Anniversary wishes are in order!
As of March 31st, Colorado Early Hearing Detection and Intervention’s (COEHDI) tenure within the Colorado Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind (CCDHHDB) will reach the three-year point.
I offer hearty thanks to the vision of Cliff Moers and Christy Scott, our co-principal investigators, for promoting CCDHHDB as a home for COEHDI. During the past three years, Heather Abraham and I, as COEHDI staff, have touched almost every aspect of our EHDI system. We’ve learned a lot. We’ve investigated a lot. We’ve listened a lot. And, we’ve accomplished a fair amount too.
In March, COEHDI staff will share some of what we have accomplished at two different conferences. Heather will showcase the Ascent Program - providing deaf and hard of hearing adult-to-family support - at the National EHDI meeting. Arlene will report on our Virtual Site Visit (VSV) program and continue to promote tele-health as an optional service delivery platform for audiology and early intervention services. In addition, our COEHDI team will share our collaborative structure for system enhancement and system change at the Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference.
As the months roll by, the strengths of our system continue to expand. We don’t want to be cavalier about this as there are many challenges and opportunities that we’ve yet to bring to fruition. One of the biggest opportunities will be fulfilling the outcomes of the strategic planning process, facilitated and funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, that has recently concluded.
There is good news to report on the national front. Congress passed, and President Biden signed, the reauthorization of EHDI. This bill extends funding for an additional five years. Recognition goes to Colorado’s Senator Hickenlooper who actively supported the reauthorization of the law. It appears that level funding will be going to both the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There is also a requirement in the reauthorization for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study to assess program performance and efforts to ensure timely screening and access to early intervention, including a focus on underrepresented populations.
As you read through this newsletter, you will notice that the format for sharing events has changed in order to keep this newsletter as concise as possible while still sharing information of importance to those in our field. Please click on the link below to see a myriad number of events that will take place during the months of March and April. Before we know it, it will be spring!
~ Arlene Stredler-Brown, PhD, CCC-SLP, director of COEHDI
| 
