Belizeans treated for hearing disorders
The problems range from simple infections, easily cured by antibiotics, to congenital loss of hearing, requiring complex surgery. As News Five’s Jose Sanchez found out this morning, there is no shortage of “haad ayes pikni.”
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
If you can hear the words I’m speaking without turning up the volume on your T.V., you probably don’t need to have your ears examined, but not everyone is so fortunate. For the last week, a team of hearing professionals has been touring the country to diagnose and treat hundreds of people with hearing problems. Today Tessa Coto brought her son Scott to a temporary clinic set up at the Special Education Unit on Freetown Road.
Tessa Coto, Parent
“Well I bring him here to make them check his ear. Sometimes he complains of a little earache and I brought him to let them see if he needs any medication.”
Jose Sanchez
“What has the audiologist told you she can do for your son?”
Tessa Coto
“She just told me that maybe I can get some drops to put in it.”
Joanna Ramsey is a Peace Corps Volunteer and the country’s only resident audiologist. This week she received some welcomed professional assistance.
Joanna Ramsey, Audiologist
“We have managed to get some hearing professionals who have donated hearing aids and their services for a week. They came down and we scheduled hearing screenings all over the country. We had one in Dangriga, Belmopan, Toledo and then Belize City. I do the screening myself basically all through the year. Then I find people who are out district and if they need to get hearing aids and they come to see me. I get them donated, so they are free for every one, and the testing is all free.”
The program, coordinated by the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired, has received donations from a hearing aid company in the United States. Starkey Hearing Aids and Rotary Clubs in the U.S. and Belize have made arrangements to deliver hearing aids at little or no cost to those who need and they have also secured new equipment for diagnosing patients.
Joanna Ramsey
“The machines they have brought down are computerized audiometers and they test for middle ear diseases and infections of the ear. So what we do is a hearing test, which tests the hearing level to see if there is hearing loss, and we also do a test with the same machine that can detect infections that are present that you may not be able to see or there is fluid behind the ear drums and if the have some kind of ear disease, it will detect that.”
While the visiting professionals will be leaving over the weekend Ramsey will be here for one more year. Jose Sanchez Reporting for News Five.
Joanna Ramsey is based at the Special Education Unit in Belize City. Telephone number is 31150.
