Teach a Man to Fish

This week I was involved in screening at Candy Floss, but before getting started I took a walk down to do a home visit follow-up. I had done an otoscopic examination 3 weeks ago on a young man with impacted cerumen and left instructions for him to get cerumen removal drops, so that I can eventually do a hearing screening on him. Myself and Lesley (another audio student) had gotten our hands on some cerumen management tools from the department and were hoping to use them on this follow-up home visit. Once we arrived at his house he told us that he hasn't bought the drops or oil yet...but then his mother came through with drops that she had purchased yesterday. It may have taken 3 weeks, but I was so glad that she had bought it! Not just because he needs to use it, but because it means that the family took our advice seriously and is taking responsibility for the sons hearing health. Since he hadn't yet used it, we decided that would will return in a week when the wax is softer, and then attempt to remove it.

Back at Candy Floss I spent the remainder of the morning conducting hearing screenings with a few of my classmates. Most of the children had type B or C tymps, and a one had impacted cerumen. These findings are consistent with what we have found in previous weeks in the other children, and its high prevalence is of concern to us. Many of the children have upper respiratory tract infections which are leading to fluid build-up in the middle ear and conductive hearing loss. We have been discussing this as a group and have planned a hygiene awareness day at the creche for this coming week, to educate the children on simple things like washing their hands after using the bathroom, to decrease the spread of bacteria and viruses.....hopefully it will be very creative and a lot of fun!

The more I become involved in community projects, both through university and outside in my own time, the more I am learning about making a sustainable impact. Helping people out and meeting an immediate need IS necessary, but just like that saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime" we can make more of an impact if we create something sustainable.There are a few projects running in South Africa that follow this principal- such as The Heiffer Project. In Mariannridge, we are realizing that the most sustainable difference that we can make towards hearing health care is through education. So far, we have taken part in 1 workshop with the community workers, aimed at educating them on the causes, signs and impact of hearing loss. By communicating this information with the ladies who are actively involved in the lives of people in Mariannridge, they are able to share their knowledge with others. We are running a second workshop this coming week at the Preschool, targeting issues surrounding hygiene. Our final workshop will be in collaboration with the Speech and OT students aimed at parents of children aged 2-6 on development.

It is going to be a busy few weeks leading up to the end of our Community Based Rehabilitation prac, I hope that we can use the short amount of time that we have left to make an greater impact the community!