Are you ready to learn more about Dr. Zachary Featherstone, our second preceptor in the Shadowing: Behind the Scenes Series?
Zachary Featherstone, DO is a deaf pediatrician at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital in Elko, Nevada. He also is well known for his litigation with Pacific Northwest University of Health Science, College of Osteopathic Medicine (PNWU-COM) when they rescinded his admission. He co-runs Deaf in Scrubs with Ian DeAndrea-Lazarus, MD/PhD candidate to improve access to medical knowledge for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
We invited Dr. Featherstone for an interview and his response will be signed and typed below.
Zachary Featherstone, DO
Read each question below with the typed responses and the video is provided with captioning and voiceover.
What healthcare field are you currently working in and what about this field interests you?
Transcript:
Hello! My name is Dr. Zach Featherstone.
I am Deaf. I’m a Pediatrician, in other words, I take care of children. From birth until 18-21 years old. That’s my profession.
Examples are: I take care of newborns at the hospital. Additionally, if a sick child presented to the ER, the ER will contact me to help. Or, if a child comes to the hospital sick, I will be the one to admit the child to the hospital and care for the child. Here, I get to practice the whole spectrum of pediatrics and I love it.
From your recent shadowing with a trainee, what did you learn from this shadowing experience?
Transcript:
I recently had a Deaf pre-med student shadow me, Rhiannon Wagner, a superb and wonderful person.
What a wonderful experience it was! The first time I had a Deaf pre-med student come shadow me. To see what I do, how I work, how I do a number of things, how do I communicate and work with patients. For example, If someone coded, what did I do? What are the steps?
I was really impressed with Rhiannon. It’s really a great experience because when she shadowed me, I look back and wish I had that experience.
Why is it important to encourage D/HH students in taking a shadowing opportunity since now you became a healthcare professional?
Transcript:
When Rhiannon came to shadow me, I went through my typical day, signing with her and such. As I went through my day, it was easy for me to see how readily they absorbed the information and how a valuable experience it was for them. It was also a valuable experience for me too because when I was in AMPHL, (Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss) they helped me advance in medicine, and today, it’s my turn to help the next generation advance in medicine and I know they will help the generation after them.
There’s always people behind me lifting me up. In turn, I’ll lift the generation after me, and next generation will lift the next. What an immensely enjoyable thing it was for me.
For all those that are motivated and sincere pre-medical students who wants to come shadow me, come!
Dr. Featherstone’s shadowing mentee: Rhiannon Wagner
Dr. Featherstone mentored Rhiannon Wagner in Summer 2023 at the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital in Elko, Nevada, and shared his enthusiasm with her to learn more about pediatrics. This shadowing experience gave Rhiannon confidence to set her career goal on becoming a physician assistant. If you have not watched her testimonial about her shadowing experience, watch the Penfield Ambulance video. Her tireless dedication was recently recognized by the Howard Freckleton and Roy Hamel Endowed Scholarship for her work as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
The Howard Freckleton and Roy Hamel Endowed Scholarship is a scholarship granted to an RIT student who volunteers with a fire or ambulance service. It honors the memory of two local firefighters who dedicated their lives serving as first responders. Rhiannon's role as an EMT is a testament to her commitment to enhancing healthcare accessibility, particularly for marginalized communities.
That is an amazing honor, and she also became a Recruitment and Retention Director at RIT Ambulance!
We look forward to what Rhiannon’s future holds!
