Antonia Brancia Maxon Award
For EHDI Excellence
Beth's passion is to ensure that all families with deaf and hard of hearing children are informed and empowered and that deaf and hard of hearing children have access to quality services and programs that promote success in language, literacy, and life. Beth exemplifies the best in collaboration and partnerships through her work with deaf and hearing communities.
For more than twenty years she has been a mentor to families with newly identified children. She currently serves as the president of the American Society for Deaf Children, founded in 1967 by parents, educators, and deaf individuals. She is a professor at Gallaudet University.
Beth has participated in many projects that move EHDI systems forward. She has been a key figure on EHDI conference planning and proposal review committees. She regularly presents at the EHDI conference and has successfully advocated for the inclusion of a more diverse agenda that includes the perspectives of deaf and hard of hearing adults. She has influenced EHDI systems to recognize and acknowledge the range of communication opportunities available to children and families.
She has served as a Council on Education of the Deaf (CED) representative to the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, contributing to the 2007 Position Statement. She currently participates on the JCIH committee developing an Early Intervention Position Statement. She has been a member of the Maryland Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Advisory Council and a consultant on early intervention and family involvement.
She has authored a book based on her dissertation on family involvement, and numerous book chapters and articles. She has presented widely nationally and internationally. Beth is a popular keynote presenter at many statewide early intervention professional development workshops.
Beth has co-developed and taught courses in early education for professionals working with deaf and hard of hearing children and their families through the Gallaudet Leadership Institute (GLI), including:
- Socio-Cultural and Political Contexts of Early Education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children
- A System Approach to Language and Communication Planning for Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and their Families
- Leadership Perspectives on Families with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children their Cultures and Communities
- A Systematic Approach to Assessment, Planning and Outcomes in Early Education
These courses have been taken by more than 20 professionals over the past three years. They are particularly noteworthy in light of the dearth of professional training focusing on deaf and hard of hearing children and their families.
Beth's involvement in EHDI systems improvement spans topic areas, type of audience, and venue. Her respect for and sensitivity to various points of view has earned her the esteem of colleagues across the field. As the parent of two deaf children, a member of the deaf community, and a professional in academia, her experience is broad and deep. Beth is unique in her contributions to EHDI and is highly deserving of the recognition this award will bring
A twelve panel mural at Boston Children's Center for Communication Disorders depicts intricate, joyful and three dimensional paintings honoring the beauty of communication across ages, cultures, senses, languages, technology and emotions. Focused on uplifting families, celebrating childhood and reminding health care providers of communication diversity the scenes on the wall could serve as a metaphor for Dr. Terrell Clark's career in newborn hearing screening.
Dr. Clark is a Pediatric Psychologist who is director of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program (DHHP) at Children's Hospital Boston, an interdisciplinary clinical and research group that is unique with several hearing and deaf professionals. Terrell's goal is to foster better communication between parents and their babies and also between programs and the families they serve. She has a reputation for encouraging parents and new graduates to join the field and she also seeks out those who live deafness/hearing loss!
Karen Hopkins, an early intervention provider, says of Terrell's recent work with deaf parents "She put them at ease and her direct communication in ASL gained their trust. I think the way she treats deaf adults and children with respect and equality is like no other professional I have encountered."
Dr. Clark has provided leadership for newborn hearing screening in MA and promoted its cost effectiveness. But the EHDI system has many fine individuals working toward improving programs in states and regions. What makes Terrell's efforts a work of art is her focus on inclusiveness in communication and her fostering of ongoing learning.
Ten years ago Dr. Clark launched a conference called Next Steps for parents across the New England states, service providers across disciplines, scholars across institutions, students across high schools and presenters across the nation. Every two years hundreds convene upon a simple motel for the exhibits, sessions, speakers and materials on the multiple approaches of CIs, HAs, ASL and spoken language. The atmosphere of acceptance and acknowledgment seems to promote true listening with ears or eyes!
Eileen Peterson says "Dr. Clark's pioneering spirit and stellar ideas keep moving the Next Steps conference along to address changing needs of families and professionals. Terrell shares credit so graciously but it is she who draws together so many people, hearing & Deaf with full access."
In 2009 in addition to numerous parent scholarships, Dr. Clark obtained special funding for early intervention providers to attend this two day event. Thus each year Terrell's efforts to broaden Next Steps' scope results in increased communication among learners. Peter Rosenberg says " Dr. Clark was there for us when we had no information and no idea what to expect and she offered us detailed information and most importantly, time."
Please take time to recognize Terrell's achievements and artistry in communication and collaboration with this award.
John Egbert is a trailblazer creating an early intervention awareness campaign that has reached out to communities of Deaf and Hearing people across the United States and internationally. In less than three years, he has educated and inspired thousands to do what they can in the area of early intervention insuring that Deaf babies and children have access to language from the start so that all of their developmental milestones can be reached without any delays.
John is Deaf and has two Deaf adult children and three Deaf grandchildren. He resides in Ham Lake, MN. He is a board member of the American Society for Deaf Children and founder of the Deaf Bilingual Coalition. He is a staunch advocate for the bilingual language rights of Deaf children (American Sign Language and English). He has experienced first hand the limitations of language acquisition through his own parents' lack of access to early intervention. Through his volunteer work, he has given countless Deaf people a voice and a role in early intervention. His advocacy has helped to motivate the EHDI program to look at ways to involve and employ Deaf professionals and role models in the EHDI system.
In 2007, through John's leadership, the Deaf Bilingual Coalition provided a free conference to over 700 participants. The majority of the participants were Deaf, and for the first time in history, were given workshops on what EHDI is all about, why early intervention is important, and how to become involved. In 2009, John was influential in helping Gallaudet set up a Deaf Mentor Training Summer Course at Gallaudet University. John continues to speak nationally about early intervention and language rights to communities of Deaf people across the nation. He has given up his professional fishing career to focus strictly on language rights, the need for quality early intervention programs, and the importance of Deaf role experts in early intervention.
Since the inception of the EHDI program, it has been essentially been void of Deaf participants. Through John's work, he is creating a vital shift in early intervention in which being served, Deaf babies, may finally be represented in the EHDI programs by Deaf adults. Parents and families may now get an opportunity in early intervention to be introduced to Deaf professionals and role model so that they can feel supported and at ease when raising their Deaf child.
