1.
How can audiology support the mission of Starkey
Hearing Foundation?
“Starkey Hearing Foundation uses hearing as a vehicle to
reflect caring and sharing and improve the lives of individuals, families, and
communities around the world.” There are so many ways to care and share, and
just one way is by providing a service we know best: audiology. There is need
all around the world for food, water, medical help, the list goes on and on.
Giving the gift of hearing aids to hundreds of thousands of people in need is
something within Starkey’s realm of possibility and they have grasped it with
both hands, putting forth an immense effort to improve individual lives and
communities all over the world. It is life changing, for both those receiving
the care and those giving it.
2. How do you want to help spread the gift of
better hearing?
After speaking with several Starkey employees who have
traveled all over the globe with the Starkey Hearing Foundation, I would love
to volunteer on a mission myself. Hearing them talk about fitting thousands of
hearing aids on people who have traveled hundreds of miles to meet them and
waited hours to see a volunteer makes my heart seize up. The Starkey Hearing
Foundation makes an enormous impact on peoples’ lives every day in a big,
dramatic way. I want to be a part of it. But I can’t forget about the impact I
make every day in the clinic.
As a first year graduate student at the University of
Northern Colorado, I have fit a fair share of hearing aids and have seen what
joy the gift of hearing can bring to those ready to accept it. One of my
favorite experiences in my short career thus far was reprogramming hearing aids
on a man who was once a wonderful musician, but hadn’t been able to stand the
sound of music with his new aids. After adding a music program and making some
slight adjustments, we tried out the sound by pulling up a youtube video. I will
never forget the look on his face when the first chords of Willie Nelson’s
“Always on my Mind” came on. Spreading the gift of better hearing doesn’t have
to mean going to the ends of the earth, you can make a big
difference right in your own backyard.
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| One of my first hearing evaluations, coming up on 3 years ago! |
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| Part of my wonderful graduate cohort at the Starkey U Workshop! From left: Erika, Brenna, Dani, me, Christine. |
