First two weeks volunteering with IHCC

A quick introduction: Im Katie, a South African audiologist. I have been locuming in Ireland and the U.K. for the past year and a half, which has given me the flexibility to come out to Uganda for these 5 weeks to volunteer. A few years ago I saw the right tweet at the right time which got me in contact with IHCC, and here I am! I look forward to sharing my experiences with you through this blog!

It has already been 2 incredible weeks in Uganda with IHCC.  We have been making our way through the waiting list of children that have accumulated over the last few months- ABR’s, hearing tests, hearing aid follow ups, new ear mounds and we recently started with the hearing aid fittings. We have some very happy kids with their “new ears”! The audiology clinic has really come along, we are now able to take our own ear mould impressions (instead of sending the children off to the private clinic), which has reduced the time between hearing assessments and hearing aid fittings. We now also have our own laptop and software to program the hearing aids, which means that the hearing aids can be programmed according to each child’s individual hearing test, and adjustments can be made in the session.

We held our (delayed) “World Hearing Day” celebration (the actual day is 3rd March each year, but none of us were in Uganda yet!). Which has also brought quite a number of new children in to our clinic. We are thankful for the media coverage; IHCC was featured on television news, in newspapers as well as on the radio. We have already seen a few new children whose parents heard about IHCC from the radio, who have been able to receive the necessary treatment from our clinic. We look forward to 2 more outreaches planned for the next 3 weeks!