
King Chung leads humanitarian trips to Poland and beyond, offering audiology services to those in desperate need
When the Ukraine war began in early 2022, Dr. King Chung wanted to help.
“When the war started, I was really mad. I was thinking, ‘How can anyone start a war in this day and age?’ Chung shared. “And then I thought, ‘What can I do to help?’”
So, during the Thanksgiving break this year, the IHP’s newest audiology professor led a team of audiologists and students from Boston Children’s Hospital and Vanderbilt University to provide free audiology services to Ukrainian refugees in Poland. The trip was not her first.
There, the hearing team checked the outer, middle, and inner ear status of the refugees and fitted high-performance hearing aids. The balance team from Vanderbilt University offered balance, ocular motility, and vestibular screenings. Children and adults with medically treated conditions were referred to seek help at the local public health system.
According to the EU Temporary Protective Directive, Ukrainian refugees can enjoy the same public health services as the citizens of the country in which they choose to reside. In the Polish system, citizens enjoy free medical and hearing services but devices are not fully covered – adults only receive €400 and children receive €1000 per hearing aid. The rest is out of pocket. High end hearing aids cost more than €2500 per aid, and as such, many refugees are not able to afford them.