CREATING AN IMPACTFUL CHANGE
SPREADING AWARENESS
Creating awareness and informing people about auditory health and related issues is core to SAHI’s overall objective of assisting the hearing impaired.
RURAL CAMPS
Creating awareness and informing people about auditory health and related issues is core to SAHI’s overall objective of assisting the hearing impaired.
A typical camp consists of registrations, general ENT checkups, audiological checkup followed by public awareness programmes and distribution of free hearing aids to those in need. Children identified as hearing or speech impaired are invited to Apollo Hospitals for further treatment. Post-surgery the child is given a year of free Auditory Verbal Therapy at the Hospital.
FREE HEARING AIDS & IMPLANT SURGERIES
At the camps, children who require hearing aids are given digital hearing aids free of cost. Children identified with middle ear deformities are brought back to Apollo Hospitals and are assisted to undergo microear surgeries free of cost. Children with severe to profound hearing loss need to undergo expensive cochlear implant surgery. The cost of a cochlear implant system, which has to be imported, ranges from Rs. 5.35 Lakhs to Rs. 12 Lakhs, depending on the model. Additionally the cost of the surgery, hospitalization and habilitation amounts to approximately Rs. 2,00,000. Without financial aid, this expensive and state-of-the-art surgery is otherwise beyond the reach of common man. Hence SAHI financially supports these children by part funding their surgery cost.
GROW A TREE FOR FREE
A free sapling is given to all those who receive cochlear implants surgeries or hearing aids at Apollo. Just as patients and their caregivers at home nurture their child’s new found ability to hear, they also nourish and grow the sapling that’s given to them and help it become a tree that helps the environment. SAHI felt this was another tangible way for the families to be visually connected with their progress.
AUDITORY VERBAL HABILITATION THERAPY
Therapy given to the children post-surgery, focuses on learning through listening and speaking using hearing aids or cochlear implants. We have a team of trained therapists who organize individual and group therapy sessions for the Cochlear Implantees and children with other additional disabilities on a weekly basis. Every week, therapists plan and set Audition, Language, Speech, and Cognition goals for each child. These are age appropriate activities and are designed according to the child’s listening level and interest. All areas of development are carefully monitored and managed in order to understand the child’s potential to develop spoken language through listening. Goals are set within a developmental framework and progress is closely monitored.
COCHLEAR IMPLANT CLUB
The Cochlear Implant Club comprises of approximately 1200+ members who have received Cochlear Implant surgeries at Apollo CI Clinic. The benefit of being a CI member includes one year of free follow-up care, with doctors helping develop a road map for ongoing care that include therapy sessions, mapping and the monitoring of ongoing hygiene. SAHI team keeps in touch with club members and tries to support them throughout the process in the most optimal way possible.
NEO NATAL SCREENING
Hearing Impairment is a hidden disability which is usually detected by parents only after 2 years of age. Since it is not an external disability the symptoms are not easily identified earlier. Early identification and intervention can prevent severe psychosocial, educational, and linguistic repercussions. Late detection causes irreversible stunting of language development potential of the child. SAHI uses the Oto Acoustic Emission (OAE) device to screen the neonates. This device is used successfully because it is a very sensitive, non-invasive, cost and time effective procedure.