World Hearing Day is celebrated every year on 3 March. HRH Crown Princess Katherine wishes to point out the importance of preventive examinations that can change lives for the better.
“American writer Frank Tyger said that “hearing is one of the body’s five senses, but listening is an art”. This sentence should be a reminder to everyone – it is necessary to listen and understand every person, especially those who have lost their sense of hearing prematurely, which in addition to the sense of sight is one of the most functional, necessary for life. Many will agree with me, we know very well how much it means to us when we first hear a child say “mom” or “dad”. People who struggle with this deficiency remind us every day that it is necessary to do a preventive check-up from time to time, but also that we need to know about the difficulties they face every day, to help them solve their problems and live a better life, even with a lack of hearing”, said HRH Crown Princess Katherine.
HRH Crown Princess Katherine Foundation established a Hearing Screening Committee, which advocates that hearing testing of all newborn babies, is mandatory in all maternity hospitals as well as the importance of testing prior to the baby leaving the hospital. Detected in time, a hearing impairment can be overcome with a hearing aid or cochlear implant, and the child’s speech abilities and development will go on as normal. In cooperation with the Lifeline Humanitarian Organization offices abroad, whose patron is Crown Princess Katherine, the Foundation in Belgrade is dedicated to helping people with hearing impairments and donating the necessary equipment to hospitals in Serbia and the Republic of Srpska.
HRH Crown Princess Katherine collaborates with Dr. Daniel Djuraskovic Megler from Detroit, Michigan an otolaryngologist of Serbian origin, with more than 50 years of experience, and Mrs. Ardis Gardela, also an expert, to organize educational trips for hearing impaired children and their teachers to a special camp in Detroit, Michigan from 2015 through 2017. After a successful workshop and exchange of experiences in Michigan, a summer camp for children with hearing impairments was organized in Serbia in 2017, for the first time. Through several workshops, the children had the opportunity to participate in art and drama groups, socialize and make new friends, as well as to visit the city’s sights.
In previous years, HRH Crown Princess Katherine donated much-needed screening equipment for hearing loss to hospitals in Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, as well as interactive whiteboards for children, and much more. Although in 2020 donations were mostly focused on the fight against coronavirus, HRH Crown Princess Katherine has not forgotten the importance of hearing tests and continues to advocate the introduction of mandatory hearing examinations for newborn babies, aiming to reduce the number of permanently deaf children.
“Although we have been more focused on coronavirus for the past two years, we have not forgotten those who are fighting other battles, with diseases and conditions. We would like to point the importance of preventive examinations, but also the importance of empathy for the people who face misunderstanding and rejection daily, due to a shortcoming that should not affect their functioning in today’s world. Let us re-ignite the flame of humaneness in ourselves and help these people to make their lives safer and easier. Let us be their support, they deserve it”, added HRH Crown Princess Katherine.
The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 360 million people worldwide have a hearing impairment. As hearing impairment increases with age and the world’s population grows, the number of people with hearing impairments can be expected to increase significantly soon.