Last week I was pleased to announce that Manitoba will now join the ranks of Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia in automatically administering hearing tests to newborn infants. As of September 1st, this testing will be offered to all newborns and will be conducted in all Regional Health Authorities. Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach will be one of the locations that testing occurs.
Our government knows, and as Minister of Health it is my belief, that families in Manitoba will benefit from a universal program with consistent screening services across the province, so children with congenital hearing loss have the opportunity to develop strong cognitive, speech-processing and learning skills. It is a common misconception for parents that hearing loss in their children is easy to detect and many years often go by without properly discovering hearing loss in their child. Due to how varied our children’s language development is, early detection and diagnosis helps those with congenital hearing loss get the treatment they need as early as possible, as a child’s first two years are the most important for language development.
The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Act was introduced and passed in 2013 as a Private Members bill by then Progressive Conservative MLA Leanne Rowat. Since that time, regulations and standard processes and procedures were developed and the necessary equipment was installed throughout the province to provide services.
There are between 16,000 and 17,000 births in Manitoba annually, and every year between 17 and 102 children are born with some hearing loss. The hearing screening program is now available at 13 health-care facilities across the province including: Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg, Portage District General Hospital, Bethesda Hospital in Steinbach, Ste. Anne Hospital and Boundary Trails Health Centre in Morden-Winkler in the Southern Health – Santé Sud health region, Selkirk and District General Hospital in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, Brandon Regional Health Centre, Dauphin Health Centre and the Neepawa Health Centre in the Prairie Mountain Health region, and Thompson General Hospital, St. Anthony’s General Hospital in The Pas and the Flin Flon General Hospital in the Northern Regional Health Authority.
Infants born at home or in facilities with fewer than 75 births per year will be referred to the nearest outpatient hearing centre for screening. A common database will ensure children born in one region and living in another will have co-ordinated care. It is our government’s goal that all children will be tested soon after they are born with an early diagnosis leading to early intervention.
Our children deserve the best start in life that we can provide. This is an important step in ensuring that goal is achieved.