CHOICES for Parents is a statewide coalition of parents and professionals that provides immediate access to support, information and resources to parents whose children are identified with hearing loss. In 2003, Ms. Aguilar, Coalition Director, and the CHOICES for Parents coalition of six members began discussions of creating a formal, hearing loss specific, parent-to-parent mentoring program. In Illinois, our newborn hearing program/EHDI program is comprised of three state agencies: the Division of Specialized Care for Children, the Department of Human Services (which houses our Early Intervention Program) and the Illinois Department of Public Aid. With already many players/stakeholders involved, efforts for a formal parent-to-parent program were delayed and sometimes opposed. When a new EHDI Coordinator for the state was hired, Dr. Ginger Mullin, she and Ms. Aguilar strengthened their discussions of either creating a new, or adopting an already created program, Guide By Your Side (GBYS). Through national conferences and direct feedback from parents in Illinois, they knew that a program was gravely needed, that parents were not receiving follow-up services and that a parent speaking to another parent would increase these chances. Carrie Balian, a mother of a child with hearing loss soon joined their efforts and research began and continued for eighteen months on GBYS. At this point, the CHOICES Coalition had grown to eighteen members, with an additional ten stakeholders. In July 2008, it was unanimously decided during a CHOICES meeting to proceed with bringing GBYS to Illinois. It was made clear that Illinois H&V was neither financially or structurally able to manage GBYS, so CHOICES became the "partner agency." Beth Donofrio, Chair of IL H&V was now in place to help mold the program to fit the unique needs of Illinois and Ms. Balian was hired as Program Coordinator to oversee the program and Parent Guides. Ten Parent Guides were hired and trained in May 2009 when our program officially launched. Our Parent Guides have varying backgrounds in hearing loss and ethnicity, as well as the mode of communication chosen for their child. Without the efforts and year of persistence of Ms. Aguilar and Dr. Mullin, the dream of a parent to parent program in Illinois would not have come true.
In Illinois, collaboration was crucial. Success would not have occurred without all players supportive of the program and involved. As a result, our GBYS program is receiving referrals from stakeholders, as well as providers throughout the state. We have received in-kind and financial donations and through recent supplemental funding are able to provide additional outreach and education to parents. Feedback is provided by parents served, Parent Guides and professionals. Because of GBYS, our EHDI Program is stronger and parents are receiving the support that they deserve. As Ms. Donofrio recently stated "We hope that our families will reap the benefits of our hard work and no one will ever have to feel alone on their journey of raising a child who is deaf or hard of hearing."
It is with great pleasure that we nominate Gayla Hutsell Guignard for the 2010 Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. Gayla has been the Director of Indiana's Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Program since July 2007.Since taking the position, Gayla has instigated the Guide By Your Side Program (GBYS) and further developed existing programs, causing significant growth throughout Indiana's EHDI Program. Gayla has been instrumental in leading the Indiana team's efforts in refining and implementing the web based EARS (EHDI Alert Response System) reporting system. Through EARS, EHDI staff, hospital UNHS contacts, and audiologists are able to identify children in need of follow-up services more readily. This has enabled the lost to follow-up rate to decrease from 35% in 2005 to 15% in 2008.Gayla's insight regarding data collection will enable Indiana to more accurately monitor the progress of the EHDI program. Areas throughout the EHDI process to be impacted by improved data collection include newborn hearing screening, diagnosis of hearing loss, short-tem follow-up, and ultimately long-term progress of children diagnosed d/hh through the NECAP project.
Gayla has strived to work with stakeholders across the state to improve the entire EHDI process. She has established an effective advisory committee, with well defined goals and collaborative input from a wide variety of stakeholders. Her organizational skills have made the advisory committee more focused, and her leadership has allowed it to move forward with an atmosphere of purpose and respect.
Gayla has a strong commitment to Indiana families and their children. Through this commitment to families she has supported the implementation of the Guide By Your Side Program in August of 2009. The goal of the program is to provide EARLY support to parents after confirmation of hearing loss. This support includes; unbiased resource dissemination, unique emotional support that only another parent of a child who is d/hh can provide, support through the entrance into early intervention, and opportunity for ongoing support through Indiana Hands & Voices. The GBYS program has already worked with over 30 families across Indiana.
Gayla is passionate about imbedding experienced parents throughout the EHDI program. In addition to GBYS, the Indiana EHDI Program has two parent consultant positions that conduct follow-up on children who do not pass newborn hearing screening. The Parent Consultants contact families via phone and letter as early as possible after the screening results are received. This very early personal contact with families is used to assist with answering questions, to confirm family and primary care provider contact information, and to assist with scheduling of follow-up diagnostic testing as needed.
Gayla's professional skills have significantly added to the Indiana EHDI Program, but one of her most important skills that shines throughout is her positive, warm personality. The combination of her professional and personal skills has enabled Indiana to continue to improve its EHDI Program and to anticipate continued growth for many years to come.
We strongly recommend Gayla Hutsell Guignard for the Antonia Brancia Maxon award for EHDI Excellence.
I am pleased to nominate JOHN TRACY CLINIC (JTC) and its Baby Sound Check infant/toddler hearing screening program for the 2010 ANTONIA BRANCIA MAXON AWARD FOR EHDI EXCELLENCE. This groundbreaking program has impacted thousands ofchildren, their families, the pediatric medical community and, most recently, pediatric training in the Los Angeles area.
In fall 2004, one our USC Pediatrics faculty members discovered that her patient, a little girl named Fatima, had failed newborn screening but had slipped through the cracks of follow-up diagnosis and care. It was not until age two that Fatima's profound hearing loss was properly diagnosed at John Tracy Clinic, where she received hearing aids and early intervention. This pediatrician, Dr. Parul Bhatia, lamented that, despite statewide NHS, many ofher low-income patients at a local community health clinic had not had an initial screening or follow-up for a combination of cultural, educational and economic reasons.
These observations set the stage for John Tracy Clinic to develop a community-based program for children whose circumstances put them at special risk for loss to follow-up. In consultation with NCHAM, National Institutes of Health, myself and others, JTC developed a plan and obtained funding to implement a sustainable early and periodic hearing screening and follow-up project. Baby Sound Check® was based on the premise that incorporating hearing screening into routine well-baby check-ups in the medical home would catch babies who are missed at birth or lost to follow-up, while providing a systematic approach to identifying progressive and childhood onset hearing losses and chronic middle ear.
Already, over 3,000 babies their parents have directly benefited from the program, including five children with permanent sensorineural hearing loss and 125 with middle ear issues. Most exciting to me, Baby Sound Check has recently expanded to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and will be extending the BSC training to150 pediatric residents here and at UCLA - assuring the program's dissemination and lasting influence well beyond our local community.
For changing the standard of early hearing health care with its innovative Baby Sound Check program and for the generations of children with hearing loss like Fatima who will be able to fill their potential, I urge your consideration of JOHN TRACY CLINIC for the 2010 ANTONIA BRANCIA MAXON AWARD FOR EHDI EXCELLENCE.
This is a letter of nomination for Albert Mehl, M.D. for the Antonia Brancia Maxon award. Dr. Mehl has been a pioneer in newborn hearing screening since 1992. He refers to himself as the 'accidental tourist'. When I approached him about starting a newborn screening program at Boulder Community Hospital he said 'This sounds like a wonderful idea. I know I can't tell if a baby has a hearing loss.' Little did he know that this would become his second career. As the state EHDI coordinator I traveled to every hospital preaching the gospel on the importance of newborn hearing screening. Needless to say as a health department employee and audiologist, I did not have great support from primary care physicians. When Al traveled with me and preached the same gospel it was met with resounding support from the physicians.
