Wednesday, February 27, 2002

State newborn hearing screening up

Birthing hospitals in Georgia screened 95 percent of all newborns for hearing loss during the last quarter of 2001, according to the Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health.

This meets the goal set by the General Assembly when it established the screening program in 1999. Fewer than 30 percent of the hospitals were screening all their newborns in 1998.

"This is important news for Georgia's children," said Georgia's First Lady, Marie Barnes, who spearheaded the creation of the State Advisory Committee on Newborn Hearing Screening. "When hearing loss is identified at birth, the child's family and physician can find alternate ways to make sure the child develops language and other skills. This is most effective in the first few years of the child's life, because that's when 90 percent of all brain development occurs."

The Division of Public Health purchased the state-of-the-art screening equipment with part of the state's tobacco lawsuit settlement funds and a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

"This program is an important partnership between public health and private physicians and hospitals in Georgia," said Kathleen E. Toomey, director of the Division of Public Health. "By working together we can help families make sure their children are healthy and reach their full potential."

The 1999 legislation also established a State Advisory Committee on Newborn Hearing Screening to monitor the state's progress, and required hospitals and physicians to report to Public Health the number of infants screened.

For more information about newborn hearing screening in Georgia, contact Leslee Pool, coordinator of the program, at 404-463-2192 or see http://health.state.ga.us/programs/unhs.