18th ANNUAL EARLY HEARING DETECTION & INTERVENTION MEETING
March 3-5, 2019 • Chicago, IL

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3/10/2015  |   1:45 PM - 2:15 PM   |  One Size Does Not Fit All; Increasing Newborn Hearing Screening in Wisconsin's Plain Communities   |  Stopher   |  1

One Size Does Not Fit All; Increasing Newborn Hearing Screening in Wisconsin's Plain Communities

In Wisconsin, some families in Plain (Amish, Mennonite and other) communities who choose to deliver in home or clinic settings with a birth attendant who is a member of their community do not have access to newborn hearing screening. There are many barriers to access to hearing screening for these families. Due to the initial cost of the equipment and the ongoing costs of calibration and maintenance it is not feasible for most Plain birth attendants to own the equipment to provide this service to the families they care for. Plain families face financial, cultural and transportation barriers to accessing newborn hearing screening in a clinic or hospital setting. Wisconsin Sound Beginnings is piloting several innovative strategies to increase access to initial hearing screening for Plain families including: providing an Amish birth attendant with an ABR screener and training, support and supplies for performing newborn hearing screening; providing training, equipment and supplies to local public health departments to provide newborn hearing screening; collaborating with licensed midwives in the area to do in-home newborn hearing screening; and using regional outreach screeners to provide in-home initial hearing screening. In two areas of Wisconsin with high Plain populations, Wisconsin Sound Beginnings staff has hosted meetings to bring together Amish Birth Attendants, Public Health Departments and Licensed Midwives to make collaborative plans for providing access to newborn hearing screening for all Plain families in the area. This presentation will highlight what WSB has learned in our efforts to increase newborn hearing screening in Plain communities and will focus on the importance of looking at different strategies for increasing hearing screening in different communities.

  • At the end of this session 90% of participants will be able to identify 2 or more strategies for increasing newborn hearing screening in Plain communities.
  • At the end of this session 75% of participants will be able to identify two groups that they could collaborate with to increase newborn hearing screening in Plain communities in their state

Presentation:
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Transcripts:
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Presenters/Authors

Jeanne Gustafson (Co-Presenter), Wisconsin Sound Beginnings, Chippewa County Department of Public Health, jgustafson@co.chippewa.wi.us;
Jeanne came to EHDI work through her experience as the parent of a child who is hard of hearing. Jeanne was a Parent Guide with the Guide By Your Side Program and a Follow-Through Parent Guide for WSB. She currently serves the northern and western regions as an Outreach Specialist, providing in-home and in-community hearing screenings for babies. Jeanne serves many Amish and Mennonite communities, providing out of hospital outreach and education and building relationships with several traditional midwives and public health departments that serve the area. Jeanne is also a WSB Parents Reaching Out parent, who helped develop the program and supports families post-diagnosis in the Western and Northern parts of WI.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

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Nonfinancial -

Gretchen Spicer (Primary Presenter,POC), Wisconsin Sound Beginnings, gretchenspicer@gmail.com;
My name is Gretchen Spicer. I am a CPM LM and retired EMT-P. During my 14 years as an active CPM I attended about 700 deliveries, mainly for Amish and Mennonite families. I am passionate about social justice issues in midwifery and the need to diversify both the group of women that are served by CPMs and the midwifery workforce. I am currently employed by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene as the Out-of- Hospital Outreach Coordinator. In this position I work to make sure that all families choosing out-of-hospital delivery have access to affordable and culturally appropriate options for newborn blood, hearing and pulse oximetry screening. I live on a small farm in Southwestern Wisconsin where my husband and I raised our 7 children. We milk three cows and try to grow as much of our food as we can.


ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -