For the first two years of his life, everything was a little quiet for Carter Ah Chee-Maytum.
Mum Yolandi Ah Chee said she quickly realised her baby was suffering from hearing loss — and behavioural issues like scratching, fights with his sister, yelling and the inability to understand people were rife.
“He was a very angry little boy, because he just couldn’t hear anything for the first two years of his life,” she said. “(It was) very saddening because that’s my baby and he couldn’t really hear me.”
Faced with an 18-month waitlist and thousands of dollars in medical bills at a private doctor, Ms Ah Chee said it was a struggle to access medical intervention.
After meeting with a surgeon through Cockburn Integrated Health, Carter was swiftly treated for persistent middle ear fluid with surgery to insert grommets.
“When he had everything done and he was looking at me and hearing what I was saying, it was so emotional,” Ms Ah Chee said. “Because he suffered for so long.”
The not-for-profit organisation that Carter’s family accessed is a collaboration between providers — bringing together specialist ear health services and speech pathology for Aboriginal children.
For the first time, Telethon will now fund a services coordinator and full-time speech pathology service for the super clinic.
Ear, nose and throat surgeon Francis Lannigan said chronic ear disease was considered by UN agency the World Health Organisation as a marker of public health — and Australia was leading the world in its disease rates.
“When you reach above the level of about four per cent, it’s considered to be a public health crisis,” he said.
“In remote communities, up to 70 per cent of Aboriginal children have chronic ear disease.
“The impact of it cannot be overstated.”
Dr Lannigan said more needed to be done to address the healthcare disparities — including addressing the disease rates in Government commitments like Closing the Gap.
“I’d like to see a cohort of First Nations children arrive at kindergarten with normal speech and language,” he said. “I cannot understand why it isn’t a bigger focus of the Closing the Gap program.”
He said hearing loss in infants impeded a crucial stretch of development.
“Our brains are critically wired for language acquisition between the age of six months and 18 months,” he said. “You can improve things with interventions after that but you can never regain that window of brain plasticity, where the brain is primed for speech and language.”
Cockburn Integrated Health chief executive Clory Carrello said Telethon funding would boost services for families who may be facing wait-list blowouts in the public health sector.
“These kids are struggling . . . they’re struggling hearing which impacts on their speech and development,” he said. “The Telethon funding means we can improve our systems and processes and provide more speech pathology as well.”