News Release | Health
Dr. Sandy Magallan, Au.D., UTRGV clinical assistant professor of Communication Disorders, works with Eden Davila of Rio Grande City at the UT Health RGV Surgical Specialty in Edinburg. Eden has a cochlear implant and requires hearing services and consultations.
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Community
By Amanda Alaniz
RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – UT Health RGV has opened its UT Health RGV Hearing Center in two clinical locations, one in Edinburg and another in Harlingen.
The purpose of the center is to provide all patients – from infants to senior citizens – with high-quality hearing care services, such as diagnostic testing, hearing screenings, hearing aid and cochlear implant services. For patients who currently own a pair of hearing aids but do not receive adequate speech understanding benefits, the audiology team can offer evaluations for hearing implant technology.
Dr. Brian Perry, MD, FACS, professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Dr. Sandy Magallan, Au.D., clinical assistant professor of Communication Disorders, are co-directors of the newly established hearing center.
Dr. Nausheen Jamal, MD, chair of the UTRGV School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, said discussions about opening the center began more than a year ago.
“I was thrilled to finally be able to offer services that our patients have needed and have been asking for. And to see it go from just a concept to fruition is exciting,” she said.
The hearing center’s mission is to offer comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for ear and hearing conditions that affect the community, from children to adults, in the Rio Grande Valley.
Perry said they are working to provide definitive audiological services/diagnoses, fit hearing aids and cochlear implants, and ensure adequate speech-language services to improve language outcomes. They also are aiming to help identify and treat children who failed the newborn hearing screening.
“The rate of children who fail newborn hearing screening and are then lost to follow-up is much higher here than in other places,” he said. “These children should be referred for definitive hearing testing and are either not being referred, or are not returning for definitive testing and treatment.”
The center will work to remedy the hearing disparities and lack of resources in the Valley, such as audiologists and centers that can provide hearing aids for children and adults who are underinsured or uninsured, Perry said.
“These issues are a combination of economic challenges, language barriers and cultural biases that negatively affect care,” he said.
With the hearing center opening and UT Health RGV growing, Jamal, Magallan and Perry hope to make a significant impact in offering the care needed in South Texas.
“The university understands about the shortage of clinicians and the difficulty in accessing care in the Valley, and that’s a problem we’re working very hard to solve,” Jamal said. “Our goal is to know what the community needs and to meet those needs.”
The center already is accepting appointments for hearing consultations and other needs.
Specialty ear care products also will be available, such as noise protection earplugs, musician’s earplugs, shooter’s earplugs, swimmer’s plugs and specialty molds for stethoscopes and law enforcement communication devices.
HEARING CENTER LOCATIONS
ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.