15th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 13-15, 2016 • San Diego, CA
3/15/2016 | 2:15 PM - 2:45 PM | Topical Session 6 | Pacific Salon 4/5 | 6 - Follow-up, Tracking and Data Management
Indiana's EHDI Program and the Use of Text Messaging to Contact Parents
In 2013, 97% of babies born in Indiana received newborn hearing screens. Approximately 2.8% (2,277) of those babies did not pass their UNHS. Of those infants, 13% were lost to follow up or unresponsive to EHDI’s efforts to contact.
In an effort to reduce the number of babies lost to follow up and decrease the number of families who are unresponsive to EHDI’s efforts to contact them, the Indiana EHDI Parent Consultants have begun contacting families through text messaging, in addition to the traditional methods of telephone calls and letters. This initiative started June 2015 after approval from ISDH’s legal department was obtained. By August 2015 the Indiana EHDI team developed text messaging protocols and scripts, both in English and Spanish. Responsiveness from parents, especially mothers, has been overwhelmingly positive. This presentation will present data collected thus far, as well as anecdotal insights from parents regarding text exchanges. In addition, the scripts used for various scenarios as well as ideas to intrigue the text recipient to engage in communication will be shared. This session will encourage discussion and ideas from participants and share ideas on how to implement text messaging in your state.
- identify the weaknesses and strengths of a texting protocol for contacting parents
- initiate the first steps in developing a texting protocol
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Presenters/Authors
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Rebekah F. Cunningham
(Author), EHDI - Indiana Sate Dept. of Health , RCunningham@isdh.IN.gov ;
Rebekah Cunningham, PhD is the Director for the EHDI Program at the Indiana State Department of Health, Genomics and Newborn Screening. She was formerly at Cardon Children's Medical Center Department of Audiology in Mesa, AZ, where she performed comprehensive evaluations and provided rehabilitation to infants and young children. She was an Associate Professor in the Department of Audiology at A.T. Still University for twelve years. Her passion has always been pediatric-focused, whether teaching Au.D. students, providing services or overseeing the Program responsible for ensuring timely and appropriate newborn hearing screenings and follow up to the babies in Indiana. She has served for nearly 20 years on committees and task forces for local and national audiology organizations. Dr. Cunningham has taught, presented, and published for over 15 years on the topics of assessment and management of children with hearing loss and/or auditory processing difficulties.
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No relevant financial relationship exist.
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No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Julie Swaim
(Co-Presenter,Author), EHDI - Indiana Sate Dept. of Health, jswaim@isdh.in.gov;
Julie Swaim has worked as an Indiana EHDI Parent Consultant since 2009. She helped develop and implement the telephone protocol for contacting parents after birth to encourage follow through with hearing evaluations. Previously Julie worked with public schools and Indiana businesses to create and program student/Internship collaboration. Before children, she worked in international marketing focusing on South America and as a television reporter with the hope of becoming a foreign correspondent. Parenthood changed her focus when her son was diagnosed with profound hearing loss in 1990. This quarter of a century has fueled her desire to help improve information available for parents at every stage of their Hearing journey.
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Lisa Wolfe
(Co-Presenter,Author), EHDI - Indiana Sate Dept. of Health, lwolfe@isdh.in.gov;
Lisa has worked as a Parent Consultant for EHDI since February of 2015. Prior to that she was a parent guide for the Indiana Hands & Voices Guide By Your Side program. Before having a child with hearing loss Lisa’s career focused on computer software support, conversions and training. Lisa’s son was born at 23 weeks and spent 4 ½ months in the NICU. He failed his newborn hearing screen when leaving the NICU and 3 months later was diagnosed with hearing loss. Because of the challenges Lisa faced in her hearing loss journey with her son, she is very passionate about helping other families navigate through all options available to them and helping them to connect to all available resources.
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