USU audiology students provide public service
Graduate students from Utah State University’s audiology department provided free hearing screenings and information to Cache Valley residents during the second annual Kid Prints Safety and Health Fair Saturday.
The fair, organized by the Cache County Medical Alliance, a group of physician’s spouses, provided residents with the opportunity to better educate themselves on safety issues, said JoAnne Nelson, president of the alliance.
“Safety is our biggest priority,” Nelson said.
In addition to the USU audiology department, Logan Regional Hospital, Cache Valley Specialty Hospital, Bear River Health Department, Logan City Police, Kid Prints and others all provided booths with safety information at the fair Saturday.
“I’ve been running around all day greeting people, trying to direct them to the different booths,” Nelson said, “especially the Kid Prints and the hearing screening.”
Paul Lancaster, a USU audiology graduate student, said the goal of his booth was to inform people on a subject he said many don’t completely understand.
“We’re educating the public about children’s hearing – ear infections, speech and language development,” he said. “People don’t know where their children should be with language, and a lot of times, when they’re delayed with language, the child has hearing problems.”
Of all the potential hearing problems, Lancaster said ear infections were the most common among children.
“Ear infections are probably one of the most common things that kids get,” Lancaster said. “And parents just don’t know a lot about them.”
Lancaster said parents should take their children to the clinic at the university for evaluation and recommendations if they’re concerned about their child’s hearing.
“The ability to have your kids go get their ears tested and learn more about the health of your child – it’s cool,” Smithfield resident, Justin Molyneux, said.
In conjunction with the fair, Sam’s Club presented a $1,000 grant to the USU history department for the History Fair, Sam’s Club public relations representative Dave Harrison said.
“They applied for a matching grant and the committee looked at their application and said ‘definitely,'” he said.
Harrison said Wal-Mart and other Cache Valley businesses also awarded grants and donations.
“We just decided to do it all at one time,” he said. “Every October we do a safe kids day. It’s a big deal and a good way to promote safety in the community.”
Logan City Police also provided parents with the opportunity to have their children fingerprinted during Saturday’s fair.
“It’s most definitely a preventative measure,” Molyneux said as he watched his 2-year-old daughter fingerprinted by Detective Sean Marshall. “Just in case something happens, it gives police officers another tool to help find your kid. It’s very important, especially in today’s society.”
In addition to fingerprinting, parents were able to have photographs and DNA samples of their children taken Saturday.
“It’s important that the parents have the documentation on hand,” Marshall said.
And, while Marshall said he doesn’t believe kidnapping and abduction is necessarily a serious threat in Logan, he said it’s better to take precautionary measures.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a real threat,” Marshall said. “I just think that we do have instances were kids are taken and just in case that happens it’s good. Do I think it’s a big threat around here? Not particularly, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
During the fair ongoing performances and demonstrations were held for those in attendance – everything from a dance performance by the Cache Valley Civic Ballet to a demonstration on drug detection by Tino, a Logan City Police dog.
Nelson said she was impressed by the support of the groups involved in the fair and only wished more citizens would take advantage of what the event offers.
Still, most involved agreed the fair was a success.
“Anytime the community can get together and get some more information on how to protect their families, it’s always a good thing,” Marshall said.
-acf@cc.usu.edu