Children’s Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City is one of the busiest pediatric hospitals in Vietnam. Over 7,000 children pour through the gates each day and as both parents usually accompany them, the volume of human traffic here is comparable to a small town. Controlled chaos to be sure and resources are sorely limited but the medical teams here take it all in stride with determined optimism. It is something to see and is a truly inspiring place.Eighteen ENT doctors and technicians from hospitals, universities, and medical companies in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City took part in this week’s Global Foundation audiology course at Children’s Hospital 1. Fourteen of the 18 participated in our audiology training last March and several also joined our short course this past summer. 
The focus of this week’s effort is on ABR and behavioral testing, diagnostics, and case management. We are combining lecture with time in the sound booths to test and treat children of different ages and types of hearing loss. Global Foundation audiologists Jane Madell and Elizabeth Preston are demonstrating to the Vietnamese how best to test children and why different types of hearing tests are needed to determine hearing loss.
We are also talking about the auditory brain and the role that audiologists play in language development in a child with a hearing loss. We will continue to build on the participants’ expertise throughout this week and later this summer.