Al was crucial to the passing of our newborn hearing legislation in 1997. Representing the physician's role and the importance of early identification helped convince legislators that newborn hearing screening was the right thing to do for all children. As a result of the legislation a formal advisory committee was developed, with Al selected as the chair. Twelve years later he continues to lead the advisory providing insight, support and practical wisdom to the ever changing guidelines. He serves as the American Academy of Pediatrics representative on the JCIH. He has written several articles that have been published in the AAP Journal and quoted frequently. All of this while still maintaining a full time pediatric practice with Kaiser Permanente.
As a PCP, Al has been instrumental in supporting the medical home as a team approach with the audiologist, Hands & Voice parent guide and early interventionist working together for the benefit of the child and the family. Without Al Mehl I am convinced newborn hearing screening would not have happened in Colorado for another decade. I know I speak for all my colleagues when I say we are proud to nominate Al Mehl for this prestigious award! We love his cowboy poetry too!
The following information is provided to support the nomination of Dr. Halloie Morrow for the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. Dr. Morrow has been integrally involved in the development, implementation, and management of the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NHSP), including:
- Completion and publication of a noteworthy research project that contributes to improved EHDI programs.
We have not published any papers related to our implementation of the Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NHSP). We have based the design and implementation of the California NHSP on quality standards, principles, and measurement. Additionally, we have implemented and maintained a quality improvement learning collaborative from 2006 to the present. The following presentations were made by Dr. Morrow at national and international conferences related to the program's quality work:
- Success in Minimizing Loss to Follow-Up
Invited plenary presentation at national 2005 EHDI conference in Atlanta, GA
- Hearing Coordination Centers: A Model to Improve Loss to Follow-up
Breakout presentation at national 2006 EHDI conference in Washington, DC
- Newborn Hearing Screening Learning Collaborative – California
Invited plenary presentation at national 2007 EHDI conference in Salt Lake City, UT
- A Learning Collaborative Approach to EHDI System Improvement: The California Experience
Breakout presentation at national 2008 EHDI conference in New Orleans, LA
- Quality Assurance: What Happens to Your Babies?
Breakout presentation at national 2008 EHDI conference in New Orleans, LA
- Making Quality an Integral Part of Your EHDI Program
Breakout presentation at international NHS 2008 conference in Lake Como, Italy
- Small Changes Making Waves in California: Maintaining a Quality Improvement Collaborative Over Time
Breakout presentation at national 2009 EHDI conference in Dallas, TX
- California Newborn Hearing Screening QI Collaborative: Then and Now
Poster presentation at national 2009 EHDI conference in Dallas, TX – Received "Outstanding Poster Award"
- Implementation of a program, set of procedures, or guidelines which dramatically improved the effectiveness of EHDI programs in a state or region.
I have been integrally involved in the team responsible for the development, implementation, and management of the California NHSP, including:
- facilitation of Technical Advisory Committees that assisted with the conceptual design of the geographically-based Hearing Coordination Centers and the outreach activities
- development of procedures and criteria for automated and manual data management
- creation and updating of inpatient and outpatient provider standards
- development of Communication Disorder Center standards for California's Title V Children with Special Health Care Needs program (California Children's Services)
- assistance with the development of Infant Audiology Assessment Guidelines
- development of certification criteria for inpatient infant hearing screening providers
- development of scope of work for Hearing Coordination Centers (certification of hospitals, data collection from inpatient and outpatient screening providers and audiologists, tracking and monitoring of each infant who needs outpatient assessment of hearing, six month follow-up of infants after hearing loss is identified, and quality assurance monitoring of hospital programs)
- procurement of contractors to serve as Hearing Coordination Centers
- development of a comprehensive Tracking and Monitoring Procedure Manual
- oversight and monitoring of Hearing Coordination Center activities
- interagency collaboration between the California Department of Health Care Services, Department of Developmental Services, Special Education Division of the California Department of Education, and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Unit of the California Department of Education
- collaboration with other stakeholders including the deaf and hard of hearing community agencies
- development of a single point of referral into the Early Start program (California's implementation of Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
- participation on workgroup that developed Best Practices document for Early Start program to provide early intervention services for infants who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families
- collaboration with Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid program) to develop newborn hearing screening codes and a mechanism for certified screening providers to be reimbursed for hearing screening services provided to infants on Medi-Cal
- facilitation of statewide trainings for audiologists in the assessment and management of infants referred from newborn hearing screening and those with hearing loss
- procurement and implementation of an automated data management service for use by hospitals, HCCs and the state staff to support the NHSP tracking and reporting activities
- procurement of funding by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to implement a teleaudiology project to improve access to diagnostic audiology services in Northern California
The California NHSP is the largest newborn hearing screening program in the United States, screening over 525,000 infants a year. The program identifies almost 1000 infants with hearing loss annually. The Hearing Coordination Center model has been very successful in the reducing loss to follow-up (10% vs 46% nationally) and in linking infants with early intervention services.
- Development and dissemination of a training curriculum, instructional package, or educational materials which dramatically improved EHDI program in a state or region
I have been involved on the team responsible for the development of all of the educational materials that are used in the California NHSP, including parent brochures (general information about the program, information for parents-to-be, results of screening [pass, refer, refer to diagnostic evaluation], waiver, ages and stages of language milestones), and provider information (brochure, single page flyers). I have presented numerous powerpoint presentations to provider groups about the program and outcomes.
I was part of the team that presented information about the program and the certification process to hospitals prior to the initial implementation of the program. With the expansion to all general acute care hospitals in the state, we again made regional presentations for the new hospitals that will be participating.
We have developed and presented training to each new Hearing Coordination Center contractor about the program with an orientation to their critical role. This has included a detailed description of the tracking and monitoring activities as well as the certification process.
- Development and dissemination of a public awareness campaign
I was involved in all aspects of the outreach and awareness campaign that the California NHSP engaged in at the onset of the program. This included development of our parent and provider materials; presentations to hospital, audiology, and pediatric provider groups; and presentations to other stakeholder groups, including parents, advocacy groups, and teachers of the deaf. The NHSP team provided guidance to the Hearing Coordination Centers regarding their outreach and awareness activities to local county programs (Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment programs, California Children's Services, WIC, Public Health Nursing, etc), providers (individual audiology and pediatric provider practices, hospital grand rounds), and parent and support organizations (family resource centers, deaf and hard of hearing support agencies).
