Earbus Foundation of Wa

earbus foundation of wa Values, Contents Mission Chairperson’s Report 1 & Vision CEO’s Report 3 Financial Snapshot 7 Earbus Foundation of Western Australia’s Mission Key Facts on Otitis media 8 is to reduce the incidence and impact of middle ear disease (Otitis media) in Aboriginal and at-risk Program Report: Newborn Hearing Screening 9 children in Western Australia to achieve parity with Program Report: South West 11 non-Indigenous children. Program Report: Pilbara 13 The Foundation exists to support all children and Highlights of 2019 15 their families who may be at risk of developing Otitis media or hearing loss. Program Report: Kimberley 17 Program Report: Goldfields 19 Our Vision is that current and future generations of Indigenous children can succeed at school Program Report: South East 21 unhindered by the debilitating effects of Otitis Program Report: Metro 23 media and its impacts upon their ability to learn and achieve their full potential. Program Report: Hear Today Clinic 25 Changing Children’s Lives 26 Our Vision also extends to early detection, prevention and access to diagnostic services of Program Report: Clinical Services 27 hearing loss for newborn babies. Earbus Staff Team and Consultants and Volunteers 29 Our Core Values are the centre of all our internal Clinical Patron 31 and external interactions and are fundamental Board Profiles 32 to everything we do. These values are the non- Sponsors and thanks 33 negotiable, unchanging heart of our organisation. We stress the critical importance of all employees living these values and representing these values to the public we serve. BE OPEN & HONEST, BE LOYAL AND SUPPORTIVE, BE BRILLIANT “Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but having the will to muster enough Dr Carol Dowling courage to do something about it. In a way, Chairperson’s empathy is predicated upon hope.” Report: ― Dr Cornel West This was my last term as Chair for this wonderful thing. This must start from the very beginning of exceptional array of information documenting organisation. In my moments of reflection in an Aboriginal child’s life and avoidable hearing loss our clinical engagements. This highly valuable writing this piece, I remember back to the hope and must not prevent it. material will soon be reported on extensively, but aspirations of the small band of people who first with every board meeting it reveals the vital need gathered to envision the work we would do. In 2013, I am who I am because someone loved me and was for our services. It is Earbus Foundation’s relentless the historical and institutional backdrop of chronic concerned about the trajectory of my life. I know focus and campaign that have created lasting ear disease had bleak impact on who and what we from this background I can see what serious moral impacts on the lives of families and their children. were as Aboriginal people in this state. With all we substance is. I see staff deliver our services and I see It is only a matter of time before such important knew from experience and personal moments, our the families of the children who use our clinics. They data is presented to a national and international team revelled together because Earbus Foundation have love for the thousands of children who sit with arena in a substantial way though research papers was a different and hopeful organisation from our staff. This care is significant especially when and focused research grants. There are difficult the beginning. With pride and integrity, that staff seek nothing but a decolonised sensibility in all truths about what the current health regime does organisation grew and has become a vital agent for that is operationalised at Earbus Foundation. We all and does not do for such a preventable disease. change. As Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people aim to make the lives of children better than before. Indigenous research in this field is limited and so working together, we could see the world decline After all, humanity is about compassion and being are the voices of those whom this chronic disease and decay into nationalism and hierarchies that willing to sacrifice for that which is bigger than impacts on. The key aim is to demystify chronic ear excluded the marginalized but we deeply believed, us. Such an ongoing focus must always be based disease so that we can all have those delicate and and still believe, that what we do would have a on four fundamental elements: Integrity, Honesty, difficult conversations to make better overall health profound impact. Decency and Fortitude. I thank all staff for this focus outcomes for First Nations people in this state. especially when they have always taken calculated Fundamentally, as First Nations people, we need risks and weighed up the cost of change. I wish to thank everyone for their faith in my abilities people who are deep thinkers, not just those as Chair; you have offered me so much personal that survive on the superficial education given This year, the Foundation travelled 315,000 and professional support over the years. You have in bits because of hearing loss. At worst, this cult kilometres across our extensive network in inspired me and I will be forever grateful. of smartness in Western education pushes our Western Australia. A massive territory that included children along in a massive socially unequal tide increasing ventures deep into Noongar country in that works against the vulnerable. When we cannot the South-West or the myriad of First Nations living compete with the dominant culture we cannot in the Kimberley. We now have a wonderful group nurture black leadership and we cannot call out of clinical teams that travel far and wide to reach against the inequality we experience. Our future as many children as our services can. We know generations must be given the skills to speak clearly that these communities need us and this has been and concisely against oppression - in our own voice. proven time and time again. We need to be wise, just like our ancestors, to push against identity politics and go beyond to deeper Our development of new data collection software Dr Carol Dowling levels to define ourselves and our voice – the real EarPort means that we have collected an Earbus Foundation Chair 1 2 “we worked on over 70 sites and saw almost 4,000 children” with Microsoft, it provides extraordinary capacity to halve to 6.0% in 2Q and halve again to 3.5% in 3Q. Paul Higginbotham analyse all the clinical and activity data captured by This rapid improvement is the most dramatic we our teams working across the state, from Wyndham have seen; we believe we have maximised the in the north to Esperance in the south. Monthly efficacy of the model by marrying a locally-based Executive level analysis of the data gave an up-to- screening team with the support of monthly visits the-moment snapshot of outcomes from Clinical from Perth-based clinicians - doctors, audiologists CEO’s Report visits. and nurses. Our referral rate into ENT specialist clinics is less than 1% of children, bearing out the I am pleased to report 2019 was another busy and three years at the MercyCare campus in Wembley. In 2019 we trimmed our Outreach Program visit professional consensus that this is a primary care exciting year for Earbus Foundation of Western When we first moved to Wembley we had 5 staff; frequency in the Pilbara and Goldfields, dropping issue first and foremost; only when primary care Australia. In our sixth year of delivering ear health upon exiting we had 32. We simply outgrew the back to two visits a term from the previous monthly fails do children need specialist care. There can be services to WA towns and communities we worked location and searched over 28 potential new sites visits that saw us visit schools 11 times a year. We no clearer evidence of program effectiveness than on over 70 sites and saw almost 4,000 children. before settling on Northbridge; its centrality, were encouraged by the strong outcomes we a low onward referral rate. In the Kimberley our Together with the 7,948 babies screened in private accessibility and modest style were a perfect had achieved from 2014 to 2018 and believed the doctors remarked on the stunning transformation maternity hospitals a total of 12,166 children received organisational fit. chronic disease load could be managed with fewer of children whose torn eardrums were starting to ear health services from our team. visits. We were wrong. Data in both regions showed self-repair. The South West Earbus Program had the most a resurgence of ear disease and less successful The statistics behind this complex and challenging significant growth in 2019. From a handful of outcomes than we hoped for or expected. In Our expanded Esperance program welcomed IGO operation are astonishing: sites in 2018 we expanded to 26 schools and saw 2020 we will increase the visits per region and are Ltd as a new sponsor and saw us include 5 new 61 Outreach Clinical trips Mandurah subsumed into our emerging Metro confident this will see data resume the strong sites and extend each trip to four days. The rate 3,966 children services. The addition of Collie late in the year saw downward trend of previous years. of CSOM is not as high as remote regions but the 201 regional flights the Program reach capacity with existing resources. drop in incidence showed a similar pattern as the 312,000 Kilometres travelled We thank SW Aboriginal Medical Services and Why? For children with chronic ear disease to get Kimberley, halving and then halving again.

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