All newborns in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are given a hearing screening test before they leave the hospital. Jeff and I were lounging in our hospital room, emotionally exhausted but peaceful after our talk with Dr. Spiro, when a woman buzzed in and introduced herself as Barbara So-and-So and then without taking a breath she said “I’m the audiologist and I wanted you to know that your baby failed the newborn hearing screen so we’re going to follow him at Mass Eye and Ear and we’ll have speech pathologists work with him and blah blah blah blah blah blah--”
Jeff and Jill: “Are you sure? Because we know he can hear—we can tell he can hear. He turns his head when we talk.”
Barbara: “Oh. Well I don’t have the results of the test.”
Jeff and Jill: “Well can you go get them?”
Barbara: “I’ll be right back.”
Barbara, about three minutes later: “You were right, he can hear.”
Barbara is the HEAD OF THE NEWBORN HEARING SCREENING PROGRAM FOR THE ENTIRE STATE. Way to be, Barbara.
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