Children not only received free hearing checks, but were also treated to a puppet show demonstrating the importance of ear health and blowing your nose. 

The Hear Our Hearts project has been popular among a number of communities in the Central West, which seeks to provide ongoing ear checks to children in the community.

The volunteer community-funded project was established by hearing support teachers who identified that regular hearing checks were not occurring in their communities. As a result the Hear Our Heart charity seeks to provide support with the identification, treatment pathway and improvement of educational outcomes for children involved. 

The Hear Our Hearts bus project is not for profit and not government funded and relies on donations and fundraising to allow it to continue.

This week retired audiologist Delwyn Mudgrige from Jarvis Bay kindly donated two days of her time to check the children’s ears, while on holiday travelling around Australia. 

Volunteer directors of Hear Our Hearts, Rachel Mills and Donna Rees were also present to provide health ear education for the children through a puppet show performance. 

“Hearing checks are not provided in NSW schools and Donna and I saw the need so we began raising money to get this bus project up and running,” Ms Mills said.

“All the hearing screen information is combined into a puppet show to educate staff and students on healthy ear education.”

Ms Mills said that ear health is very detrimental, especially for young people as the ability to hear affects speech and language development. 

“If it’s hard to hear, it’s hard to learn, which is a huge catch cry,” Ms Mills said. 

The puppet show was a treat for students and staff, which through puppets Sam and Lucy, discusses the importance of blowing your nose and how it affects your hearing.

For more information visit: www.hearourheart.org/ or follow the group on Facebook.