TWO years after starting down the road to ear health, the Hear our Heart committee have passed a major milestone.
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The committee admitted it was an exciting, and affirming, moment as they held their inaugural hearing testing clinic at St Lawrences school.
Co-ordinator Donna Rees said it was "exciting" moment.
"It shows we're on the right track," she said.
The Hear our Heart committee began in late 2011 to improve ear health services in western NSW.
The plan will involve an ear bus which will travel throughout schools in Wellington, Dunedoo, Nyngan, Warren, Trangie and Narromine and well as within Dubbo.
While the committee still has plans to acquire a bus, complete with sound booths and proper testing equipment, in the meantime they have made the decision to start the testing process in Dubbo schools.
As well as giving back to the community, Ms Rees said the testing process would also allow them to start gathering local data and information, which would help in future fundraising endeavours.
The project is the first of its kind in NSW, according to co-ordinator Rachel Mills.
Ms Mills said the next step is to build on their already existing partnerships to make the program efficient.
Ms Rees has just returned from a national disability conference in Queensland and she said that helped to validate the hard work the team has gone through to get this program working.
"Nationally there are some fantastic programs happening in other states but NSW have got it so wrong," she said.
Once the bus is operational Ms Rees said they plan to be able to visit each school in that region three times each year.
