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Q&A
Discussion on barriers to healthcare access for people with disabilities
0:14:17
ยท
85 sec
Council Member Lee inquires about the biggest barriers to healthcare access for people with disabilities, particularly in hospital settings. The discussion touches on issues faced by both private practices and larger healthcare facilities.
- Equipment costs are identified as a barrier, especially for smaller clinics and private practices
- NYC Health + Hospitals representative discusses challenges in retrofitting older hospital buildings for accessibility
- Emphasis is placed on ongoing efforts to bring spaces up to code and meet regulatory requirements
Linda Lee
0:14:17
And I guess we'll go more into the weeds in a little bit because I'm more interested and I think chair nurses also is interested in what some of the biggest barriers are.
0:14:27
We know that for example some of the equipment that is needed is very expensive So a lot of the physicians and doctors opt not to sometimes see folks that have disabilities because it is so costly for them, that's more on a private practice side perhaps and in smaller clinics.
0:14:44
But just off the bat in terms of, I don't know if this is a question also more for anyone on the panel, but just how we can, what some of the biggest barriers have been in the hospital settings at H and H.
Emily Sweet
0:15:03
H and H, would you like to speak to them?
Manny Saez
0:15:08
Hi.
0:15:09
Good afternoon.
0:15:09
Manny Saez, vice president of facilities for H and H.
0:15:12
The biggest barriers that we have faced is being able to not only handle our new construction and all of our new renovations, but also being able to and we've done a very good job of bringing this up to speed is providing all of the retrofitting that we've done because our hospitals have been so vintage, right, that we've been able to bring a lot of our spaces up to code as we follow code regulative to CMS, which is a federal agency, the State Department of Health, and other regulatory agencies that we abide by.