The first female national president for Elks of Canada, Deborah Sallenback, is in Manitoba for the 91st Provincial Elks Conference this weekend, which is being held in Altona.

Although two other provinces are hosting their conferences this weekend, Sallenback chose to attend Manitoba's.

"It'll be interesting to hear what the Manitoba Elks do in their province," she said. "You don't really know from province to province what each one does."

Sallenback started her one-year presidency in July 2017. By the time her term ends in July, she will have travelled 55,000 km throughout Canada, she said. During her stop in Winnipeg she visited the Central Speech and Hearing Clinic, a cause that is dear to both the Elks and the national president herself.

Over the course of many decades, branches of the Elks Association have provided donations and support to various hearing and deafness organizations. One organization that the Elks founded 37 years ago called the B.C. Family Hearing Resource Society, helped Sallenback's grandson, who was three-months-old when he was diagnosed as moderately deaf. He was able to get early admittance to the program because of Sallenback's involvement with the Elks.

He has since started using hearing aids and will be in the program until he is six, which is when the program typically ends for a child.

A number of years ago, the province of B.C., where Sallenback resides, introduced a newborn hearing screening program which is supposed to detect hearing issues in young children. Sallenback said this is something provincial governments should treat as priority.

"You never used to hear about deafness in the communities and in the children. It's so prominent now, there are so many children that are deaf or hard of hearing," she said.

In Manitoba the Elks have helped 90 families and in B.C. they have helped more than 300, according to Sallenback.

"We need the government on board with this because it's important. These children are our future and they need the help," she said.

Since the inception of Elks of Canada in 1912, the organization has procured more than 250 lodges and 11,000 members, who promote and serve community needs, according to its website.