Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
July 22, 1999, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: LOUDOUN EXTRA; Pg. V05
LENGTH: 611 words
HEADLINE:
Hearing Tests for Babies Expanded; New Va. Law Sends Leesburg Nonprofit Clinic
in Search of Funds for Equipment
BYLINE: Tomoko Hosaka,
Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
A
Leesburg hearing center has kicked off its first capital campaign in more than a
decade, hoping to raise $ 30,000 for equipment it needs to detect and diagnose
hearing loss in babies.
Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing, where nearly half
the clients are children, has wanted to purchase the equipment for years. There
is a new sense of urgency, however, because of a state law that was passed last
year and took effect this month.
As of July 1, every Virginia hospital
with a neonatal intensive care unit is required to screen hearing in all newborn
babies before they are discharged. The law will extend to all hospitals in the
state next July.
Virginia was the eighth state to pass such universal
screening legislation; now 19 states have such laws. But Virginia lawmakers
didn't include state funding with the legislation, leaving hospitals--and the
hearing treatment centers to which possibly hearing-impaired babies are
referred--to come up with the money themselves.
When hospital screening
detects possible hearing impairment in a baby, parents turn to centers such as
Blue Ridge to conduct further testing and provide treatment if necessary. As a
nonprofit clinic, Blue Ridge treats all patients who walk in the door,
regardless of their ability to pay.
Study after study has shown that the
earlier a hearing impairment is detected, the better a child's chances of
learning and communicating normally. The longer a child's hearing problem goes
unnoticed, the harder it is for the child to catch up. Experts believe that
after a certain point, it is nearly impossible.
Most children with
hearing loss are identified at about 2 1/2 years old, according to Blue Ridge
audiologists. But by then, the critical time in infancy when language circuitry
develops in the brain has passed.
"Currently the big push is to identify
all these babies for the potential of hearing loss so that their language isn't
further delayed," said Kellie Powell-Istvan, an audiologist at Blue Ridge.
Loudoun Hospital Center is one of 23 hospitals across the state that was
required to begin universal hearing screening in newborn babies this month.
Before the mandate, the hospital, like most others across the country, screened
hearing only in high-risk babies, said Nancy Sehnert, team leader of the
hospital's nursery.
But when the state looked at data, officials
discovered that about half the children later diagnosed with hearing problems
had no identifiable risk factors for hearing loss as babies.
"We knew
that we were missing 50 percent of babies," said Pat Dewey, speech and hearing
services administrator at the Virginia Department of Health. "So the natural
progression was to screen everyone."
Two federal bills that have been
introduced in the House and Senate would provide states with money to design and
implement universal newborn hearing screening programs.
For every 1,000 babies born, about three have some sort of hearing
impairment, making it the most common birth defect in the country, according to
the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management at Utah State
University.
Loudoun Hospital recently bought equipment to prepare for
the new law and began screening all infants a month early. Since the program
officially began in July, nurses have detected one baby with possible hearing
loss, according to Sehnert, who said the baby's hearing problem likely would
have been missed before the universal screening program began. "We all feel like
this is a very positive thing," Sehnert said. "Most of us know someone who does
have hearing loss, and it can be horrible. It would be so much nicer if we can
avoid it."
LOAD-DATE: July 23, 1999
