The Earbus Foundation of Western Australia (Earbus) recently acknowledged AngloGold Ashanti Australia for its continuing support underpinning their work to improve health and education outcomes in the Goldfields.
AngloGold Ashanti Australia, which is the foundation’s longest-standing corporate sponsor, provides funding enabling the Earbus medical team to deliver its monthly program of ear screening visits to schools, kindergartens and day care centres across the region.
Established in 2013, the multi-award-winning charity is reducing the incidence and impact of Otitis Media (OM) or middle ear disease in Aboriginal and other at-risk children across the State from Wyndham to Esperance.
Artist Fabian Stack with Original Bus Art
Earbus Foundation CEO Paul Higginbotham said the service model was designed by Aboriginal people, for Aboriginal people and it works to keep children in the treatment pathway from first contact to wellness.
“The idea of the Earbus Program is to take healthcare to Aboriginal people instead of expecting them to negotiate their way through white fella mainstream services,” said Mr Higginbotham.
Gold Industry Group Director and AngloGold Ashanti Australia Vice President Corporate Affairs, Community and Human Resources Andrea Maxey said the partnership has offered some special moments for the company’s local community and employees.
“In 2018 we were proud to partner with Glencore Minara to purchase a new mobile clinic Earbus featuring artwork designed by Laverton school student Fabian Stack and Leonora District High School student Jason Smith,” Ms Maxey said.
“It’s been great to see AngloGold Ashanti Australia’s exploration team helping out, servicing the Earbus and the vehicle used by the Earbus clinicians in between visits, providing any required mechanical support.
“Recently we supported Earbus in the purchase of important audiological testing equipment and to fund its local Ear Health Screener in Kalgoorlie, which provides continuing care between clinical visits,” added Ms Maxey.
Earbus works at more than 120 locations across the Pilbara, Goldfields, Kimberley, Peel, Perth Metro and South West regions of Western Australia and delivers essential health care services to children from babies through to high school students in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and in towns and communities from Laverton though to Esperance.
Earbus engages with communities upon invitation from the community itself and delivers services across a range of locations, from educational and childcare sites through to local community meeting places.
Unlike some outreach services that visit sites once or twice a year, Earbus is in each region 8 to 11 times a year. This is vital because of the intractable pathology of middle ear disease where regular treatment with ongoing management and continuity of care is integral to better health outcomes.
In 2020, the Goldfields program provided more than 3,916 individual consults in the region which improved consistency of treatment pathways especially for students with significant ear health concerns.
Earbus travels with a GP, Nurse, Audiologist, Data Entry Officer and Ear Nose and Throat specialist -ENT (as needed) to create a ‘one stop shop’ for ear health, whereby children are identified and referred within the team, eliminating the need for complicated referral pathways and keeping children on the path to wellness. Medications are prescribed and dispensed on the spot at no cost to families, ensuring cost and accessibility are not barriers to children accessing medications.