contributed
The Golden Ears Shiners recently donated $2,710 to the Ridge Meadows Hospital Foundation.
The money will help purchase a Verifit for the audiology department, located at the Maple Ridge Health Unit.
The department screens 97 per cent of all infants born to in the Fraser Health region.
Last year more than 14,600 babies were checked for hearing loss.
The unit specializes in providing all of the hearing screening, diagnostic assessment and equipment support for Maple Ridge children to the age of 19 who are referred. It currently has more than over 700 clients.
A Verifit, costing $15,200, is used with all of the children who are fit with hearing aids and some children who require assistive listening equipment. The
The Verifit currently in use is outdated, being 10 years old.
In B.C., Shriners provide free transportation and care from all over the province to hospitals to needy children from one to 18 years of age.
They transport children to the Spokane Children’s Hospital, Portland Children’s Hospital B.C. Children’s Hospital, McDonald House and Easter Seal House, without charge.