2024-2025
Annual Report
Questions or feedback are welcome. Please connect with us at info@nshsc.nshealth.ca
Our Mission
To improve the lives of Nova Scotians by delivering quality audiology and speech-language pathology services.
Our Vision
Every person deserves a voice. Every voice deserves to be heard.
Our Values
Foundational to HSNS core values is our commitment to honour the cultural heritage and diversity of our communities, always doing our best to promote equity, accessibility, and inclusion in all that we do.
Message from the Board Chair and CEO
This past year at Hearing & Speech Nova Scotia was shaped by our continued commitment to the strategic goals of accessibility, communication, and engagement. Together with our Board, staff, patient partners, and community collaborators, we advanced key initiatives that improve access to quality care for Nova Scotians.
Accessibility
Expanding access through partnership: a donor’s vision improves speech-language care
Sometimes, the most meaningful healthcare innovations begin with personal experience. That was true for one generous donor, a healthcare worker himself, who realized that during his own care, he wasn’t aware of the speech-language pathology services that could have helped him.
Rethinking access to pediatric hearing and speech care
For young children, timely access to support can shape their future. At HSNS, the Preschool Accessibility Innovations Project (PAIP) is reimagining how care is delivered, so more children, families, and caregivers receive timely access to care—no matter where they live.
Mapping better care to improve dysphagia services
For Nova Scotians living with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), timely, coordinated care can make a world of difference in quality of life and overall health. In March 2025, teams from HSNS and dietitians from across the province came together with a shared goal: to strengthen how dysphagia services are delivered.
Over the course of three hands-on sessions, staff from multiple disciplines gathered around long sheets of brown paper, visually mapping the swallowing assessment journey from the clients’ perspective.
A reminder that makes a difference in how clients access care
After years of discussion, planning, and persistence, a simple change is making a big impact for both clients and staff at HSNS. In December 2024, three sites—Sydney, Sydney Mines, and Eskasoni—became the first to launch Pomelo appointment reminders, a long-awaited add-on to the electronic medical record system used by HSNS staff across the province.
Communication
Client/Patient & Family Experience Survey 2024
HSNS is committed to providing high-quality services, which can be measured in many ways. One vitally important way is to ask HSNS clients how they feel about the quality of services they received. HSNS conducts a client survey annually, and the results help identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Performance indicators
HSNS provides high-quality audiology services to all Nova Scotians and speech-language pathology services to preschool children, home-schooled children and adults. HSNS is accredited by Accreditation Canada and provides services from 37 clinics in 25 communities throughout Nova Scotia.
Risk and Safety Report
At HSNS, safety is part of everything we do. In alignment with Accreditation Canada’s rigorous standards, we’re strengthening our focus on transparency, accountability, and excellence, because protecting the health and well-being of our clients and staff is foundational to the care we provide.
Engagement
Strengthening staff wellness and community connection through engagement
Strong care starts with strong relationships within teams and within the communities we serve. In 2024, HSNS deepened its focus on engagement by taking a closer look inward and outward: supporting staff through the Health Standards Organization (HSO) Workforce Wellness and Safety Survey and strengthening external relationships through a renewed Engagement Plan.
A brighter, more accessible future for hearing and speech services in Halifax
HSNS is preparing to open the doors to a new Halifax Community Clinic location—one shaped by feedback from staff, clients, and families, and designed to better reflect the way care is delivered today.
With the lease at the Park Lane site approaching review, leadership at HSNS saw an opportunity to rethink the clinic environment.
From lived experience to leadership: one Board member’s journey with HSNS
As a law student, Maria Rizzetto wanted to contribute to something meaningful. When she discovered an opportunity with the HSNS Board of Directors, a personal connection to the organization’s mission drew her in.
As a child, Maria worked with a speech-language pathologist to address a raspy voice that made her difficult to understand. Years later, her father—a respected lawyer in Cape Breton—developed a neurological movement disorder that rapidly impaired his ability to communicate.
Bringing client perspectives into every conversation
When the Partners in Care committee first took shape, it was in response to a simple but powerful realization: HSNS needed to truly hear and understand the voices of those we serve.
Welcoming our first Patient Advisors to the Board
In 2024, HSNS officially welcomed two Patient Advisors to the Board of Directors, deepening our commitment to client voices at the highest level of decision-making.
Patient Advisors are volunteers from our Partners in Care (PiC) committee who bring lived experience and thoughtful insight to strategic discussions. Their role is to participate in Board conversations, provide input on key issues and ensure client perspectives are reflected in decisions.
What new team members are saying about Hearing & Speech
Between December 2024 and April 2025, HSNS welcomed new team members across the province who bring fresh insight, personal motivation, and a shared commitment to supporting communication health across the province.
To better understand what draws professionals to join HSNS, we asked recent hires to share their impressions and experiences. Their feedback highlights what makes HSNS a valued place to work: a supportive culture, mission-driven work, learning opportunities, and healthy work-life balance.
Advancing reconciliation and anti-systemic racism at Hearing & Speech
The Board of Directors at HSNS is committed to meaningful action on reconciliation and to addressing systemic racism in all areas of the organization’s work. Recognizing the structural inequities that exist in healthcare systems, the Board formally adopted the HSNS Anti-Systemic Racism Plan and Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) as key organizational priorities in 2024–25.
