Annual Report The Elks and Royal Purple Saskatchewan Pediatric Auditory Rehabilitation Centre

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1 Annual Report The Elks and Royal Purple Saskatchewan Pediatric Auditory Rehabilitation Centre SPARC Nigel s initial cochlear implant stimulation Prepared by: Lynne C. Brewster, Ph.D., Program Head, SPARC

2 Executive Summary Michael and his dad Walk-a-thon guest speakers Prince Albert Walk-a-thon SPARC is a family centred program for children with hearing loss. Parents are helped to understand hearing loss and learn to communicate effectively with their children. The major focus of the program is to ensure the child is accessing sound optimally, either through the use of amplification or cochlear implants. Sign language is also recommended for some. In the past year, the program has seen 107 children with hearing loss for diagnostic evaluation and rehabilitation. The philosophy for the program continues to include an auditory-verbal component. Auditory-verbal therapy relies heavily on parental involvement and encourages the use of residual hearing to develop spoken language. SPARC plays a major role in the cochlear implant program. SPARC personnel are members of a multi-disciplinary team that is responsible for candidate selection, counselling, equipment programming, rehabilitative services and monitoring progress of children with cochlear implants. SPARC presents workshops to education and health professionals in Saskatchewan. These workshops are often held in conjunction with school consultations. Workshops were held in Kamsack, Belgard, Estevan and Meadow Lake this year. SPARC made a presentation at Royal University Hospital Grand Rounds helping inform other donors in the Province of the role the Elks and Royal Purple play is supporting programs for children with hearing loss. Much of SPARC's funding is raised through an annual Walka-thon. The 2012 Walk-a-thon was held in Prince Albert and it was extremely successful. The next Walk-a-thon will be in Moose Jaw. 2

3 Administrative Structure The Elks and Royal Purple Saskatchewan Pediatric Auditory Rehabilitation Centre (SPARC) was established in 1976 under the Department of Surgery, College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. A proposal for SPARC was submitted to the Elks' Purple Cross Deaf Detection and Development Program and the program was approved at the Grand Lodge Convention in the summer of The first Elks' Walk-a-thon was held that fall. SPARC was officially opened in September 1976 at Royal University Hospital, University of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Health made a commitment to provide an ongoing annual grant to the program in the early 1980 s. SPARC continues to be an integral part of the Saskatchewan Cochlear Implant Program. This year saw a dramatic increase in the number of children seen for cochlear implant assessment. As Saskatchewan continues to grow so does the population of children with hearing loss. With the advent of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, SPARC is playing the leading role in the development of services for these newly identified infants. Funding for the program comes from the Elks and Royal Purple Fund for Children and the Ministry Health. The program is a Health Service Provision Centre at the University of Saskatchewan and is affiliated with the College of Medicine, Department of Surgery. Accounts are administered through Special Accounts at the University of Saskatchewan. The Saskatoon Health Region provides space and secretarial services at Royal University Hospital. The staff consists of Alexa Gorenko, a Speech/ Language Pathologist and Lynne Brewster, an Audiologist. Both are Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapists. Lynne Brewster is the Program Head and Dr. P. Gore-Hickman is the Director. Diagnostic and Rehabilitative Services Hearing loss is a complex issue and parents need to develop an understanding of the implications to develop realistic expectations for their children. Services include the provision of ongoing developmental speech, language, communication and audiological assessments. Psychological, otological, genetic counselling and other services are accessed as necessary. SPARC works closely with the audiology community in Saskatchewan. We would like to thank the Audiology Department at Royal University Hospital, the Hearing Aid Plans in Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, North Battleford and Prince Albert for their cooperation and access to their equipment. We would also like to thank Eastside Audiology, Prince Albert Hearing Services and Carlton Trail Hearing Clinic for their willingness to accommodate us. SPARC has worked with more than 900 families from all over Saskatchewan since its inception in Cochlear Implant Rehabilitation SPARC personnel are members of a multidisciplinary team that is responsible for candidate determination for surgical investigation, counselling, programming equipment, the provision of rehabilitative services and monitoring progress of the cochlear implant recipient. Children with severe to profound hearing losses are usually assessed for cochlear implantation candidacy as part of their rehabilitation program. This has been a busy year with fourteen children receiving cochlear implants. Seven of these children received two cochlear implants which further increases the workload. Seven children are in the assessment process. 3

4 Student Education University students receive lectures on the importance of early identification of hearing loss and the management of children who have hearing losses. The Department of Audiology and SPARC frequently have audiology student interns from the University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia. A guest lecture was also given at the University of Regina to Education students. Support to Education Based Programs SPARC works with parents and teachers to make the transition into school successful for young children with hearing loss. We also help teachers and other professionals understand what it means to have a child with a hearing loss in their program. SPARC provides education follow-up for the school divisions on a contractual basis. Newborn Hearing Screening Newborn Hearing Screening has been in effect at Royal University Hospital for the past three years. This has resulted in children s hearing losses being diagnosed earlier. This is particularly true for children with mild to moderate hearing losses. This has resulted in additional work for SPARC as we are involved in the diagnosis of these children, the follow up and the rehabilitation. Research The research interests of SPARC have focused on cochlear implants in children in the past few years. The following areas have been of particular interest: bilateral implantation current practices in Canada personal FM technologies benefits of current cochlear implant technologies the use of tablet computers for rehabilitation documentation of parent and child interaction strategies. Future Direction The Elks and Royal Purple SPARC will continue to function under the administrative umbrella of the University of Saskatchewan. With the increase in caseload and the decrease in resources there is a need to change SPARC s delivery model. The program must make more effective use of distance education for the delivery of therapy and equipment management. This will be a major area of focus over the next year. SPARC continue to develop its website. SPARC continues to work with the planning team for the Saskatchewan Children s Hospital to ensure appropriate space and equipment is provided. SPARC will continue to play an active role in the Saskatchewan Cochlear Implant Program. SPARC has a significant role to play in the development of a Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program. Comprehensive and timely rehabilitation are critical for the program to be successful. SPARC continues to work with the Prince Albert Grand Council to provide early childhood hearing screening. SPARC would like to take this opportunity the thank the Elks and the Royal Purple for their continued support. For additional information about the program, please contact: Dr. Lynne Brewster, Program Head, SPARC Rm 21 Ellis Hall Royal University Hospital Saskatoon, SK S7N OW

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