- Creation of an effective family-to-family support program
The California NHSP has required that each Hearing Coordination Center have a parent as a paid staff member to identify local support resources for families and to assure that the policies and procedures of the Hearing Coordination Center are parent friendly. I have worked with the California Department of Education to procure a Maternal and Child Health Bureau grant to develop a parent-to-parent support program (Parent Links) that is based in the Early Start Family Resource Centers. The Hearing Coordination Centers and the Parent Links program work collaboratively to assure that families understand the importance of early identification of hearing loss and to provide parent support. The Hearing Coordination Centers have contact with families during the assessment process and follow them for six months after identification of a hearing loss. The Parent Links program focuses most of their energies on families after identification with six to ten hours of parent contact, in addition to linking these parents with other families through IMPACT, the statewide organization of parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
It is with great enthusiasm that we recommend Nancy Pajak for the Antonia Brancia Maxon award. The key words that describe Nancy are tireless and visionary. Nancy is a Wyoming Audiologist who, like Dr. Maxon has been a diligent advocate for the development and implementation of effective newborn hearing screenings in Wyoming. The process began in 1990 when Nancy formed a committee to address the need for a newborn hearing screening process.
She obtained funding to provide hearing screening equipment for the 21 birthing hospitals in our state and thus Wyoming was the first state to have this equipment fully functional in every birthing hospital. The newborn hearing screening legislation passed in 1997. This legislation provided the platform on which to build a network of 21 hospitals who continue to screen 98% of the Wyoming newborns, bring back 95% ofthe infants who need a second screening, and follow up on 98% of the infants referred for audiological diagnostic evaluations. Nancy has been
instrumental in every step of this process and continues to oversee this successful program.
Most recently, Nancy obtained grant money and developed a Pediatric Audiology Clinic in response to the need for improved pediatric diagnostic services in our rural state. Nancy formed the clinic from the ground up in collaboration with the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Department of Education.The clinic is now fully functional and operating under Nancy's guidance, providing diagnostic services to families that in the past would have had to travel to a border hospital.
Nancy is cognizant that identifying a newborn is just the beginning and tirelessly strives to support each family thru the diagnostic and amplification process. Nancy is instrumental in connecting these families with appropriate early intervention services. Nancy organizes an annual EHDI conference in Wyoming, providing training to parents of
children with hearing loss and to the providers working with the families. She conducts four hearing screening trainings each year to support the sustainability ofthe hearing screening programs in the early intervention centers across the state. Nancy was a key player in acquiring hearing screening equipment for all the 42 early intervention centers and in training the staff.
Nancy Pajak is a key supporter of the Wyoming Hands and Voices Chapter. She was one of the main advocates for establishing a Wyoming chapter and she has consistently provided guidance and encouragement through her position on the Hands and Voices Advisory Board. Nancy has successfully connected the medical community, University of Wyoming, legislature, early intervention programs, Departments of Health and Department of Education with the goal of obtaining awareness, support and sustainability for the systems she has worked tirelessly to create. Nancy reports that educational audiology is her "true passion". This is evident by her enthusiasm and her determination. Nancy Pajak's contribution to this state cannot be adequately described or measured. We are so grateful for her commitment to continual improvement and her ability to move mountains.
I am pleased to nominate Vickie Thompson, PhD for the 2010 Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence on behalf of her colleagues at the Marion Downs Hearing Center and the Colorado Infant Hearing Advisory Board. Vickie has been the EHDI coordinator in Colorado before the official job existed. In 1991 she initiated one of the first universal screening programs in the US at Boulder Community Hospital and became the consultant for the Colorado Department of Health to promote and support Newborn Hearing Screening programs statewide shortly thereafter. She was the Newborn Screening Coordinator at the Marion Downs Hearing Center (MDHC) and has been on the Professional Advisory of the MDHC since 1996.
Vickie's noteworthy accomplishment, which led to the improvement of EHDI programs in Colorado, is her creation of and leadership on the Colorado Infant Hearing Advisory Board. The Board was created under Vickie's leadership in 1998 to implement and sustain effective EHDI systems. At that time the concept of an advisory board was unique and Vickie's creativity and vision led to an advisory board concept, which became the model for other states. The members of the Colorado Infant Hearing Advisory Board, including Christine Yoshinaga-Itano, PhD, Al Mehl, MD, myself, and Marion Downs herself credit Vickie's tireless pursuit of excellence, collaboration, and scholarship as the driving force behind Colorado's world-renowned EHDI systems. Colorado consistently meets the EHDI goals set by the Joint Committee for Infant Hearing under Vickie's leadership.
When Vickie began at the Colorado Department of Health in the early 1990's, Colorado did not have universal hearing screening systems and pursuing collaboration, legislation, the development and implementation of state guidelines, a state data system and tracking mechanism have recognized Colorado recognized as a model program for many years.
We hope you will join us in recognizing the remarkable accomplishments our EHDI leader Dr. Vicki Thompson.
In the past few years the Nevada State Newborn Hearing Screening Program has seen dramatic change.
This change is in no small part due to the programs' coordinator, Jack Zenteno, whose vision,
leadership and fortitude has brought advances to the program to ensure all Nevada newborns are
provided screening and early detection and intervention of hearing loss.
In 2001 Assembly Bill 250 passed legislation enacting into statue the Newborn Hearing Program,
within the Health Division of the Health and Human Service Department in Nevada. Initially a one
staff person program whose responsibility was to assure hospital screening of newborns through one
funding stream, following the success of hearing screening programs nationwide, our program's role
has grown and evolved to its present state.
Through Jack's leadership the Newborn Hearing Screening Program has assured newborns are
screened in the hospitals, diagnosis is completed, and intervention is initiated when a child is identified
with hearing loss. Reducing loss to follow up by developing the ability to track newborns as they
move throughout the state was essential. Jack developed a business plan, applied and secured funding
to initiate a data base that linked birth records with newborn screening records. Today this database is
being tested prior to full implementation.
Jack's plan continued to enhance the newborn screening program by securing other funding to assist
with building collaborations with other state, local and community partners. Jack assisted with the
development of a coalition and has built a community based, family centered support group for
families who have children with hearing loss.
Equally important was to raise public awareness of the program and its work. Jack and his team went
to work developing a logo, mission statement and website. Jack's team has educated hospitals and
other providers to raise awareness of the program and its services. Recently the Newborn Hearing
program held a conference which was well attended and received. Attendees included advocates,
legislators, teachers and providers who made commitments to continue this worthy effort to raise
awareness, develop necessary policy, collect and share data, and devote time as needed.
Most of the Newborn Hearing Screening professionals understand the difficulty in building capacity of
the audiologist workforce in their state. Nevada is no different; through Jack's leadership and business
sense we continue to have audiologists stay and work in Nevada. Not satisfied with the status quo,
Jack has worked to secure more audiologists to ensure children are screened, diagnosed, and provided
interventions throughout their lifespan for optimal health, even when that means traveling to remote
locations to hire audiologists.
Jack could have been content with the program as it was, but anyone who knows Jack knows his
commitment, foresight, and passion for children with special health care needs would not accept a
satisfactory program, it needed to be excellent. Jack's team believes in him and his leadership and
they have taken on his passion for providing screening and early detection interventions for children
with hearing loss and applied it through inspiration and tireless dedication.
