[bksvol-discuss] Re: Fwd: Fw: Blind Doctor opens shop in Portland.OT: FYI
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:30:12 -0800 (PST)
I thought the name looked familiar, Jana, and was
going to mention that, but I wasn't sure. I also read
a New York Times article about that quoted our own
Adriene Asch.
Cindy
--- Jana Jackson <jana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi, Cindy! Thanks for sending this to the list. I
> met Chris several years
> ago at an ACB convention, and she is a delightful
> lady. Not only that, she
> is (or maybe was) a Bookshare volunteer. I'm happy
> to hear that she is
> doing so well. Take care!
>
> Jana
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
> <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 1:28 AM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Fwd: Fw: Blind Doctor
> opens shop in Portland.OT:
> FYI
>
>
> >I thought you might be interested not just in the
> > person but in the technology that is helping her,
> so I
> > thought this worthwhile to forward.
> >
> > Cindy
> >
> > --- Louise <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >> From: "Louise" <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >> To: "Louise Gourdoux"
> <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >> Subject: Fw: Blind Doctor opens shop in Portland.
> >> Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:08:17 -0600
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> PORTLAND, OREGON - In a few months, the newest
> >> doctor - and one of the
> >> first
> >> doctors of her kind in the nation - will hang
> her
> >> shingle in the Portland,
> >> Oregon area. Chris L. Cooke will become one of
> the
> >> first totally blind
> >> doctors in the US with a specialty in
> naturopathic
> >> medicine.
> >>
> >> The new Dr. Cooke, blind since birth, will
> carry
> >> the usual medical
> >> instruments in her black bag, including a blood
> >> pressure cuff, a
> >> thermometer, and a Pocket
> >> PC crammed with medical references - a tool
> most
> >> modern doctors rely on to
> >> help with diagnosis, prescribing the right
> >> medicine, and ordering and
> >> interpreting
> >> lab work. The difference is her tools of the
> trade
> >> will talk. In fact, in
> >> large part, she credits her ability to be a
> good
> >> doctor to a
> >> PAC Mate
> >> T accessible Pocket PC for the blind and two
> >> Oregon men who made medical
> >> reference software accessible to the visually
> >> impaired, using the PAC
> >> Mate.
> >>
> >> The PAC Mate is the first and only accessible
> >> Pocket PC that is founded on
> >> mainstream technology. As such, it does more
> than
> >> talk; it can run many
> >> programs
> >> developed for off-the-shelf Pocket PCs -
> including
> >> medical software. The
> >> PAC
> >> Mate also incorporates
> >> JAWS for Windows
> >> �, leading screen reading software that can
> > easily
> >> be adapted with scripts
> >> to make those programs accessible for blind
> users.
> >>
> >> Cooke, who at 40 is completing her last months'
> >> studies at the National
> >> College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland,
> >> chose naturopathy as her
> >> specialty
> >> because, "Naturopathy combines the prescription
> of
> >> (standard manufactured)
> >> drugs with natural remedies and emphasizes
> general
> >> diagnosis, the use of
> >> natural
> >> therapeutics and traditional medicine, and we
> work
> >> with diet, nutrition,
> >> life style, and botanical medicine," she said.
> >> "Ultimately, naturopathy is
> >> about
> >> treating the whole body and finding the cause
> of
> >> disease and not just
> >> symptoms."
> >>
> >> Naturopathic specialists are licensed in 15
> states
> >> and all Canadian
> >> provinces. "We study the first two years the
> same
> >> as any MD studies -
> >> pharmacology and
> >> all the basic sciences," she said. "In the last
> >> two years, we do thousands
> >> of hours of clinical work, and study nutrition,
> >> natural therapeutics,
> >> homeopathy,
> >> and botanical medicine. That's where it is
> >> important to have (portable)
> >> access to medical research and current
> >> information. Medical knowledge
> >> changes weekly.
> >> It wouldn't be practical to scan all this
> >> information and print it. It
> >> would
> >> be too unwieldy to have to look through all
> those
> >> printed resources and
> >> keep
> >> them updated, even with sighted assistance."
> >>
> >> "In my third year of medical studies last year,
> I
> >> realized that all the
> >> comprehensive medical reference software out
> there
> >> was moving toward PDAs
> >> (Personal
> >> Digital Assistants, also called Pocket PCs) or
> the
> >> Internet," she said.
> >> "You
> >> don't always have an Internet connection, so I
> >> decided a PDA would be best
> >> for me."
> >>
> >> Cooke was interested in
> >> Epocrates Essentials
> >> T, an all-in-one mobile guide to drugs,
> diseases,
> >> and diagnostics. "I
> >> looked
> >> into what could possibly run this kind of
> program
> >> for me (and be
> >> accessible).
> >> Only the PAC Mate could, so I contacted the
> Oregon
> >> Commission for the
> >> Blind
> >> and requested the purchase of a PAC Mate."
> >>
> >> She chose the BX 440 model which comes with a
> >> braille display and
> >> Perkins-style keyboard, often used by the blind
> in
> >> place of the
> >> traditional
> >> QWERTY typewriter
> >> layout keyboard. The PAC Mate, as with any
> >> mainstream Pocket PC or PDA,
> >> allows her to take notes, write and receive
> >> e-mail, surf the Web with an
> >> Internet
> >> connection, use a calendar, calculator, and
> other
> >> standard PDA functions -
> >> all made accessible for the blind.
