2024 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 17-19, 2024 • Denver, CO
Award Winner/Nominee Details 2021
Daphne Miller
It is with great enthusiasm and admiration that we submit this nomination for Daphne Miller to receive the Antonia Brancia Maxon Award for EHDI Excellence. Daphne has been a state EHDI champion in Virginia for over a decade now and has led efforts that continue to make Virginia EHDI a nationally recognized program. Daphne's EHDI career started as a contractor for the Virginia EHDI program, where she ensured the follow-up of infants, and for the past 5 years has led the team as the EHDI Program Coordinator. In her tenure, she has provided strategic direction and solidified program processes and key relationships, which have resulted in a collaborative and inclusive environment in Virginia.
Daphne has cultivated a strong and dedicated advisory committee that is composed of a variety of stakeholders that represent every aspect of EHDI. The group includes several engaged parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. She has leveraged the voice and experience of families in the creation of various resource materials, including the Virginia Shared Plan of Care, revised pamphlets that are distributed to new parents in the hospital after screening, and brochures designed especially for home visitors who work with families needing extra support. In 2018, the advisory committee amended the bylaws to ensure that parents were included as official leaders (co-chairs) of the team - a decision unanimously supported by her team and all members of the committee.
In addition, the Virginia EHDI Learning Community Program was successfully launched in 2017 under Daphne's leadership, and these regional groups continue meeting today. The networks that have been established through this program have connected parents and professionals to EHDI and to each other. Experiences, resources and ideas have been flowing within these geographically diverse communities and in November 2020 Daphne's team established the statewide learning community council. The time had come for parent and professional representatives from each of these groups to share expertise, lessons learned, and resources in a broader way.
In January 2020, Daphne and her team hosted a two-day holding space seminar that enabled pediatric hearing health professionals, early intervention and early childhood providers, PCPs and others who support families of children with hearing loss to become more trusted, powerful and empathetic champions for those they serve. The seminar was nearly sold-out and feedback from both parents and professionals was overwhelmingly positive.