Intermountain Delta Community Hospital Receives State Award Ensuring Newborns Get Hearing Tests

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services has honored caregivers at Intermountain Delta Community Hospital for the second consecutive year with an award to recognize their work to ensure newborns at the hospital receive vital hearing tests.

Intermountain Delta Community Hospital received the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Director’s Award, which is given annually to Utah hospitals for outstanding achievements in all aspects of newborn hearing, screening, and follow-up care.

“It’s vital that we find any type of hearing loss as early as possible because the first year is key for a baby’s speech and development,” said Jenni Anderson, a critical care tech at Intermountain Delta Community Hospital.

One in every 300 babies will have hearing loss which is the most common birth defect. Until newborn hearing became common the average age for detecting hearing loss in a child was more than two years old.

Caregivers are required to perform a hearing test on a newborn before they leave the hospital, and if they find any issues, a follow up appointment must be completed within seven to ten days to retest the child’s hearing.

If a baby fails, the outpatient screening the team of caregivers must assist the family to other hospital services for further testing before the child is 21 days old.

For more information about Intermountain Delta Community Hospital, click here.

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 34 hospitals, 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.