In May 2006 I had been accepted into graduate school for the Audiology program at Wichita State University. For my first Audiology job, I worked at Wesley as part of the Newborn Screening Program. Get up at 5:30 a.m., go to Wesley, screen newborns, do paperwork, home around 2, play with my kids ages 1, 3, and 5, sleep, and repeat. Two weekends a month. Why? Newborns with hearing loss.
September is Newborn Screening Awareness Month. Newborn Screening Programs are in place to identify infants with conditions that can affect a child’s long term health or survival. Kansas currently screens for 29 conditions. Hearing loss is one of them. It is the highest occurring of all the conditions. Fast forward almost 10 years, my second Audiology job is at Rainbows. Close to the same routine, although my kids are older now. Why do I do what I do? Close to the same reason as when I began. Infants and toddlers have hearing loss. It will never get any easier to tell a family their child has a hearing impairment, but with Newborn Screening Programs, infants are being identified with hearing impairment earlier allowing them to realize their full potential! This post was written by Kayla Eldridge, Audiologist.
Infographic source: BabysFirstTest.org