2009 Nomineees
The Ohio Department of Health's (ODH) Infant Hearing Screening Program would like to
posthumously nominate, Karen "Kit" Buhrer, M.A., for the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for
EHDI Excellence. Kit championed for EHDI for well over three decades, exhibiting leadership,
dedication, and research that led to the creation of Ohio's existing UNHS legislation and effective
early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) system.
Kit obtained a bachelor's in Speech Pathology and Audiology (1970) and a master's in Audiology
(1973) from the University of Cincinnati. During her freshman year Kit worked as a clinical
audiology trainee at the University of Cincinnati's training center for developmental disabilities. Kit
graduated with academic honors and demonstrated a natural ability of establishing life long
personal/professional relationships that would make possible the accomplishments of one individual
with an EHDI vision. Kit went on to publish EHDI research with the University of Cincinnati's
Otolaryngologists, Ohio State University's Speech and Hearing Program, and Toledo's Department
of Pediatrics Medical College of Toledo.
In 1974 Kit accepted an audiology position in Ohio at the Delaware Speech and Hearing Center.
Within four short years, Kit was promoted to assistant director and then acting director. In 1978
Kit's true passions lead her to ODH where Kit became one of Ohio's greatest assets in establishing
an effective EHDI system. Kit's expertise, patience, understanding, compassion, work ethic, and
consistent results all epitomized the word "professional".
EHDI Excellence.
- Initiated EHDI legislation process to create Ohio's first mandated hearing screening and
assessment (IHSAP) legislation
- Developed/Implemented comprehensive IHSAP program materials for 131 birthing and
children's hospitals, including, guidelines/rules, high risk questionnaire, newborn parents
letter, toll free information number, parent information/hearing speech and language
milestones handout, informational video explaining importance of infant hearing
detection/intervention and IHSAP legislation and required hospital processes
- Developed and implemented nine Regional Infant Hearing Programs (RIHP) to track and
follow infants that did not pass hospital screening and to provide weekly specialized
habilitative services for families/children with hearing loss, including opportunities for
family to family support and interaction with deaf community
- Developed public awareness campaign, created UNHS educational materials, "Baby Baby
Do You Hear Me" video and disseminated to 131 hospitals.
- Developed and disseminated IHSAP curriculum, training materials, including, personally
providing required training of hospital personnel to administer high risk questionnaire to all
131 birthing and children's hospitals
- Advocated for UNHS legislation that resulted in mandated UNHS legislation for Ohio.
It is a privilege to publicly recognize and acknowledge Kit Buhrer's lifetime of outstanding EHDI
achievements. To honor Kit's legacy, her picture was added to the RIHP resource manual with the
inscription "Kit Buhrer, Our Colleague, Our Inspiration."
ODH is pleased to nominate Karen "Kit" Buhrer to be considered for the Antonia Brancia Maxon
award for EHDI Excellence.
Connecticut's (CT's) EHDI Advisory Board is a group of individuals and agencies who, since 1989,
have been the driving force behind CT's legislative mandate, as well as the establishment of
unparalleled systems for education, follow up, and intervention. CT's EHDI Advisory Board is
most deserving of this award as evidenced by the activities highlighted below.
Education. One of the board members produced three videotapes on newborn hearing screening
and intervention through the cooperative efforts of this group. The videotapes were distributed to
EHDI coordinators by NCHAM, and to EHDI Chapter Champions by the American Academy of
Pediatrics. They can be viewed on NCHAM's website, and continue to be requested by Public
Health Departments across the country for use in statewide training programs and birthing hospitals.
Board members continue to update materials and provide training programs for physicians,
audiologists, and nurses by means of web-based and onsite instruction, as well as statewide
conferences. Pediatricians and otolaryngologists are provided with additional information through
programs and presentations at professional meetings and through the dissemination of printed
materials developed by our board.
Follow-up. Board members from CT's Department of Public Health have many EHDI
accomplishments to their credit. They recently developed an excellent computerized system for
tracking infants through the process of screening, referral, and intervention. The system was
created as part of over $1.5 million in federal grants awarded to DPH for equipment, training, and
tracking.
Statistics for January through December of 2008 indicate that 98.8% of the 40,860 babies born in
Connecticut were screened; 1.14% were referred for diagnostic testing, 59.74% of those children
passed, and 11.47% were identified with hearing loss. Only 1.52% was lost to followup. A
cooperative agreement between our board members from DPH and CT's Birth to Three program
has resulted in our ability to track the 53 identified children, and to know that all were enrolled in
intervention programs by the age of 6 months.
Intervention. Connecticut is unique in that it has three early intervention programs that specialize
in serving children with hearing loss. Representatives from each of the three programs along with
staff from CT's Birth to Three's central office are all members of our advisory board. This close
collaboration has facilitated the exchange of information among agencies as it relates to a child's
hearing screening, follow-up, and identification. It has also created seamless connections to
intervention, and resulted in CT's Birth to Three program changing eligibility requirements to
include children with mild and unilateral hearing losses in early intervention programs.
Summary. As a result of collaborative efforts, CT's EHDI Advisory Board helped secure funding
for equipment; created training programs; developed an excellent computerized system for tracking
and follow-up; created seamless connections to intervention; changed eligibility requirements for
services; and produced educational materials that have been disseminated and used across the
country. We are proud to have created a model program. Since Toni was an active participant in
this group, it seems a fitting tribute that "her" EHDI Advisory Board is recognized for its
excellence.
As Chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Newborn Hearing Screening, I
am writing to nominate Michelle Esquivel for the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for Excellence in
the field of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI).
Michelle has been a tireless force in the expansion of universal newborn hearing screening and
effective early intervention for infants who are born deaf or hard of hearing. In her staff role with
the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Newborn Hearing Screening, she has been able
to make the daunting task of advancing newborn hearing screening somehow manageable. Over her
many years in this role, she recruits, maintains, and updates a roster of "Chapter Champions" in
every state of the union, fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics who volunteer their own
time to champion the cause of infant hearing screening. Leveraging the efforts of this group,
Michelle prepares regularly the "EHDI E-Mail Express" electronic newsletter, coordinates
teleconference educational sessions, and contributes to the yearly planning of the EHDI national
meeting.
In addition to educating pediatricians across the nation, Michelle has helped to coordinate efforts to
expand both our knowledge and our influence into the ranks of other primary healthcare providers
such as family physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, obstetricians, and nurse
midwives. She has solicited speakers for national events and has prepared articulate and timely
submissions to assure that these educational efforts will reach health professionals across the nation.
