Press Release

CNY Congress Link

March 29, 2000

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

CONTACT: Martha Carmen (202) 225-3701

WALSH AND SENATORS LAUNCH NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING PROGRAM

WASHINGTON -- Congressman James Walsh will hold a news conference in Washington Thursday, March 30 to launch his new national newborn and infant hearing screening program in 22 states.

Walsh will be joined by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who sponsored the legislation in the Senate. President Clinton recently signed the bill in to law.

A list of states which will receive the initial funding to set up model screening programs was not immediately available. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will release a list today, Walsh said. More than 40 states applied.

"The states which applied have shown an interest in health care leadership. We will fight to have them all assisted in their efforts. They are to be commended for this pioneering approach to health care," Walsh said. "By leading the way in the fight to detect hearing loss, the first 22 states are committing to helping families while strengthening our nation's health care system."

"Newborn hearing screening will unlock many doors for deaf and hard of hearing children," said Harkin. "Early detection of hearing loss is essential to preparing deaf and hard of hearing children to thrive independently in society."

Every year, over 20,000 children in the United States are born with a hearing impairment. Many of them will not be diagnosed as hearing-impaired until after their second birthday. Joining the Members of Congress will be families from Maryland who have been helped by early detection.

The grants are awarded through HRSA and of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grants were authorized by Walsh's "Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 1999."

Signed into law last year, the grants help States establish programs to detect and diagnose hearing loss in every newborn child and to promote appropriate treatment and intervention for newborns with hearing loss.

(The news conference will beheld at 12:15 p.m. in the House Triangle, located near the steps on the House side of the U.S. Capitol facing the Supreme Court.)

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