Mt. Sinai Hospital


Best Community Program

Dr. Gary Kauffman

Received by: Dr. Gary Kauffman MD, Director of the Mt. Sinai Hospital Deaf Access Program, Mt Sinai Hospital 
Presented by: Pat Scherer, International Center on Deafness and the Arts

The Deaf Access Program, headquartered at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, offers a comprehensive program that provides both medical and mental health services for deaf children and adults.  The DAP is sensitive to both the language and culture of the deaf community, and is strengthened by a program manager who is deaf, in addition to three physicians fluent in American Sign Language, three staff interpreters, and three signing mental health therapists. The program serves as a national model, and has been approached by three other states to assist them in developing similar programs.