Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project: Supporting families of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous children with Otitis Media

ABSTRACT

Otitis Media (OM) is an important global issue that can have a long-lasting impact on a child’s life. There is no easy fix! For a family who has a child with OM, the ramifications can be short term and have minimal consequences, or they can be very complex and involve medical, educational, behavioural and wellbeing issues, and may even be life-threatening. Navigating diagnosis and then the combinations of interventions in all areas is just the start of a very daunting journey. As a preventable disease, we have the opportunity to make a difference. This paper presents the development and implementation of the Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project (HoHEBP) within a regional city in western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The HoHEBP supports families of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous children with OM through a transdisciplinary approach incorporating health and education, in partnership with families and communities to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and young people. We present how the HoHEBP provides a unique vehicle for change in the way we approach OM as a transdisciplinary team. Longitudinal data from 2014 to 2019 shows that numbers of children and young people being tested and diagnosed with OM, and referred to medical and educational specialists through the HoHEBP have increased, with over one third identifying as Indigenous (in this paper Indigenous is used respectfully to refer to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples).

KEYWORDS:

• Otitis media
• indigenous health
• education
• wellbeing
• hearing loss
• family support
• Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our financial sponsors, volunteer committee members and employees, partnerships and supporters all who without this project would not be possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Donna Rees is a parent of a hard of hearing adult, teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, volunteer director of Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project, and executive member on NSW and national teacher of the deaf committees. She has a strong interest in supporting young people with hearing loss to reach their life goals and works with multidisciplinary teams.

Rachel Mills is a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing, and volunteer director of Hear our Heart Ear Bus Project. She has a strong interest in children and young people with ear health issues.

Associate Professor Louise Paatsch is the Associate Head of School (Research) in the School of Education in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. Her background is in oral language development, literacy, and deaf education in early childhood and primary school education. Louise’s research uses mixed methods approaches, including video methodology, to investigate oral language, play, and literacy development, as well as teacher talk during intentional oral language teaching, teacher professional learning, and teacher as researcher. Louise also researches pragmatic skill development of children and young people with hearing loss who use spoken language and their hearing peers. Louise has many publications in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and books, and has presented at both national and international conferences. She has also presented workshops on oral language and pragmatic skill development to teachers, teachers of the deaf, and allied health professionals.