The Oticon Hearing Foundation, in partnership with the American Academy of Audiology Foundation (AAAF), joined together to underwrite the cost for two audiologists to join a unique humanitarian mission to remote riverfront communities near Parintins, Brazil. The practitioners selected for Project Amazon will work side-by-side with staff from the Oticon Clinic in Parintins. The non-profit clinic is a service of the Viva o Som Foundation, a group dedicated to securing financial and human resources to improve the quality of life of people in Brazil’s most impoverished communities.
Mission Posts
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14TH
November 14, 2012
Celebrations Since the Viva o Som clinic is relatively new to this community, outreach to the community is an important part of their activities. Today we visited 2 schools which serve children with special needs. One school serves children with a range of disabilities and includes adult learning classes as Read More
DAY 4
November 14, 2012
This morning we went to visit two schools in Parintins that serve children with special needs. The first school, Glauber Viana Goncalves, has students of all ages with a variety of disabilities, such as Down’s Syndrome and Autism. The school employed a variety of professionals–special education teachers, speech-language pathologists, and Read More
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13TH
November 13, 2012
Another busy day at the clinic! We saw a wide range of patients – from a family who simply wanted to come by to say hello to a little girl (Luna) who was previously diagnosed with a severe to profound hearing loss. She recently lost one hearing aid and we Read More
DAY 3
November 13, 2012
Today was a very busy day at the clinic with a big variety of different patients. We saw two individuals with profound hearing loss who were fit with their very first hearing aids today–they seemed a little overwhelmed by the sound but were excited to hear environmental sounds. One little Read More
MONDAY NOVEMBER 12TH
November 12, 2012
Patients Arrive! We arrived in Parintins late Sunday night. Parintins is on the Amazon River on the island of Tupinambarana. Despite the geographic remoteness of the area, Parintins is a region of over 100,000 people. Its claim to fame is an annual folklore event: ‘Festival do Boi-Bumba’. Second only to Read More
DAY 2
November 12, 2012
Our first day at the clinic here in Parintins was amazing. We woke up to a huge breakfast, courtesy of the wonderful staff here. We had different types of fruit, eggs, local cheese, and some local dishes made of tapioca that were a little like pancakes. For someone who usually Read More
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 11TH
November 11, 2012
A walk in the forest… We landed in Manaus late Saturday night and were greeted by Livia de Santos. Livia is an audiologist for Oticon, Brazil and she will be our host and translator for the week. Up early the following day, we were greeted by a very, very rainy Read More
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 9TH
November 9, 2012
An Amazon River Adventure A little over two 2 months ago, Brazil was not on my horizon. That is when I heard about Project Amazon. The Oticon Foundation and AAA Foundation announced sponsorship for one audiologist and one graduate student to participate in an audiology outreach project in a remote Read More
