Helping Hearing in Samoa

 

 

This was our 25^th trip to work in Samoa since 2008.

 

We worked from Monday until Friday in the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) clinic at TTM hospital Apia. Cristy assessed the hearing of 16 children and 14 adults including a partially sighted child who had proved difficult to test on earlier visits.

 

I saw 10 children and 28 adults, fitted 44 hearing aids and left 4 more hearing aids set up to fit when earmoulds were available. We also took 24 impressions of clients’ ears, brought them back to Australia and sent them off to be made up into custom-made earmoulds.

 

One of the children we saw on this visit was first fitted in 2024 and she came back this year for a follow-up. Her father reported that he noticed a positive change in her school performance and social relationships.

 

We fitted adults with used hearing aids which have been donated from a number of sources. It was very sad to see so many such severe losses, one after the other, but gratifying to see so many faces light up when we fitted a hearing aid.

 

On Tuesday evening we attended a meeting of the Rotary Club of Apia, who are our local contact for our Rotary Australia World Community Service Samoa project. We also contacted a dentist, Dr Emosi Ah Ching, in the nearby island of Savaii to discuss the help provided by our fellow Rotarian, John Green, who is involved in this project.

 

We followed up the visit by posting two parcels to Samoa with supplies, earmoulds, hearing aids and equipment, which have just arrived.