CANADIAN ELK ÉLANS CANADIEN - Elks of Canada

Dear members of the Elks and Royal Purple:
It is my pleasure to provide an update on the BC Family
Hearing Resource Society that provides services to
children aged birth to five with deafness and hearing
loss across the province of BC. We would not have
been able to deliver much-needed intervention services
to infants and children with hearing loss/deafness, if we
did not have the continued commitment and support of
the Elks and the Royal Purple members, who are our
largest donors.
For 30 years, our state-of-the-art facility has combined
expertise of highly skilled interventionists, innovation,
and technology to meet the needs of infants, toddlers,
and children with hearing loss, deafness, and communication
challenges. Our Society continues to be the largest
of three agencies that provide services to children
with hearing loss or deafness and offers all communication
options such as spoken language, sign language to
support spoken language and sign language (American
Sign Language) to children and their families. We strive
to deliver and advance services by providing early intervention,
support and education to children and their
families and community service professionals working
in remote communities.
Below is a snapshot of the services we provided in the
last year:
- Total number of hours of service provided by the
Society: 12,319.92
- Total number of families who received services: 262
Lower mainland: 163; Outreach: 99
- Number of children transitioned to kindergarten:
Lower Mainland: 29; Outreach: 24
- Children with Cochlear
Implants: 47
In the past year we focused
our resources on upgrading
our technology to meet the
ever-growing numbers of
families in rural and remote
communities.
BC FAMILY HEARING
RESOURCE SOCIETY
34
An online training platform, developed particularly for
outreach families in mind, will be operational this year.
This education tool has resources which can be accessed
through the internet, and will be personalized
for the use of each family based on their needs. We
are also in the final stages of completing a DVD that
summarizes our programs and services. This DVD will
be given to every new parent at the initial consultation
meeting. Our audio-visual and recording equipment
needed upgrading in our observation rooms and we are
in the process of working on it. The upgraded equipment
will enable interventionists to observe, analyze
and monitor progress in children.
Each year, the Society analyses its performance outcome
measures for quality improvement. This past
year, 96% of Lower Mainland families, 82% of outreach
families, and 88% of community service providers reported
satisfaction with overall quality of services. 96%
of SESLP families indicated satisfaction with overall
quality of services.
Our research affiliations with the University of British
Columbia enable us to investigate, learn and provide
evidence-based service delivery. The Society continues
to advance its research investigations to understand
and improve services for families and their children with
hearing loss.
We are a CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation
Facilities) accredited organization. We have
met internationally recognized standards of quality in
the provision of our services.
Our Society also held events and activities along with
the Elks and Royal Purple members. The Elks & Royal
Purple 11th annual Walkathon took place on Sunday,
May 27, 2012. More than 100 participants and supporters
walked or jogged through Campbell Valley Regional
Park in south Langley in support of the Society. Our
generous sponsors provided a light breakfast, lunch
and entertainment for the children. At the end of the
event, Walkathon Committee Chair and Elks member,
Barbara Gee, presented a cheque for the Society.