Michelle has been instrumental in improving the various efforts of the American Academy of
Pediatrics that interface with ongoing newborn hearing screening efforts. She has coordinated the
linkage between the Task Force and various workgroups such as Bright Futures (and their updates
of recommended screenings performed according to their "periodicity table"), assisted in collecting
potential revisions of the newly developed recommendations of the pediatric otolaryngology section
(concerning hearing screening after infancy and medical care for children with cochlear implants,
for example), and worked closely processing requests and soliciting input on behalf of various
intergovernmental agencies as they relate to the American Academy of Pediatrics and infant hearing
screening. She has been a major force in connecting the Medical Home Initiative of the American
Academy of Pediatrics with effective intervention for children who are born deaf or hard of hearing.
She has also acted as a liaison between the American Academy of Pediatrics and various national
initiatives from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing,
the "Learning Collaborative" model of process improvement, and others.
With great appreciation of her dutiful work and admiration of her tireless energy, I am honored to
nominate Michelle Esquivel to be the 2009 recipient of the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for
EHDI Excellence.
I am proud to nominate Dr. Merle McPherson. No individual has been more responsible for
expanding universal newborn hearing screening from few sites in 1989 to become the nationwide
standard of care in 2009. As Chief of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau since 1986, she
championed key concepts of coordinated, family-centered, community based, culturally competent
care for children with special needs and worked to ensure a medical home for every child.
Aware of the dismal educational and vocational outcomes for deaf children, she became convinced
of the importance of moving the average age of identification from over four years of age to the first
months of life. She had a significant influence with Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop as he
made newborn hearing screening a priority, setting the goal that all children with significant hearing
loss would be identified before 12 months of age by the Year 2000.
With no earmarked funds, but with an understanding of the need for a research base to demonstrate
the efficacy of universal newborn hearing screening, Dr. McPherson utilized Special Grants of
Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) to demonstrate the viability of oto-acoustic
emissions as a reliable method of newborn hearing screening. She funded the Rhode Island Hearing
Assessment Project, which demonstrated in the states of Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Utah that
newborn hearing screening could be successfully implemented statewide.
Additionally, as probably the nation's most visible pediatrician, Dr. McPherson used her reputation
and influence through the American Academy of Pediatrics to gain support of community
pediatricians for universal newborn hearing screening. Without her influence, communities across
the nation could likely have never marshaled support of the medical community to make universal
screening a reality.
Dr. McPherson influenced the drafting of EDHI legislation by Representative Walsh of New York.
The EDHI legislation is a Federal model of interagency collaboration, with the Maternal-Child
Health Bureau funding services in the states, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
funding surveillance activities across the nation, and with the National Institutes of Health funding
continuing research in newborn hearing screening.
Recognizing that the screening process was only the beginning, Dr. McPherson championed the
idea that successful screening rests on a "three-legged stool"––with linkages to early intervention
(Part C), family support, and the medical home. All were critical components to ensure that
screening led to a coordinate system of care for children with significant hearing loss. Dr.
McPherson, understanding the importance of technical assistance for states, identified funding to
support a national resource center to assist states and territories as they implemented universal
newborn hearing screening.
In summary, Dr. McPherson, working in collaboration with Dr. C. Everett Koop, Dr. Tom Behrens,
Dr. Karl White, the Joint Committee, and members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has
been the champion required to provide vision, leadership, funding, and administrative support
required to make universal newborn hearing screening one of the greatest public health
accomplishments of the past two decades!
I would like to recommend Dr. Marilyn Warren Neault for the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for
EHDI Excellence. Dr. Neault worked tirelessly to pass the Massachusetts Newborn Hearing
Screening legislation, which is one of the strongest newborn hearing screening laws in the country.
Dr. Neault has worked with me since that time (over ten years) as an active member of the Advisory
Committee and has assisted the Department of Public Health in writing regulations, guidelines, and
protocols for newborn hearing screening and follow-up.
Dr. Neault has also been very instrumental in educating audiologists throughout the state on various
topics at our Department of Public Health Approved Diagnostic Center Meetings that occur three
times each year. She is a strong advocate for our program and always makes clear points at the
meetings about the importance of submitting data to our program. I feel very comfortable in telling
you that the audiologists in Massachusetts hold Dr. Neault in very high regard and her commitment
to newborn hearing screening is clearly a strong factor in the success our program has achieved
(including being able to document that infants and their families are being connected to services in
compliance with the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Goals and Objectives).
Dr. Neault has also authored many articles and has been involved in may research projects. Dr.
Neault presented Incidence of "Unilateral Newborn Screening Referrals with Bilateral Hearing
Loss" and "Unilateral Hearing Loss: Does It Matter?" at the EHDI Conference. I was also
extremely impressed by data collected on a project that was published on "Factors associated with
sensorineual hearing loss among survivors of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy" that
she worked on with partners from Children's Hospital Boston. Although the number of infants that
receive this therapy is small compared to the number of infants born in Massachusetts, the team that
worked on the project, including Dr. Neault, cared enough to investigate and document that these
infants are at much greater risk of developing hearing loss.
I would also like to express that I have always gotten extremely positive feedback from parents
about their experiences having Dr. Neault for their audiologist. She works tirelessly, is very
approachable and caring, and makes herself available to parents when they have questions or need
to speak to her. She is also involved in many groups that support parents in the area and works with
families from most of the New England states.
Dr. Neault was also a colleague of Toni Maxon, who we all loved and respected. As part of the
NCHAM network, Toni came out to meet with our audiologists and worked closely with our state.
I personally know Dr. Neault and Toni had mutual admiration for each other and I believe that Dr.
Neault would be very honored to receive this award in Toni's name.
I am nominating NJ Statewide Parent to Parent (P2P), a program of the Statewide Parent Advocacy
Network (SPAN), and the NJEHDI program for the 2009 Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI
Excellence. We have been collaborating since August 2002. Our collaboration continues even after
the funding has ended, because of the commitment and the understanding of both the NJ EHDI staff
and P2P that families in NJ who have a child with a hearing loss need un-biased, culturally
competent and appropriate information about available child and family supports and services.
Our collaboration has included:
- Targeting culturally and linguistically diverse families of children with deafness/hearing loss
and providing them with an orientation to serve as Support Parents to provide one-to-one
emotional support, information, and resources. We currently have twenty-two (22) support
parents of children with deafness or hearing loss, including parents who are bilingual.
- Hosting regional focus groups with parents and professionals to identify strengths and needs and
recommendations for improvement. The primary concern was a lack of information among
parents about what to do once their child was found to have a potential hearing loss.
Collaboratively, we developed and translated a one-page flyer about the steps parents should
take and the resources available to help them. This brochure is now part of our P2P brochure
and the packet provided to audiology staff of NJ's birthing hospitals during annual visits.
- Developing and disseminating a Newborn Hearing Screening Program "Hospital Checklist
Form" for birthing hospitals that is distributed by the NJ EHDI program. This form provides our
program with contact information on each hospital in New Jersey as well as information about
each hospital's resources and supports.
