Thank you and bravo! - Quebec Government Launches Universal New Born Hearing Screening Program

    MONTREAL, July 16 /CNW Telbec/ - The Quebec Coalition for Universal
Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) profoundly thanks M Yves Bolduc, the Quebec
Minister for Health and Social Services and Mme Lise Thériault, the Quebec
Minister for Social Services who announced today that the Government of Quebec
will launch a Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program.
    "This is a great day for the children of Quebec. A universal newborn
hearing program will have a profound impact on the hundreds of Quebec babies
born each year with complete or partial hearing loss," says Mr. Claudio
Bussandri, Chair of the Coalition. "Thanks to the efforts of Minister. Bolduc
and Minister Thériault and the Government of Quebec, all maternity wards will
now be able to systematically test for potential hearing impairments in
newborns."
    "On behalf of the Coalition, we want to publicly thank Minister Bolduc
and Minister Thériault for establishing a universal newborn hearing screening
program. This cost-effective program will allow children with complete or
partial hearing loss to flourish," says Dr. Hema Patel, co-chair of the
Coalition and a pediatrician at The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC.
"Thanks to this new program and early intervention, children with hearing loss
will be able to attend regular school, keep pace with their peers and reach
their full potential."
    Hearing loss is the most common birth defect affecting 1 to 3 of every
1000 newborns. "Thanks to such things as hearing aids, cochlear implants, bone
anchored hearing aids, these children will be able to hear their mother's
voice, hear birds sing, listen to Beethoven or, even Beyoncé," notes Mr.
Bussandri. "They will no longer be imprisoned by silence. The Quebec
government's Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program is a gift. It is a
gift to the children of Quebec, the gift of hearing."
    Both Mr. Bussandri and Dr. Patel went on to thank the 64 members of the
Quebec Coalition for Newborn Hearing Screening. The coalition's members
represent hospitals, universities, schools, rehabilitation centers, health
care associations and other organizations across Quebec. Collectively, the
members of the Coalition have worked hard during the past year to make a
universal newborn hearing program a reality.
    M. Bussandri also noted that the Quebec Coalition for Universal Newborn
Hearing Screening looked forward to working with the Government of Quebec
every step of the way during the implementation of the new program.

For further information: Lisa Dutton, Manager Public Relations and
Communications, The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC, [phone],
[e-mail]