THE ANTONIA BRANCIA MAXON AWARD FOR EHDI EXCELLENCE
Terry Foust
Dr. Terry Foust is a Senior Executive with Intermountain Healthcare and an audiologist and speech/language pathologist who has been a leader in numerous efforts to develop and improve systems for early identification of hearing loss in newborns and early childhood populations for the past 25 years. During his tenure as an administrator for Intermountain Healthcare's Community and School Clinics, Dr. Foust managed healthcare facilities dedicated to serving low income, uninsured, and homeless populations and was one of the first to implement periodic early childhood Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) screening as a part of clinic-based well child visits -- a cause he continues to champion. Dr. Foust has developed and directed EHDI programs in Utah, has directed early intervention/aural habilitation programs, and provided direct clinical services at a major children's hospital. He has also been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Utah in the Communicative Disorders department as well as an instructor/mentor for the NCHAM Auditory Evaluation of Infants and the Continuing Assessment workshops to promote pediatric audiology education. As a national EHDI network audiologist, Dr. Foust provides technical assistance to EHDI programs in Utah, North Dakota and Montana. Terry is a consulting pediatric audiologist and speech-language pathologist with the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management (NCHAM) and has played an instrumental role on the Early Childhood Hearing Outreach (ECHO) Initiative that has now resulted in hundreds of Early Head Start programs across the country implementing OAE screening and follow-up procedures, all of which serve children living in poverty.
Locally, Terry volunteers as a member of the Head Start Health Advisory Committees in three Early Head Start programs where he provides his expertise for their hearing screening and follow-up programs. Dr. Foust also provides consultation for MCHB, HRSA and the Office of Performance Review. Dr. Foust has published numerous articles pertaining to early identification of hearing loss. His significant contributions have extended into the international realm as well. He started the first newborn hearing-screening program in Ghana Africa at Korle bu Hospital in Accra and has worked in Costa Rico, Egypt and India providing instruction and training in pediatric assessment and diagnosis for audiologists. Reflecting the very traits modeled by Dr. Maxon, Dr. Foust has devoted himself to a balanced career that blends and balances ongoing direct services to children and their families and rich contributions to the development of systems to identify and serve children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged around the world. Without question, Dr. Foust's great quality is his readiness to generously offer his rich array of knowledge and skills combined with his willingness to work under harsh circumstances in order to reach children in need.