In addition to our month-long program at Thuan An Center, we are spending a few days at Children’s Hospital 1 in HCMC to provide consultation to their ENT doctors about cochlear implant mapping and ABR hearing testing.
We added two hospitals to the list of participants in our Deaf Education Program after members of their medical team attended our audiology and auditory-verbal workshops last summer and wished to continue their professional development. The addition of the hospitals has enabled us to broaden our impact on the system of support for children with hearing loss across both health and education.
During last March’s Mobile Mission, we conducted training in audiology and auditory-verbal practice with doctors, technicians, and therapists there and from hospitals across Vietnam who were invited to attend. After that event, the doctors at CH1 asked that we return as part of this summer’s event.
I joined audiologist Christi Sperry for the first day which was centered around the topic of cochlear implants. We reviewed the hospital’s CI program with the doctors and discussed its successes and areas of opportunity.
In the afternoon, a young girl with bilateral cochlear implants and her parents joined us for a mapping session to address her difficulties hearing. Christi led the participants and the family through the live process of reprogramming, pointing out the nuances of mapping that are important to account for to ensure the young girl’s cochlear implants are working as optimally as possible.
The training resumes tomorrow at CH1 with ABR, a test that assesses hearing loss in babies. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the hospital into the future. We appreciate their trust in us as we support their efforts to improve audiological services and hearing health care for the youngest members of Vietnam society and their families.