By Annerina Grobbelaar | Project Leader & Pediatric Audiologist
We are extremely excited to announce that we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our diagnostic audiometer, real-ear analyzer, equipment to measure auditory-evoked potentials, video visual response audiometry system, as well as our soundproof booth, all (except for the booth) due to arrive THIS WEEK! We have received confirmation of this massive donation from the Hear the World Foundation in June this year, and we cannot find words adequate enough to express our heartfelt thanks for this donation.
This donation has enabled us to use the funds raised on GlobalGiving to replace a faulty part on our screening equipment, as we no longer had to save up the necessary funds to buy the more expensive equipment needed to conduct hearing assessments etc. We were also able to buy our own printer to print the stickers and handouts that we use at the clinics where the babies' hearing are tested, as well as a laptop for capturing the data and a cellphone to keep track of all the babies in need of some further testing. We were also able to have signboards made up to put up outside the local clinics, which inform and encourage the mothers in the local communities to bring their babies to the clinics on the designated days. Thanks to your generous donations we will now be running an extremely professional and visible screening project at our immunization clinics, in order to detect hearing loss in babies while they are still very young!
In the near future we will be changing our project on GlobalGiving into smaller projects - as we still need the funds to cover day-to-day expenses for running the clinics, as well as funds for auditory-verbal therapy sessions, hearing aids, earmoulds, repairs and batteries. There are also exciting times ahead for one of our families that we work with, as their deaf toddler might be a candidate for a cochlear implant, and they will need some help paying for that as well. Since we will be able to conduct all diagnostic hearing tests locally, we are also free to expand our screening project to include the clinics of the neighbouring towns as well - identifying and helping even more infants with hearing loss!
Be sure to be on the look-out for our next report, as that will include photos of the equipment that we have received as well as photos of our screening clinics!
Thank you again for helping us make our impossible dream possible!
Have a blessed week!
The Sound for Silence team
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