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Susan Sundstrom, MS, CCC-A, chief of the
audiology department at the George E. Wahlen
Health Care System in Salt Lake City, UT provided
audiologic training and supplies at a center for
children who are deaf or hearing impaired in San
Pedro Sula, Honduras in February of 2009. |
Most 60th birthday celebrations involve a huge party with family and friends, a cake with an exaggerated number of candles and a pile of presents. But for Susan Sundstrom, MS, CCC-A, chief of the audiology department at the George E. Wahlen Health Care System in Salt Lake City, UT, the celebration was a little different.
Rather than a party, she traveled to a center for children who are deaf and hearing impaired in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in February of 2009, to provide training, education and equipment.
The Groundwork
The trip began with a brainstorming session between Sundstrom and a long-time friend. "We both turned 60 last year, and we decided we should do something really special for our birthdays," she explained, adding that since both she and her friend traveled frequently, a trip seemed like the best idea.
With a sister-in-law in Honduras who ran a mission, Sundstrom's friend suggested they contact her. "And that evolved into my friend's sister-in-law putting me in touch with a woman who runs a center for the deaf and hearing impaired, and we just kind of took off from there."
The woman was Cheryl Humphries, RN, a nurse who came to Honduras with her husband in 2006. Prior to their move, the couple had worked with individuals who are hearing impaired for many years in the United States. Humphries' husband, Curt, had been a mental health counselor for individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, and through her work with him as well as separately as a nurse, Humphries had garnered a significant amount of experience.
In Honduras, the couple worked in a school for the deaf - the only school for the deaf in San Pedro Sula--for several months until Curt was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Rather than return home after the diagnosis, the Humphries remained in the country working toward Curt's dream: locating and helping the children of Honduras who are deaf or hearing impaired.
"We started going out and finding children that had no language at all, who did not go to school. We were finding children [ages] 12, 14, 8, 7, and we had about 30 kids. We would train teachers to go in and teach sign language," Humphries explained.
The search evolved into a community center, where children are tested for hearing loss, receive language therapy and have the opportunity to receive education and aid they might not otherwise. Humphries operates the center on her own now (Curt passed away in February of 2007) with the help of local residents, doctors in Honduras and surrounding countries, and volunteers such as Sundstrom.
Preparations
Sundstrom wanted to make the most of her trip to Humphries' center, and so the preparation leading up to her departure was extensive. It began with collecting supplies--hearing aids, equipment, etc.--that the children at the center were lacking.
Phonak Hearing Systems donated hearing aids and pediatric kits featuring Oliver the Elephant, the face of Phonak's pediatric program. "[The kits] have little books in them about how Oliver the Elephant gets hearing aids. Then they have these little Ziploc packets that have everything a child needs to maintain hearing aids: batteries, a listening tube, cleaning materials, a dry aid kit. And they (Phonak) gave me hearing aids, too," Sundstrom said. Oliver hand puppets were thrown into the mix as well.
In addition to the hearing equipment, Sundstrom secured a donation from Utah Idaho Supply/Map world, a school supply company. The company donated more than $300 worth of materials. "They just let me go and pick stuff out until I had come to what they said was the limit," Sundstrom said. She gathered crayons, notepads, books, games and more for the children.
With the school and hearing supplies, Sundstrom filled three suitcases. There was just enough room left in the third for the clothes she would need during the trip, she said, laughing. "It was wonderful. It was just great!"
Getting the luggage to Honduras proved to be the trickiest part of traveling, which overall was fairly easy. Sundstrom paid her own way and checked all three bags, paying an extra fee for the third. She considered shipping the suitcases but was told that packages are often stolen and sold elsewhere in Honduras rather than being appropriately delivered.
When Sundstrom got to customs, proof of where she was going and what she was doing was enough to get her through with minimal fuss. "It happened that the customs agent who was going through it had a brother who had been to the center, she said. "So she immediately was very excited, and I got zoomed through customs. and then Cheryl, and my friend's sister-in-law and her husband met us at the airport."
An Important Message
The first order of business for Sundstrom was a seminar for local parents and teachers. About 40 people attended. And with the help of an interpreter, Sundstrom gave a lecture about hearing loss, its effects on people and the importance of early intervention, something that is not common practice in Honduras.
"The problem there is that the community has put a bad connotation [on being deaf or hearing impaired]," Humphries explained. "It comes down from the medical doctors group. I have two children who now come to the center. They are three years old .when they were one year old the parents took them and got an ABR done, found out that they were deaf, but the ENT who did the test told them there was nothing that they could do. He did not put aids on the child, he did nothing."
Sundstrom added that many children who are deaf or hearing impaired are kept at home, often hidden away. Not only do they not receive the attention needed for their hearing impairment but they miss out on the social interaction and early education that helps shape lives.
This made Sundstrom's message particularly important. And from what she could tell, it was delivered successfully. "The seminar took most of the day, 4 or 5 hours, and then we let people ask questions. At the end some people stayed and had individual questions they wanted to ask. And we did some training with their staff. We brought in a few patients so I could do a demonstration with hearing aids. It was hard to do in the short time I had, but I gave them some guidelines: how to make selections for hearing aids and adjustments and some things about testing," she said.
In addition to the seminar and staff training, Sundstrom worked with the children at the center, testing and fitting them for hearing aids. She said the work was challenging, as many of the children were older and had never had any type of services.
"We had one woman that had a son in his teens and she wondered if we could fit him with hearing aids," Sundstrom remembered. "This child I guess had been using sign, and Cheryl decided she might do a trial with him, but by 18 with no hearing aids and no hearing test. who knows.
"There were many children that were identified very, very late and had never had services."
Looking Ahead
Sundstrom has since returned home from Honduras and is back to her normal life, but she plans to someday return to the center. Meanwhile, both she and Humphries hope others will be interested in aiding the children and adults of Honduras, particularly since Humphries has plans for expansion.
"I want to take what we have in the center and put it into an RV for mobile clinics," she said, "because there's nothing in the whole country. Kids come to San Pedro to see the doctor, and they're referred to us, but I can't do anything much, because you can't just give them a hearing aid. It involves more work afterward. So with RVs, I figure we can do eight cities a month reasonably well and set up centers in each city.
"Eventually my goal is to start a real school for the deaf where the kids can really learn to read and write. I want to make a difference. We have to make a difference," Humphries concluded.
Individuals interested in aiding Humphries' center can help in several ways: through donations of funding or equipment, and through donations of time. Humphries has even set up an internship program for those who would like to stay for an extended time.
For more information: www.logosima.org or contact Cheryl Humphries, logosima@hotmail.com
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