World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness of how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.

CheckUP manage the Healthy Ears: Better Hearing Better Listening (Healthy Ears) program. Providing services in urban, rural, regional, remote and very remote communities across Queensland, the Healthy Ears program aims to increase access to ear and hearing health services for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of hearing health conditions in First Nations children and youth.

Otitis media (inflammation and/or infection of the middle ear) is the main condition contributing towards hearing loss in First Nations children. Experiencing hearing loss in childhood can affect speech and language development, and may lead to behavioural problems, early school leaving, limited employment options and increased contact with the criminal justice system (Burns and Thomson 2013).

Health promotion and regular routine ear and hearing health checks are integral for preventable hearing loss. Care for Kids’ Ears offers information and resources about ear health for parents, carers, teachers, teachers’ aides, early childhood workers and health professionals. The resources aim to help reduce rates of otitis media among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. These are free and available to order now on the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation’s website.

Left image: Michaela Pacini TCHHS Maternal Child and Family Nurse with patient. Right image: Kirsten Tregenza TCHHS Audiologist with patient.

Through the Healthy Ears program, CheckUP support the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service’s (TCHHS) Ear and Hearing Health multi-disciplinary team to facilitate children’s ear checks across rural and remote Cape communities.

Recently TCHHS’s Maternal Child and Family Nurse Michaela Pacini was joined by Audiologist Kris Tregenza, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner Maria Smith and Pormpuraaw Health Worker Carolyn Brian at Pormpuraaw State School to perform ear health checks for all the children.

87% of children currently enrolled at Pormpuraaw State School and in community were screened over two and a half days. The children were excited to have their ears checked, with the team using the video otoscopy which is an examination which allows the kids to see live footage of the inside of their ear canals, followed by the tympanometry and audiometry ‘listening game’ equipment making the ear check fun and engaging.

It was a great outcome as no active ear infections were identified and just over a handful of kids need new Audiologist referrals.

Healthy Ears is managed by CheckUP and is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care under the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme.

Left image: Maria Smith TCHHS Health practitioner with patient. Right image: Kirsten Tregenza TCHHS Audiologist with patient.