2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference
March 13 - 15, 2022
3/06/2023 | 3:15 PM - 3:45 PM | EHDI Services in the Republic of the Marshall Islands: A Local Perspective on Telehealth | DECC 211
EHDI Services in the Republic of the Marshall Islands: A Local Perspective on Telehealth
The Republic of the Marshall Islands, a remote chain of atolls and islands stretching thousands of miles across the North Pacific Ocean, is home to the youngest EHDI program established by the United States. Since 2012, local EHDI personnel have had to overcome enormous logistical challenges to meet 1-3-6 goals.
The threat of the pandemic arriving in 2020 added yet another host of challenges to RMI identification and early intervention (EI). With all air travel to and from the Republic cut off, EHDI staff on the main cities of Majuro and Ebeye worked with pediatric audiologists at the University of Hawaii to establish teleaudiology services. Together they developed new workflows to meet the islanders’ unique needs, and acquired the technology to implement their shared vision. With the new ability to conduct otoscopy, tympanometry, and diagnostic threshold ABRs remotely from across the Pacific, the team worked hard to identify newborns with hearing loss. They also established remote EI services during this time, sending training and technology into homes of families across the RMI.
As travel to the RMI reopens in 2023, the Center for Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii is helping EHDI transition away from emergency status. By validating teleaudiology and remote EI solutions put into place during the pandemic, we are working to build a durable, scalable way to provide remote services for children that need it most.
- Describe the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and list its two primary centers for EDHI services within the islands
- Identify two obstacles to identifying children with hearing loss on the RMI before 2020
- Describe one potential advantage tele-audiology and remote EI has over in-person services after 2023
Presentation:
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Presenters/Authors
Sean Smith
(), Center on Disability Studies, Univ of Hawaii, Sasmith2@hawaii.edu;
Sean Arthur Smith, AuD, is an audiologist based in rural Alaska and a member of the RMI EHDI team. His clinical interests include expanding access to hearing healthcare and leading local implementation of telehealth best practices.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -