Dr. Tricia Posted November 27, 2018 Report Share Posted November 27, 2018 Hello, I am an American Doctor of Audiology who has been living in Romania as a missionary. My greatest privilege has been to be a patient advocate for parents of deaf children to get cochlear implants through the national health ministry. Romania has four (4) programs now through the health ministry that minister to the needs their hearing-impaired and deaf citizens. Albania has NONE!! Romanian parents of cochlear-implanted children started a parent support group and were successful in petitioning the Romanian government to start paying for the cochlear implants!! The same thing needs to happen in Albania. Through a mutual friend I heard about Armela's family, who had two deaf children. Arjeni, the boy, was implanted in 2017 through a humanitarian foundation, but 8 year old Armela was rejected because of her age and the fact that she was a girl. I first learned of her situation in April. We waited all summer for the Albanian Health Ministry to do something - to decide to start paying for cochlear implants. Then, a surprise donation appeared in September to allow us to start the process to get her implanted in Romania. On November 10th she was implanted successfully in Romania!! Now begins her long road of intensive speech and language stimulation and auditory-verbal training to get her speaking. An Albanian logoped, Gjergji Doka, came to Romania to a conference to be trained in this auditory verbal method of speech and language stimulation. We would like to connect with other Albanian parents of of other cochlear implanted children so that we could hear of their child's progress and for a forum to start of support for one another. Another thing - I am here right now (Tuesday November 27th) in Tirana for a week (leave December 6th) and would love to meet some parents of cochlear implanted children so that we could help one another into the future. I know you are out there. I am hoping and praying this is a forum to reach out to you. Megan L. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted November 27, 2018 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted November 27, 2018 @Dr. Tricia Wishing the very best for all deaf children who wish to receive CIs! Megan L. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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