> >>
> >> "I really enjoy my PAC Mate," said Cooke. "I
> take
> >> all my chart notes on it
> >> and print them out on a portable printer that
> >> works with it. I like the
> >> flexibility
> >> of having the traditional PDA applications
> running
> >> on my PAC Mate."
> >>
> >> She still had one more obstacle in her way. The
> >> professional medical
> >> software written for PDAs was not accessible to
> >> the blind.
> >>
> >> "I knew the PAC Mate would run the (Epocrates)
> >> software, but it would need
> >> to be scripted to be accessible to me."' That's
> >> where Michael Hooks, a
> >> legally
> >> blind former assistive technology specialist at
> >> the Washington State
> >> School
> >> for the Blind, stepped in. Along with his
> >> associate, Chris Meredith who is
> >> totally blind, Hooks owns and operates
> >> Next Level Assistive Technology,
> >> a Vancouver, Washington-based business that
> serves
> >> the greater Northwest.
> >> The company consults with universities,
> government
> >> agencies, and others on
> >> assistive
> >> technology and also sells accessible technology
> >> products.
> >>
> >> Scripting is the process of writing a series of
> >> statements that tells JAWS
> >> how to navigate or what to read under different
> >> conditions. With the
> >> blessing
> >> of Epocrates, Inc., Hooks and Meredith began
> >> writing a script for the PAC
> >> Mate that would make the software accessible.
> >>
> >> "I've been writing scripts for JAWS since 1996,
> >> basically since its
> >> inception," Hooks said. "I have a lot of
> >> experience, but this was the
> >> first
> >> time I had
> >> written a script for the PAC Mate. A week or so
> >> later, Chris (Meredith)
> >> and
> >> I had it scripted, ready to go, and functional.
> >> The PAC Mate is truly the
> >> most
> >> powerful PDA for the blind on the market today.
> >> Most (Pocket PC software)
> >> can be installed and will work right out of the
> >> box. Because The PAC Mate
> >> uses
> >> JAWS, we can easily script programs to be fully
> >> functional. Competing
> >> products don't have that kind of flexibility."
> >>
> >> "I was amazed at how quickly they had Epocrates
> >> scripted for my PAC Mate,"
> >> Cooke said. "I also enjoyed being part of the
> >> process, where (Hooks and
> >> Meredith)
> >> were not familiar with something medical, I
> could
> >> give them suggestions
> >> about how it worked best with us. It worked out
> >> really well."
> >>
> >> Cooke practices 12 hours a week in her school's
> >> teaching clinics and a
> >> community clinic. With Epocrates made
> accessible,
> >> "Now I have access at my
> >> fingertips
> >> to diagnosis tools, signs and symptoms of
> >> diseases, and causes and
> >> treatments. I also have a lab tool. If I want
> to
> >> order a lab, I know how
> >> much it's going
> >> to cost. I can interpret the lab work. Within
> one
> >> tool, I also have an
> >> infectious disease component, so, let's say, if
> >> someone comes in with
> >> Strep
> >> throat,
> >> I can look it up and see what drugs are usually
> >> used to treat it." She
> >> also
> >> is using Pocket Excel on the PAC Mate to set up
> a
> >> 450-item spreadsheet of
> >> medicinal
> >> product ingredients, prices, and pertinent
> >> information she needs when
> >> seeing
> >> patients.
> >>
> >> Hooks and Meredith have gone on to write
> scripts
> >> that make two additional
> >> medical reference guides for Pocket PCs
> accessible
> >> on the PAC Mate. One
> >> program
> >> is a reference manual for the chart codes for
> >> diseases. The other is a
> >> series of internal medicine manuals.
> >>
> >> "I definitely get great benefit from my PAC
> Mate
> >> with all of these
> >> programs," Cooke said. "I can look up things
> >> during my clinic shifts,
> >> things that all
> >> doctors are expected to look up like drugs and
> the
> >> interactions they might
> >> have and what herbs interact with prescription
> >> drugs. I can also look up
> >> side
> >> effects of drugs patients are on now. If I'm
> >> diagnosing a potential
> >> disease,
> >> I have the explanations there of differential
> >> diagnoses, and I can present
> >> them for a case. Mostly, it's just a great tool
> to
> >> have for all of these
> >> things."
> >>
> >> With her accessible tools, Cooke said, she can
> >> practice medicine on a
> >> level
> >> playing field with her sighted colleagues. "The
> >> only thing I need help
> >> with
> >> is a student or doctor to assist me with
> things,
> >> like if a person needs me
> >> to look at a rash or needs me to look into an
> >> ear." In fact, other doctors
> >> have
> >> asked Chris to use her PAC Mate to help them
> >> rapidly develop treatment
> >> plans.
> >>
> >> As for her patients' reaction to her blindness
> and
> >> her unique accessible
> >> medical tools, Cooke says, "Occasionally, a
> >> patient is taken aback for a
> >> few
> >> minutes,
> >> but because I talk and really listen to them,
> they
> >> really enjoy working
> >> with
> >> me. They are always fascinated by the PAC Mate
> and
> >> what it is. They are
> >> fascinated
> >> by the braille display particularly."
> >>
> >> Chris expects to set up her practice in
> Portland,
> >> with a second office in
> >> nearby Newberg.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> >> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> >> Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.2.1/279 -
> >> Release Date: 3/10/2006
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
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