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Christmas Appeal to fund audiology equipment

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 audiologybabies
Christmas Appeal to fund audiology equipment Roughly 90 per cent of audiology patients at Bendigo Health are children like Silver. Funding better equipment will provide more timely, accurate diagnosis for families.
Bendigo Health is fundraising this Christmas for specialist audiology equipment to test newborn babies’ hearing.

Silver was 12-weeks-old when she was diagnosed with a form of hearing loss, but it took another two months, and numerous trips to and from Melbourne to get a confirmed diagnosis.

Now almost three-years-old, Silver has a cochlear implant in one ear, a hearing aid in the other and is thriving.

Bendigo Health is fundraising this Christmas for specialist audiology equipment to test newborn babies’ hearing so families like Silver’s get clearer, faster results and avoid unnecessary stress.

Silver’s mother, Katie, hopes sharing their story will encourage more people to donate to Bendigo Health’s Christmas Appeal, which hopes to raise around $100,000 for the equipment.

"We were very much in in limbo and I do fear there’s going to be families in the same situation. Having a quicker diagnosis will help a lot of families," she said.

Bendigo Health audiology manager Tracy Sheldrick said the new equipment will cut the time it takes to test a child's hearing by half, and will provide more accurate results, which reduces the need for follow up testing. 

To donate, visit: www.bendigohealth.org.au/christmas