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10/10/2015  |   12:15 PM - 1:15 PM   |  Andrew Foster Auditorium

Doing What Works - The Evolution of Project EAR in the Dominican Republic

Much has been written about the problems inherent in providing hearing healthcare services in developing countries. These problems include but are not limited to: 1) Low public awareness, 2) Lack of access to care due to cost, lack of training and/or equipment, 3) Lack of adequate follow-up care, 4) Governmental disinterest in hearing healthcare, and 5) Failure of groups providing specialty services (medical/surgical, audiology, speech therapy, deaf education, etc) to work together to achieve common goals. Given these challenges, the members of Project EAR embarked on our first medical mission in 1995 with a strong desire to help those in need, but little knowledge regarding best practices. Since 1995, Project EAR has conducted 40 one-week medical missions, performing otologic surgery, screening and diagnostic audiology, hearing aid fitting, and education of otolaryngologists and otolaryngology residents in the Dominican Republic. This presentation will review our experiences in the Dominican Republic and focus on the challenges we have faced and the strategies that have enabled us to be successful. Furthermore, we will review or proposed plan for the future and discuss the ways in which this plan will allow us to maximize patient care and education.

• Participant will better understand the problems inherent in improving hearing healthcare in a developing country.
• Participant will gain strategies helpful in working with local governments, healthcare workers, and patients to advance hearing healthcare.
• Participants will be able to implement a model to maximize education and patient care at minimal cost

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Edward Dodson (POC,Primary Presenter), 1. OSU Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery LLC 2. Project EAR, edward.dodson@osumc.edu;
Dr. Dodson is a Professor of Otology, Neurotology & Cranial Base Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology at The Ohio State University. A faculty member since 1996, Dr. Dodson completed all of his education (undergraduate through Neurotology Fellowship) at the University of Virginia. Dr. Dodson also has adjunct faculty appointments in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science and the Department of Neurosurgery. In 1995, Dr. Dodson joined his mentor, Paul Lambert, on the inaugural Project EAR medical mission to the Dominican Republic, providing hearing healthcare to the underserved population in the country and educating local doctors and healthcare workers. Since then he has led 41 of the 50 Project EAR trips, and has served as president of the organization since it became an official non-profit organization in 2000. In 2006 Dr. Dodson helped establish the first (and only) cochlear implant program in the Dominican Republic.