Audiologist service coming to Moosomin
March 3, 2021, 9:50 am
Kara Kinna
The town of Moosomin has always prided itself on having an abundance of health care and professional services available, and this March it will be adding to that list of services.
Starting on March 11, an audiologist will be setting up in the provincial building in Moosomin, providing services one day a week by appointment, and then potentially expanding those services based on the demand.
Jacquie Mvula is a clinical audiologist and the owner of Sun Country Hearing, which operates in Yorkton and Estevan. Mvula says she was contacted by the town’s Economic Development Officer, Greg Gillespie, about coming to Moosomin, as the town’s economic development committee identified a lack of audiology services in the town and thought it would be a good fit with the other health care services in Moosomin.
“Greg contacted me and told me about what great health care you have with so many doctors and other services there,” says Mvula. “He piqued my interest because I have a student that works for me at my clinics who is going to be done in the summer and we could use some more clinic time. I thought, ‘okay, I’ll look into it’ and he was such a help. He arranged all these places for me to look at for a space and I went (and looked), and it was so easy that way to just be able to go tour and pick a spot.”
Mvula eventually settled on the provincial building, where she will be putting in a sound booth for her Moosomin clinic.
Mvula is from Estevan where she started her first clinic before expanding to Yorkton.
“I started a clinic there in 2014 and then in 2018 I purchased an existing clinic, Yorkton Hearing Services, from a friend I went to university with,” she says. “I’ve been running between Estevan and Yorkton for the last three years. And when Greg approached me (about Moosomin) I was like, ‘jeez, we drive right by there.’ So it was the perfect addition. Yorkton and Estevan are both full-time clinics that run five days a week but Moosomin is going to start at one day a week and we’ll see where it goes.
“Hearing tests will be offered on certain days and that’s all that will be offered on those days. That’s when I won’t have an assistant with me and I can’t have walk-ins because I will be in the sound booth testing someone. So, some days are just for tests, and other days we will allow walk-ins. That means if someone is having problems with their hearing aids they can come in and they can trouble-shoot because we’re going to have a full lab set up there. We have boxes, upon boxes to move there. We’ve set up an entire lab, just like we have in Yorkton or Estevan. So if the moulds need to be re-tubed or if they’re just missing some parts, if we don’t have them in the lab, it would be something we could order in for almost every hearing aid manufacturer.”
Mvula says she expects to be busy.
“Moosomin is kind of like Yorkton I believe, where it’s quite a hub, and serves even into Manitoba. And Yorkton is very busy for that. So, I kind of expect the same thing in Moosomin,” she says.
She says already she has found the town warm and welcoming, and she has heard good things about Moosomin from other people she knows.
“Everything so far has been wonderful. When I was looking for a place (to set up) everyone was so warm, there was a church that even that was willing to make a space for me. Some of the elderly people in town were like ‘oh I’ll be coming to see you!’ It was just so friendly,” she says. “Honestly I’ve never heard anything bad about Moosomin.”
Mvula says she is the only audiologist that she knows of servicing the south east corner of Saskatchewan. “There are hearing practitioners but I’m an audiologist, and I’m the only one to Regina or Brandon or Yorkton. There’s no audiologist at all in that corner.”
Mvula says people can find out more about booking appointments, their services and days of operation by calling their Moosomin phone number at 306-435-EARS (3277) or by following Sun Country Hearing on Facebook, where updates on the Moosomin clinic will be posted on a regular basis.
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