Deaf cancer patient stars in 500th Hear Me Now recording

With nation's largest library of patient/provider stories, Providence uses storytelling to honor diversity, make healthcare more humane

LOS ANGELES, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Christine Kostrubala, who is deaf and survived breast cancer, recently participated in the 500^th recording for Hear Me Now^™, a storytelling and listening program at Providence.

One of the nation's largest health systems now has the largest library of patient/provider stories.

In this milestone audio/visual recording, Kostrubala of Bremerton, Wash., shares challenges she's faced with healthcare outside of Providence, including a doctor who assumed she was intellectually disabled because she's deaf.

When it comes to accommodating deaf people, "the whole profession has a long way to go," Kostrubala said, through interpreter Sarah Rasmussen. Kostrubala noted that inviting patients and providers to share their stories through Hear Me Now offers an innovative way to improve understanding and quality of care.

"I really enjoyed having my conversation recorded," she said. "It felt like I was being 'heard.'"

Hear her story, "When a deaf person is heard," here. (All recordings are available in closed captioning.)

The clinical value of storytelling is well established. Providence Institute for Human Caring founded Hear Me Now in 2016, initially in partnership with StoryCorps. Hear Me Now offers a safe place to record stories, and celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion to promote trust, understanding and healing. The Hear Me Now storytelling and listening program is free and open to anyone.

Recordings can be done in person or online. Conversations are typically between two people who know each other, and last about 40 minutes. Many recordings are edited into 3- to 5-minute audio/visual clips and posted at HearMeNowStories.org.

Participants receive an unedited copy of their recording. With participant permission, recordings are archived in the American Folklife Center at the U.S. Library of Congress and at StoryCorps.

Hear Me Now, and the associated Hear Me Now podcast, have earned national and international acclaim, including: National Storytelling Network's Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling (2017); Modern Healthcare's Marketing Impact Award, Website Campaign (silver, 2020); International Hospital Federation's Special Recognition (2020); and PR News' Top Podcast (Nonprofit, 2022).

Contact us to become a sponsor or learn how to establish a storytelling/listening program at your organization, [email protected].

Providence Institute for Human Caring creates ways for patients and loved ones to partner with providers to achieve highly personalized, world-class care while saving costs. Providence is a national, not-for-profit Catholic health system comprising a diverse family of organizations and driven by a belief that health is a human right. With 52 hospitals, more than 1,000 physician clinics, senior services, supportive housing, and many other health and educational services, the health system and its partners employ more than 120,000 caregivers serving communities across seven states – Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, with system offices in Renton, Wash., and Irvine, Calif. Visit InstituteForHumanCaring.org

SOURCE Institute for Human Caring