Posted on 12/12/2008 5:45:16 PM PST by SandRat
COB ADDER, Iraq – Soldiers from the 3rd Sustainment Command’s 7th and 287th Sustainment Brigades worked side by side as they hosted Operation Voice of Hope Dec. 11 on Contingency Operating Base Adder.
Members of the Muthanna Provincial Reconstruction Team and the 7th Sust. Bde.’s Civil Military Operation’s group worked together to host Iraqi girls from the Al-Amal School for the Deaf and assist them by diagnosing hearing impairments.
Lt. Col. Allan White, 287th Sust. Bde., medical operations officer and audiologist conducted the tests using a standard audiometer.My goal today is to see what these children’s needs are,” said White. “What we want to do by the end of the day is to have a basic audiogram to see where they are and what level of hearing they have.” During the past four months, the brigade worked with the Muthanna PRT organizing the event, after identifying the need while distributing stuffed animals to the children.
Because the PRT is reaching out to all people, we hope to bring attention to this demographic of the hearing and speaking impaired,” said Aaron Snipe, Muthanna PRT Public Diplomacy officer. “After our initial visit to the school, the PRT and CMO asked one another what can we do to help these children?“
“After our initial visit to the school in September with members of the 7th Sust. Bde., CMO we knew we wanted to do more for these girls. We were told that an audiologist would be arriving here but not until December,” said Snipe.
The Al-Amal School for the Deaf is a special needs school located in the town of Ar-Rumythan, about 20 miles north of As-Samawa, the capital city of Muthanna province. The student body is approximately 45 children - both boys and girls of varying ages. While deafness is one of the special needs the school deals with, there are also children with other problems including dwarfism and mental disabilities.
“I swear by God that this is a great project,” said an emotional father named Hassan. His daughter Rusul, a cherubic faced nine year old was the first girl to have her hearing tested. She was nervous at first but soon relaxed and had her audiogram completed. She set the precedence for the other girls who were anxious about what was going to happen to them during the test.
“We want to thank the U.S. government and the U.S. military, and a special thanks to Mr. Aaron, for their hard work these past four months,” he said. “After Rusul had her test they told me there is an opportunity for her to hear in the future. At the end of the day we will know more after her screening has been reviewed.”
“The term deaf is misleading,” said White. “They (the girls) may be moderately hearing impaired and would benefit from a hearing aid. We hope that by taking this first step we can open the door and educate and introduce basic audiology into the local healthcare system.”
This says it all. Wow!
bttt
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