Staefa, Switzerland, October 23, 2017
The recipient of the 2017/18 Richard Seewald Award is the Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss (GFCHL). The annual prize by Sonova’s Hear the World Foundation honors outstanding projects benefiting people in need with hearing loss around the world. The GFCHL led by Paige Stringer is a Hear the World Foundation project partner since 2011 and helps medical and educational partners in low and middle-income countries to develop early identification services that young children with hearing loss need to reach their full potential.
Children with hearing loss in low to middle-income countries often have little to no access to audiological care and early intervention support thus reducing their opportunities and chances in life. The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss sees its mission as helping to raise awareness for the potential of children with hearing loss when appropriate support is in place and to help develop sustainable and comprehensive audiological care and early intervention services in the countries where these children live. Since 2011, the GFCHL, with financial, technological and technical support from the Hear the World Foundation, has successfully built capacity in challenging environments such as Vietnam, Mongolia and Ecuador.
Outstanding project work
The Hear the World Foundation honors the professional and highly effective project work of the GFCHL lead by Founder and Executive Director Paige Stringer. “Paige’s work is exceptional. She has the great ability to identify locations where there is great need and to organize highly effective projects applying internationally accepted best practice procedures”, says Prof. Dr. Richard Seewald, member of the Hear the World Foundation’s Advisory Board. “I am grateful to receive this award on behalf of the GFCHL and our professional team and in-country partners who display incredible dedication and willingness to step up to the challenge of extending help to young children in need. It is such an honor to receive this recognition for our collaborative efforts to ensure that babies and young children with hearing loss have every opportunity to reach their full potential -- no matter where in the world they live”, says Paige Stringer.
About the Richard Seewald Award
The Hear the World Foundation's prize is named after Professor Dr. Richard Seewald, who is well known for his tireless efforts in pediatric audiology over many decades. He spearheaded the development of an internationally recognized DSL method for fitting hearing systems to children. Prior to his retirement, Seewald held the Canada Research Chair in Childhood Hearing at that country's National Centre for Audiology, which he co-founded. He is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Western Ontario and a member of the Hear the World advisory board. The annual prize aims at honoring outstanding aid project work.
About The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss
The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss is an American 501c3 nonprofit organization established in 2009. It is one of the few organizations in the world that offers an integrated model across hearing health care and early intervention to help professionals and families living in low and middle-income countries establish essential early identification, hearing technology, and professional support services for their babies and children with hearing loss. The Global Foundation’s team collaborates with in-country partners to identify gaps in their system of support and to develop and implement sustainable programs to address those gaps. The goal is to enable their young children who are deaf or hard of hearing to access local resources in the countries where they live that they need to achieve their full potential and grow up to become contributing members of their society.
www.childrenwithhearingloss.org
