Test babies’ hearing

The Paediatric Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) would like to ensure that every baby born at that institution undergoes a hearing test.

 

This is according to the Head of Department of Paediatrics at the QEH, Dr. Clyde Cave, who spoke with the Barbados Advocate recently after a 

handover of equipment.

 

He said that this has been their goal for more than a decade now as this is the practice that is common in other parts across the globe. Unfortunately, they have not been able to get it done until now, via the donation of a Natus Hearing Screening Machine.

 

“Since 2002 we have been trying to make sure that every baby born in Barbados had a hearing screening test, which is what is done in other countries in the world and for various reasons because of equipment or staff or various other reasons, we haven’t been able to get it consistently done.”

 

Their reasons for not getting the tests done before had to do with issues relating to equipment and other areas, but now thanks to the generous donation of both the Rotary Club of Barbados South and St. Nicolas Abbey, they have finally been able to achieve this goal.

 

“The most recent thing is that the screening equipment that we had was not working. As you can imagine if you only have one piece of equipment and it is not working, then the service has to stop. So the private donations from the St. Nicolas Abbey and the Rotary Club are the two people who have combined to purchase it for us.”

 

The Head of Paediatrics stated that this is important because if there is a problem, it is important for you to catch it early so that something can be done about it.

 

“We now have two pieces of equipment that would ensure that every baby born in Barbados can have a hearing test screened and that is important because – I don’t know if you have been following in the news recently but the Sandy Lane Trust has been partnering with the World Paediatric Foundation and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to do cochlear implants which is a very high level hearing aid that needs to be done early and in order to do it early, you have to identify the children from pretty early – at birth – so the two things are complimentary.”

 

As for the donations itself, Dr. Cave said that as a civil service organization they are not permitted to approach anyone for donations either monetary or in kind, but if any organization approaches them, then they have a list of much needed items thatany benefactor organization can assist them with and the item chosen would depend on the organization’s budget as was the case with these two organizations.

 

“When generous benefactors ask what you need, we do have a wish list of things that they can see you know, what suits their purposes and for people who want to give $5000, there are things in that category and for bigger ticket items like this, sometimes you have to combine forces.”