- Planning three biannual NJ Family Learning Conferences with P2P, NJ EHDI, NJ Division for
the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Katzenbach School for the Deaf. Diverse families (including
Spanish speaking parents for whom we provided simultaneous translation) have learned about
resources and services and linked with other families raising children with deafness/hearing
loss. Over 70 parents and over 50 children with deafness/ hearing loss have participated in these
conferences.
- Planning and facilitating a workshop for the 2007 National EHDI conference on "NJ Family
Learning Day-A Collaborative Approach to Family Support." This workshop provided an
overview of the development of our regional conferences and their impact on families.
- Developing and disseminating a resource brochure about NJ-specific services for children with
deafness/hearing loss and their families. The brochure has been reviewed by diverse parents
and revised to be culturally appropriate. It is available in English and Spanish.
- As a result of our collaboration, the NJ Department of Education disseminated a mini-resource
guide regarding services for children with hearing loss to every school district in the state with
information about SPAN (the Parent Training and Information Center, Family Voices and
Family to Family Health Information Center, and Parent to Parent program).
Our ongoing collaboration provides NJ's diverse families with critical information, resources and
the emotional support needed for their journey.
The following information is provided to support the nomination of Dr. Halloie Morrow for the Antonia
Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. Dr. Morrow has been integrally involved in the
development, implementation, and management of the California Newborn Hearing Screening
Program (NHSP), including:
- facilitation of Technical Advisory Committees that assisted with the conceptual design of
the geographically-based Hearing Coordination Centers and the outreach activities
- development of procedures and criteria for automated and manual data management
- creation and updating of inpatient and outpatient provider standards
- development of Communication Disorder Center standards for California's Title V Children
with Special Health Care Needs program (California Children's Services)
- assistance with the development of Infant Audiology Assessment Guidelines
- development of certification criteria for inpatient infant hearing screening providers
- development of scope of work for Hearing Coordination Centers (certification of hospitals,
data collection from inpatient and outpatient screening providers and audiologists, tracking
and monitoring of each infant who needs outpatient assessment of hearing, six month
follow-up of infants after hearing loss is identified, and quality assurance monitoring of
hospital programs)
- procurement of contractors to serve as Hearing Coordination Centers
- development of a comprehensive Tracking and Monitoring Procedure Manual
- oversight and monitoring of Hearing Coordination Center activities
- interagency collaboration between the California Department of Health Care Services,
Department of Developmental Services, Special Education Division of the California
Department of Education, and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Unit of the California
Department of Education
- collaboration with other stakeholders including the deaf and hard of hearing community
agencies
- development of a single point of referral into the Early Start program (California's
implementation of Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act)
- participation on workgroup that developed Best Practices document for Early Start program
to provide early intervention services for infants who are deaf or hard of hearing and their
families
- collaboration with Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid program) to develop newborn hearing
screening codes and a mechanism for certified screening providers to be reimbursed for
hearing screening services provided to infants on Medi-Cal
- facilitation of statewide trainings for audiologists in the assessment and management of
infants referred from newborn hearing screening and those with hearing loss
The California NHSP is the largest newborn hearing screening program in the United States,
screening over 440,000 infants in 2007. The program identifies almost 1000 infants with
hearing loss annually. The Hearing Coordination Center model has been very successful in the
reducing loss to follow-up (11% vs. 46% nationally) and in linking infants with early
intervention services.
Dr. Morrow has also been involved in the development of all of the educational materials that
are used in the California NHSP, including parent brochures (general information about the
program, information for parents-to-be, results of screening [pass, refer, refer to diagnostic
evaluation], waiver, ages and stages of language milestones), and provider information
(brochure, single page flyers). She has presented numerous powerpoint presentations to
provider groups about the program and outcomes. She was also on the team that has presented
information about the program and the certification process to hospitals prior to the initial
implementation of the program. With the expansion to all general acute care hospitals in the
state.
Dr. Morrow assisted with all aspects of the outreach and awareness campaign that the California
NHSP engaged in at the onset of the program. This included development of our parent and
provider materials; presentations to hospital, audiology, and pediatric provider groups; and
presentations to other stakeholder groups, including parents, advocacy groups, and teachers of
the deaf. The NHSP team provided guidance to the Hearing Coordination Centers regarding
their outreach and awareness activities to local county programs (Early and Periodic Screening
Diagnosis and Treatment programs, California Children's Services, WIC, Public Health
Nursing, etc), providers (individual audiology and pediatric provider practices, hospital grand
rounds), and parent and support organizations (family resource centers, deaf and hard of hearing
support agencies).
The California NHSP has required that each Hearing Coordination Center have a parent as a
paid staff member to identify local support resources for families and to assure that the policies
and procedures of the Hearing Coordination Center are parent friendly. Dr. Morrow has worked
with the California Department of Education to procure a Maternal and Child Health Bureau
grant to develop a parent-to-parent support program (Parent Links) that is based in the Early
Start Family Resource Centers. The Hearing Coordination Centers and the Parent Links
program will work collaboratively to assure that families understand the importance of early
identification of hearing loss and to provide parent support. The Hearing Coordination Centers
have contact with families during the assessment process and follow them for six months after
identification of a hearing loss. The Parent Links program will focus most of their energies on
families after identification with six to ten hours of parent contact, in addition to linking these
parents with other families through IMPACT, the statewide organization of parents of children
who are deaf or hard of hearing.
This letter is to inform you that the EHDI Community in Arizona would like to nominate Lylis
Olsen for the 2009 Award for EHDI Excellence. This nomination is based on Lylis' leadership role
and numerous noteworthy accomplishments which have led to the establishment of a statewide
EHDI program.
Lylis' efforts have been deeply rooted and involved in laying the groundwork, building the
infrastructure and partnerships, statewide. Her vision began approximately 15 years ago when she
worked for the Arizona Department of Health Services Sensory Program. She and Brandt
Cullpepper began a campaign to educate hospital stakeholders on the importance of newborn
hearing screening, traveling to small rural hospitals.
In 1998, Lylis established a partnership with the EAR Foundation of Arizona and wrote a local
grant to the St. Lukes Charitable Trust to provide hospitals with equipment and training. The
success of her initial efforts led to the continued expansion and development of a state EHDI
program. She has brought EHDI partners and stakeholders together and through her collaborative
approach, has established working partnerships to identify program needs and gaps in service. In
addition, she has written numerous local and federal grants to meet those needs for families and
children.
In 1999, Lylis and the EAR Foundation of Arizona (EFAZ) established the HEAR For Kids
Program (HFK) which provides hearing services to Arizona's children in need. Through her
partnership with the St. Lukes Charitable Trust and with the participation of providers and families,
the program was developed to fill the following gaps in services: a) provide a high quality pool of
hearing aids that help to bridge the gap between diagnosis of hearing loss and obtaining permanent
hearing aids, b) provide children whose parents have no financial resources to purchase hearing aids
yet they do not qualify for state services, c) provide children who need an audiological or medical
evaluation to determine hearing loss but do not have financial resources to obtain the evaluation.
