The Hearing and Otitis Program: A Model of Community Based ear and Hearing Care Services for Inuit of Nunavik

More than 20 years ago, Crago, Hurteau and Ayukawa (1990) described in detail the foundation of the project for Hearing Impaired Inuit of Northern Quebec (HIINQ), designed to offer culturally based audiological services to the population in an area now known as Nunavik. From the middle to the end of the 1980s, during the first phases of the project, services transitioned from being Montreal-based and delivered by southern professionals to Northern-based services provided by trained Inuit hearing specialists. The change in focus targeted the empowerment of the Inuit in their own ear and hearing health care and the provision of audiology services that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. Today, the project, now known as the Hearing and Otitis Program (HOP), has evolved, facing old and new challenges and audiology services, despite different models of delivery, having been maintained in the North. While standard hearing evaluation still has its place in the program, activities also tend to be oriented towards community based rehabilitation services. This article aims to give a description of the program, its model of service delivery, the role of the different contributors to the program, and its challenges and proposes avenues to explore in order to maintain and enhance the community based aspects of the program.