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10/24/2016  |   10:30 AM - 11:30 AM   |  BGPOP Building 402/403/404

The Hear the World Foundation Project in the Dominican Republic: Building Local Capacities and Investing in Early Identification

The aim of the Hear the World Foundation is to enable people all over the world to enjoy better hearing. Every year we receive a large number of applications for support. An essential criterion for selecting and implementing projects is sustainability. In all the projects we support worldwide, we are committed to establishing and cultivating the expertise needed on site. This way, we can ensure long-term audiological care and create local jobs simultaneously, which is a key part of the sustainable work of any foundation. The quality of audiological care provided is a crucial element of sustainability, and attention is paid to the potential for “High quality evidence-based practice,” “Long-term capacity-building,” and “Outcome-monitoring.” The Hear the World Foundation has been partnering with the Centro Cristiano de Servicios Medicos, in the Dominican Republic, since 2010. The partnership started with the financing of a sound-level meter. Subsequently, funding by the Hear the World Foundation supported an audiological education program to train local experts. The program now employs 15 qualified audiologists, who offer the Dominican population top-quality audiological care. In recent years, modern digital hearing aids as well as more accurate fitting with first-class audiological equipment, has been made possible thanks to support by the Foundation. Now the cooperation has reached yet another milestone: establishment of the first newborn hearing screening program in the Dominican Republic. To be able to provide high standard care to the increased number of patients who will now come for follow-up care, a new audiology clinic was opened in February 2016, with support from the Hear the World Foundation,

• Building up local skills and expertise: The participants understand that, in all the projects we support worldwide, we are committed to establishing and cultivating the expertise needed on site. This way we can guarantee the provision of long-term audiological care on site and create local jobs too – which is a key part of the sustainable work of any foundation. Expert knowledge is passed on from teams of volunteers of qualified Sonova employees and, wherever necessary, other specialists.
• Applying the audiology gold standard for everyone: On the basis of this presentation, participants will understand that fitting children with amplification is a challenge and a big responsibility. Over the years a validated protocol for pediatric fittings has been developed and adopted. We strongly believe that children in low-income countries have the right to receive the same quality of audiological care as those in countries with higher income. We therefore make sure that our project partners have the right training and equipment to diagnose hearing loss, fit and verify the hearing aid fitting in accordance with international standards.
• TBD

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Ora Buerkli (Primary Presenter,Author), Sonova, ora.buerkli@hear-the-world.com;
Ora Buerkli received her Msc in Audiology from San Francisco State University. After holding diverse positions in pediatric and clinical audiology she joined Phonak in 1984. During her time with Phonak she held different positions in Audiology, Product and Brand Management. She is currently VP Global Audiology. Ora has been a member of the board of directors of the Hear the World Foundation from its inception. In this capacity she has been giving professional input to the board and key projects sponsored by the foundation.

ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - Nonfinancial -

AAA DISCLOSURE: Financial - No relevant financial relationship exists.

Ora Buerkli (Author,Co-Author), Hear the World Foundation, Ora.Buerkli@sonova.com;
Ora Buerkli received her Msc in Audiology from San Francisco State University. After holding diverse positions in pediatric and clinical audiology she joined Phonak in 1984. During her time with Phonak she held different positions in Audiology, Product and Brand Management. She is currently VP Global Audiology. Ora has been a member of the board of directors of the Hear the World Foundation from its inception. In this capacity she has been giving professional input to the board and key projects sponsored by the foundation.

ASHA DISCLOSURE: Financial - Nonfinancial -

AAA DISCLOSURE: Financial - No relevant financial relationship exists.