500 benefit from hearing aid distribution

Jun 15, 2017 News, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....ng-aid-distribution/

The US-based Starkey Foundation on Tuesday joined the Ministry of Public Health, (MOPH) and the Lions Club to distribute hearing aids to those suffering from impairments.

The fifteen-member Starkey Foundation team joined with local audiology practitioners to distribute some 500 hearing aids and custom-made ear molds to children and adults suffering from various hearing disabilities at the Sophia Exhibition Centre, Georgetown.

The medical mission is the second of its kind that is being conducted in Guyana with the financial and clinic support from Starkey.

The charitable organisation made a commitment in 2010 via the Clinton Global Initiative, to provide 1 million hearing aids in a decade.
William F. Austin and his wife, Tani Austin, co-founders of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, were part of the visiting medical team.

William Austin said that his mission to Guyana is intended to help Guyanese who are separated from their family life due to hearing loss.

“That’s the work we do around the world, we travel to all countries where people don’t have a chance to hear and be all they can be, and try to lift those people up so they might understand that we value them, and think they are worth our best efforts, and we believe that if we allow any person to be diminish, then that diminishes all of us”.

Austin noted that the idea of Starkey Hearing Foundation is to grow and strengthen the team so that its members can serve humanity and be part of people’s lives.

“We realise that this is the gift we can bring, it’s our art, it’s our skill, it’s what we know how to do. If we don’t do this for our fellow men, our committee, then what good are we? Our art is helping people with hearing problems and these people make us important, they bring significance and meaning to our life as they come, and by caring about them we nurture their spirits as well as their hearing.”

Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr. Karen Boyle thanked the Foundation for their great and profound work, and care to the people of Guyana.

First Lady Sandra Granger also expressed gratitude to the team for their involvement with the Government of Guyana on this mission.

“I am very appreciative and grateful that Starkey thought of coming to Guyana first before expanding to other Caribbean countries,” the First Lady said.

After receiving her hearing aid, nine-year-old Akayla Ferrier of Kuru Kuru Primary School said that “it’s nice that I can hear properly. I can hear things I never heard before. Now I can listen to music better”.

Her father, Askari Ferrier added that his daughter lost 40% of hearing in her left ear during a surgery which was done to remove a pea which was inserted in the ear some years prior. Ferrier is optimistic that the hearing aid will significantly impact his daughter at school.

“I am excited, as her father…knowing she can hear again is a big step for me”.

Saisnarine Sebastian Ramsuchit, a newspaper agent, of Eccles, East Bank Demerara, lauded the team for their contribution to his improved hearing.

“It’s been years now since I wasn’t hearing. I think my diabetes contributed to that. These people came and they did my evaluation, and now they come and put in my hearing aid. These people are very helpful, and they let the partially hearing impaired people hear again.”

Meanwhile health statistics show that a majority of senior citizens who suffer from hearing loss choose to ignore treatment with hearing aids, and are in denial about the negative effects of these decisions. Hearing loss has been associated with an earlier onset of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and with depression.