Part Two: Australian Hearing in the community

Part Two: Australian Hearing in the community
27
Visiting Docker River
Case Study
In the mid morning 35 degree
heat, audiologists Rebecca
Allnut and Alison King from
Australian Hearing and Renee
Garuccio from NT Hearing,
pushed open the door to the
Docker River Clinic in March
this year. The clinicians were
on one of three annual visits
to Docker River, an Indigenous
community of approximately
300 to 350 people. Docker
River is a two-and-a-half hour
trip by 4WD from the Olgas,
located a few kilometres from
the Western Australia border.
Docker River is a traditional
Indigenous community, and
for most people, English is
a third or fourth language.
This poses challenges for the
education of our paediatric
clients, primarily taught in
English, which are exacerbated
by hearing problems caused
by Otitis media (middle ear
infection). Known locally as
the ‘Ear Mob’, our staff bring
hearing health messages into
communities that are already
dealing with a number of
complex health issues.
Rebecca Allnut has visited
the Docker River community
for nine years. Our trips are
often done in collaboration
with NT Hearing. This ensures
a smooth transition between
the detection and diagnosis
of hearing loss by NT Hearing
and the provision of hearing
devices and follow-up services
by Australian Hearing.
During this visit, Rebecca
and Alison met with school
teachers to discuss results of
students’ hearing assessments
and hearing aid fittings. They
were also able to help the
teachers investigate classroom
amplification options and
funding sources, and provide
them with information about
the impact of hearing loss on
educational performance for
children who are learning in
a second language. Rebecca
and Alison also spent time
updating new clinic staff
about our services, and by
the end, had organised two
community education events
for May 2009 and a talk at
the local primary school.
Over her nine years, Rebecca
has met many people in several
different communities. Good
communication between
health workers, audiologists
and educators is essential in
ensuring that clients do not slip
through the net as they move
between communities. Rebecca
is now well known and our
clients are happy to talk to her,
as well as ask her for advice.
This trip was also used to
trial some new infant testing
equipment, which will allow us
to test babies’ hearing onsite
rather than flying them to
Alice Springs. Parents were
delighted with their babies’
responses to the hearing
test, setting the scene for a
positive discussion about the
importance of hearing.
Audiologists who visit remote
communities need to be
highly skilled in otoscopy. In
the course of the week, our
audiologists encountered
every possible variation on a
perforated ear drum, as well
as test results which didn’t
follow the typical patterns.
However, it was rewarding to
see the improvements resulting
from successful ear surgery or
a new hearing aid fitting.
The challenges of delivering
an audiology program in a
remote location are certainly
great, but the relationships
formed and the opportunity to
make a positive contribution to
the health of the community
are their own reward.
“The challenges of delivering an audiology program
in a remote location are certainly great, but the
relationships we form and the opportunity to make
a positive contribution to the health of the
community are their own reward.”