An MRI should be a routine procedure. It鈥檚 a non-invasive scan, using a magnetic tube to take images of tissues and organs in the body.
But for Marty Lewis, who is hard of hearing, getting an MRI required a little more planning. Marty needed a diagnostic cardiac MRI. But to obtain a good image, the technician needs to be able to speak to the patient lying in the windowless tube. The tech relays instructions regulating patient movements and telling them to hold or resume their breathing.
Marty wears hearing aids but had to remove them for the MRI. He鈥檚 adept at lip-reading, but had no way of seeing the technician while in the machine. The protocol simply wouldn鈥檛 work for Marty.
鈥淭he cardiac MRI was a new experience for me,鈥 Marty said. 鈥淚 honestly didn鈥檛 know how it would feel being unable to wear my hearing aids during the MRI, because they are essential to my world.鈥
鈥淭o patients who have different accessibility needs, we always want to show that RUSH is compassionate and will figure out mechanisms that will work for them.鈥
A first MRI attempt ended with unusable images. That鈥檚 when Marty, as well as his mother Nancy Lawrence (a retired registered nurse), took the initiative to find a system that would work for him. They worked with the Chicago Hearing Society to come up with a plan, which they brought to RUSH Diagnostic Radiology. MRI manager Brian Jarrett, MRI technician Eric Marker, and cardiologist , put together an altered protocol, which allowed Nancy to tap his foot to relay instructions during the test at RUSH Oak Brook. She would tap once to have him hold his breath, and twice to resume breathing.
鈥淭o patients who have different accessibility needs, we always want to show that RUSH is compassionate and will figure out mechanisms that will work for them,鈥 Dr. Tracy said. 鈥淭his allows us to expand our reach and ensure that we鈥檙e giving optimal care to all of our patients.鈥
Marty says that patients who need additional help should feel confident in working with medical teams to find solutions.
鈥淢y biggest hope is anyone who is either deaf or hard of hearing will feel comfortable enough to take a cardiac MRI exam, if necessary,鈥 Marty says. 鈥淢ore importantly, they should not let their disability hinder their decision making and possibly refuse to take this test. After all, my story is proof of this being a success with adequate help.鈥