Since its inception, more than 2000 families have benefited from HFK. It has been on a continuous
funding cycle for 10 consecutive years providing over 1000 permanent hearing aids, more than 800
loaner hearing aids and thousands of earmolds to children birth to 18 in need. In addition, HFK has
served as a template for other states that have developed similar programs.
Another noteworthy accomplishment of Lylis' was related to our state's legislative efforts to pass
and implement a reporting mandate and a state follow-up program. Lylis obtained a second masters
degree in Public Health and conducted her internship with the March of Dimes to partner and
advocate in these efforts.
In 2006, Lylis and the EFAZ brought families and professionals together and wrote a grant to help
establish an Arizona chapter of Hands and Voices, which has recently been established as a 501-c-3
organization.
I speak on behalf of our state EHDI collaborative in saying that we are both fortunate and honored
to know and work alongside Lylis. We appreciate her vision, passion and commitment to Arizona
EHDI and believe that an award in memory of Antonia Brancia Maxon would be well deserved.
Shirley Russ MD MPH is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, UCLA, Department of
Academic Primary Care Pediatrics, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Shirley first became involved
with newborn hearing screening in 1990 while completing her fellowship in developmental and
community pediatrics at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. She was responsible
for implementing and evaluating the Victorian Infant Hearing Screening Program (VIHSP),
screening all at-risk newborns in the state of Victoria for hearing loss. Published findings from this
research, contributed to decisions to expand newborn hearing screening, and to discontinue use of
the behavioral distraction test later in infancy. For this work she received the Victorian Health
Promotion Foundation's Research into Practice Award in 2000. An early theme of her work, which
continues to this day, was the importance of the partnership between parents and professionals in
improving outcomes for children that are deaf or hard of hearing. She was also one of the first to
apply qualitative research techniques to the evaluation of newborn hearing screening programs.
Since 2002 Shirley has served as the AAP Los Angeles EHDI Chapter Champion. Shirley worked
closely with the other California Champions and with partners such as March of Dimes to support
new legislation expanding hearing screening to all newborns in California, not just those born in
certain hospitals. She gave testimony in support of this bill in the California State Assembly, and
the legislation passed successfully. She has continued to work closely with the California EHDI
Program to engage physicians and to strengthen links between health services, early intervention
and parent supports. She is a frequent speaker at state meetings.
Since 2006, Shirley has served as Clinical Primary Care Chair for a series of NICHQ Learning
Collaboratives on Minimizing Loss to Follow-Up after Newborn Hearing Screening. The current
collaborative is focused on Improving the System of Care for Children with Special Healthcare
Needs with a special focus on hearing loss and epilepsy. These initiatives have led to the creation
of new tools such as a parent roadmap, a communication tool to help parents and providers
understand the path through diagnosis and intervention services for children with hearing loss, and
to the identification of "promising practices" for EHDI system improvement for trial by states. She
presented two papers based on this work at the International NHS Conference in Como, Italy in
June 2008.
In January 2008, Shirley chaired a workshop for the Agency for Healthcare, Research and Quality
on "Accelerating Evidence into Practice for the benefit of Children with Early Hearing Loss" that
brought together representatives from federal agencies with parents, providers and other
stakeholders to form an actionable national blueprint for translation of evidence into practice in
EHDI systems. Shirley authored the report on the meeting for presentation to AHRQ, and she is
editing a special supplement to Pediatrics based on this work. Shirley is also collaborating on
research projects on hearing loss through the lifecourse in the UK, and on hearing difficulties in
children with special healthcare needs in the US.
We have the pleasure of nominating Leeanne Seaver and Janet DesGeorges for the 2009 Antonia
Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence.
Leeanne and Janet's passionate commitment to the advancement of Early Hearing Detection and
Intervention and to families with children who have hearing loss is beyond remarkable. Harnessing
the power of the "parent experience," they created a network of parent-professionals qualified to
provide unbiased support to families.
This dynamic duo expanded a thriving Colorado program to today's national and international
Hands & Voices organization. Thirty-six states, British Columbia Canada, the Philippines, and
Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands now have an approved or start up chapter. Seeing
another need, Janet and Leeanne instigated the Global Coalition of Parents of Deaf & Hard of
Hearing Children, currently partnering with international organizations to establish standards for
family support in newborn hearing identification and intervention services.
Most noteworthy is that Leeanne and Janet established Hands & Voices with meager resources
combined with much personal sacrifice. Through ingenuity and determined relationship building,
they leveraged modest funds to build an extensive network.
Leeanne and Janet provide consultation to virtually every aspect of the EHDI process. They
support and often spearhead efforts at NCHAM, CDC, Marion Downs, NICHQ, as well as
mentoring state Hands & Voices' chapters in how to contribute and advocate for families within the
EHDI process. They contributed to the development of the Ski Hi Curriculum, JDSE Author's
Corner, and the Investing in Family Support Conference and more.
Admiration for both women is abundant. Teresa Kazemir offers, "Leeanne
and Janet do not have the word "can't" in their vocabulary. They welcome challenges,
and just work hard to find a way. They inspire us. They are truly making the world a
better place." Lisa Kovacs shares, "Hands & Voices offers me the opportunity for meaningful and
rewarding work. I attribute my motivation and determination to two ladies. Without their guidance
and leadership, I would not be doing what I do today." "If Hands & Voices had not been born
fourteen years ago, we wouldn't have Guide By Your Side training, the Communicator, the parent
support network that responds to each referred family, nor the new national standard of inviting a
parent of a child with hearing loss on any committee or task force that serves such children," states
Sara Kennedy.
Therefore, we hope you will strongly consider Leeanne and Janet for the 2009 Maxon
Award. We cannot think of a more fitting expression of gratitude shared by the
thousands of parents whose lives they have touched.
The purpose of this letter is to nominate Dr. Christine Yoshinaga-Itano to receive the 2009 Antonia
Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. Yoshinaga-Itano received her doctorate in audiology
and hearing impairment at Northwestern University. She has been a member of the CU-Boulder
faculty since 1986.
Dr. Yoshinaga-Itano's research interests are in the area of language development of children with
hearing loss. She has directed several projects for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, including
infants and toddlers from non-English-speaking homes, for the Colorado Department of Education
and the National Institutes of Health.
Few will disagree that the research spearheaded by Dr. Yoshinaga-Itano regarding the
communication outcomes of children who were early identified with hearing loss compared to those
who were late identified provided the sound evidence based results needed to turn the good idea of
newborn hearing screening into a societal reality in less than 10 years. Almost all of the four million
infants born in hospitals in the United States currently have their hearing screened prior to hospital
discharge and universal newborn hearing screening also is being instituted in countries throughout
the world as a direct result of this research.
Few others are as worthy as Christie Yoshinaga-Itano to receive the great honor of receiving the
Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. I would be very surprised if this is the only
letter of support that you have received on Christie's behalf.
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