication problems a voice again.’

Eline Roggeman - speech therapist

The EHBC (First Aid for Communication Problems) box is designed to support communication with patients who cannot express themselves verbally or who do with difficulty. A thematic pictorial chart (e.g. hygiene concerns, toilet use, mobility ... ) has been added to this toolkit of communication support tools. Patients can use this chart to express their questions.

At our hospital, we offer breakfast and dinner via a bread buffet trolley. Our patients, therefore, have free choice in what they choose to eat and drink. For patients who have communication difficulties (e.g. patients with dementia or patients who had a brain haemorrhage), making their choice clear is not always straightforward. That is why we developed a flipbook with photos of our offerings. This allows patients to independently choose what they want to eat or drink.

Do you speak another language or are you deaf or hard of hearing? Then you can let an interpreter assist you.

Find out how to request an interpreter via the button below.

Every page of this website has the text-to-speech function. This function allows you to listen to an audio version while you follow the highlighted text. It is a useful function for people who have problems with reading, for example, or who have a visual impairment or who are learning Dutch.

Do the standard settings not meet your expectations? Then you can simply use the menu to adjust the reading speed and the colours. You can also select a web page in order to listen to it, and so that you do not have to start from the beginning.

Watch the video below.