Orange Aboriginal Medical Service (OAMS) is making a difference to the health of Aboriginal families and the wider community of Central Western NSW. OAMS is a GP-led primary health care service based on an effective integrated model of care that engages with all staff internally and is complemented by our strong collaboration with external health professionals and health related services.

OAMS focus is on an ‘whole of life’ approach with a range of preventative and treatment programs, all delivered in a culturally safe manner. Under our Continuous Quality Improvement framework, we regularly review our service gaps to the community, and this review identified the need for a bulk billed hearing health service in Orange.

OAMS was in a position to fill this need and recently self-funded a state of the art hearing screening unit within our new facility.

The hearing room, named winha-nga-rra, a Wiradjuri word meaning; hear, listen was installed in April this year.

OAMS hearing health program will enable our organisation to provide a range of hearing health services to children and adults alike and will have strong emphasis on prevention with health and education resources made available to clients, individuals and the community about how to prevent and manage ear disease and hearing problems.

Research shows poor ear health effects early childhood development, speech and behavioral problems leading sometimes to serious health issues. This is something in our control and OAMS plans to be a leader in this change.

OAMS current hearing programs include a large focus on hearing screening in the schools. Our Mum’s and Bub’s team have developed a program for Kindergarten aged children. OAMS has been working closely with Sonic who have provided a Tympanometer, which is used for the screening assessments. If there are any abnormalities identified during the screening process the child is followed up and if needed referred to a hearing specialist externally, this will soon be changed to provide this much needed service internally.

Our older adult clientele are managed through our partnership with Hearing Australia who have expressed an interest in using the room with OAMS by conducting hearing clinic for clients over 50.

OAMS looks forward to providing more comprehensive hearing assessments and treatment to the community, in order to assist our people to have a better quality of life.