Mothers, pathologist call for increased funding for Sask. children with permanent hearing loss

A government-funded pediatric program that helps children with permanent hearing loss says it needs more funding for speech language pathologists and other services.

Mothers of children who need listening and spoken language therapy and rehabilitation services called for action at the legislature in Regina on Tuesday afternoon.

One of those mothers, Breanne Arnold of Regina, said the Saskatchewan Pediatric Auditory Rehabilitation Centre (SPARC) is extremely important for her baby's auditory and communicative development. SPARC serves children with permanent hearing loss across Saskatchewan and is offered through the Saskatchewan Health Authority's hearing health program.

Arnold's daughter Hadley was born deaf and had a cochlear implant operation at just nine months old. Hadley used to meet with a SPARC speech language pathologist twice a month in Regina, but past cuts to the program has made that impossible.

"I've been traveling to Saskatoon for our therapies that are required for her to be successful with her cochlear implants,"  said Arnold, who has missed some of those appointments due to scheduling conflicts.

Arnold said she wrote to Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill for more than a month, with no response. She told reporters she has three calls to action for the minister.

"To increase funding to the cochlear implant program and pediatric hearing aid program. To hire additional qualified staff and reduce caseloads, including having a [cochlear implant] audiologist from Saskatoon travel to Regina to help those children in the south. To set up a satellite clinic to decrease travel burdens to [cochlear implant] recipients," Arnold said.

Cockrill agreed to meet with the three mothers present at the legislature after question period.

Brittney Senger — the Opposition NDP critic for the status of women, disabilities and community-based organizations — said parents should not have to pay out-of-pocket to travel for services their children need to be successful in their development.

"This is about families. You don't anticipate when your child is born that they're going to have a disability. And frankly, at the end of the day, it's about accessing the services necessary," Senger said.

"You envision a life for your child and then you're faced with all of these challenges and there needs to be adequate supports in place from the government to actually be able to support your family."

1 part-time pathologist for all of Sask.

Kinley Winter, senior speech language pathologist with SPARC, told CBC that the program suffered provincial budget cuts in 2023, which led to a 75 per cent reduction in staffing. SPARC used to have two full-time speech pathologist positions, but Winter said there is now only one part-time position, which she holds.

Winter has to travel a lot, and due to those costs, the program does not have the capacity to send her down to Regina from Saskatoon more than once a month. That means that to have the two monthly appointments children need, Regina families must travel to the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon each month.

Even though she is the only speech language pathologist with SPARC, Winter said she can only be paid for 18 hours a week under the program's budget. She said she is glad parents like Arnold are bringing the issue to the provincial government.

"I've been encouraging families to advocate for their children and advocate for additional resources within the province," said Winter, who sees the benefits of SPARC's budget concerns being covered by the media.

"I'm really glad that the families have opted to continue to take this forward and continue to advocate and try and make their voices heard — as I know that there are other families in the province that have children with other diagnoses that have been loud and have been able to advocate and get additional resources for their children. So I'm hopeful that this is going to follow the same path."

During question period Tuesday, Cockrill said the government wants to make sure children have access to the services that they need. He admitted there's always more work to do, but said the government is committed to doing that work.

"We're working to improve the pediatric programs in all areas of pediatric health," Cockrill said.