Impacting WA

Earbus Foundation has been challenged by the pandemic to find ways to keep essential ear health services running to help children be well, especially in the regions. Each year has thrown up different obstacles – vaccinations, intra-state border closures and now, Omicron variants.

It is pleasing to report that over the two COVID years Earbus still managed to see over 7,200 Aboriginal children across regional and metro Outreach programs. In 2020 our teams screened and treated 5,273 children and 1,959 new children joined the program in 2021. In total last year we saw 4,902 Aboriginal children.

This remarkable reach relies on continuing cooperation from schools, daycares, kindergartens and communities across 9 different programs in 2021.

The impact of regular visits is clear – 6 of the 9 programs recorded rates of chronic ear disease below the WHO 4% benchmark; overall the rate of chronic ear disease was 3.5%. This impact relies on our critical collaborations with Aboriginal Medical Services across the state.