Shepherd Centre plans $6.8 million facility in Campbelltown
A vital service to help deaf children communicate in an increasingly noisy world is hoping to establish a $6.8 million facility in Campbelltown.
A vital service to help deaf children communicate in an increasingly noisy world is hoping to establish a $6.8 million facility in Campbelltown.
The Shepherd Centre recently launched a temporary service at the Ron Moore Community Centre in Minto but is now hoping to establish a permanent presence in the Macarthur region.
The charity already has secured a third of the funding for the new centre and is now hoping government and business support will help secure the remaining funding to establish a facility in Moore St, Campbelltown.
The Shepherd Centre helps deaf children to develop speech and communication skills to help make the transition into school easier.
Shepherd Centre CEO Dr Jim Hungerford said children will often spend four years or more with the Shepherd Centre.
“Deafness occurs at the same rate regardless of your cultural background or socio-economic circumstances,” he said.
“There are very few expert services around NSW but Australia does have by far the best services in the world.
“There are pockets where there are no local services, the closest service we have (to the Macarthur region) is in Liverpool, but with all of the growth in the Macarthur region there are hundreds of children who are unable to access a specialist service – and there will be hundreds more as the region grows.”
SHEPHERD CENTRE “NEEDED” FOR LOCAL PARENTS
Sonia Young is one of many mothers who uses the Shepherd Centre’s services and told the Macarthur Chronicle the opening of a local facility would be a “godsend” for her family.
Mrs Young’s three-year-old daughter Mikayla was born with moderate to severe sensory neural hearing loss in both ears.
At first doctors thought Mikayla’s hearing loss was the result of a fluid buildup and after an operation Mikayla gained some of her hearing.
“She stepped out of the hospital and she could hear, I thought she was cured,” Mrs Young said.
“But when we took her for the hearing test we were told she had moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears.
While this was all happening, Mrs Young was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
She would then have to take Mikayla from the family’s Menangle home to the Shepherd Centre’s Liverpool facility on a regular basis.
”There would be so many more people that need to access this service, and I’m sure there are a few out Wollondilly way which is quite a distance to travel,” she said.
“Driving to Liverpool in peakhour traffic when you have to be there by a certain time doesn’t always work.
“There are other behavioural challenges with the children.”
Mrs Young said she hoped the Shepherd Centre was able to open a permanent Campbelltown facility.
“It needs to come to Campbelltown, to be able to sit in a group of parents who know what you’re going through, it really is needed,” she said.
“The techniques they teach you to help interact with your own child are very helpful... there are some parents who have kids with profound deafness and they really teach you different ways to interact with your own child.”
Campbelltown Mayor George Brticevic said the council was proud to support the Shepherd Centre’s temporary facility in Minto.
“Having a local program will help relieve a little bit of stress on the families who desperately need these services,” he said.
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