PEI’s Hearing Aid Recycling Program update

Thank you so much for visiting our blog and staying informed about this important project for Islanders with hearing loss. We are so happy to provide an update on how things are progressing.

The Hear, Hear PEI program was mentioned on Accessible Media Inc.’s (AMI) regional radio show out of Halifax on Monday.  I (Rose) will be interviewed this Thursday for the Kelly & Company radio show out of Toronto. This is certainly a great opportunity to spread the word and perhaps get hearing aids donated to our program. At the very least, it will raise awareness about the need for such programs across Canada.

The hearing aid donations continue to come in! Some hearing aids will get refurbished and refitted for another Islander, when possible, some will be used as parts, if needed, and we hope that some will allow us to get credit with suppliers toward new hearing aids. We are going to make the best use possible of all hearing aids that are donated.

We had two meetings today that were very inspiring. The first was with Steve Wong from PEI Hearing Consultants. Steve is a Board Certified Hearing Instrument Specialist who is eager to get the hearing aid recycling program going on the Island. He reached out to us right away when he heard about what we were trying to do.

The second was with Annie Lee MacDonald who is the president of the PEI Chapter of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association. Annie Lee was happy to learn that we were looking to start a hearing aid recycling program and wants to help in whatever way she can to get it going.

Steve, Annie Lee, Mike and I will be getting together for a meeting in the near future to begin the planning process. In the meantime, we are each going to be doing some research and gathering information to take to the table. Mike and I have several meetings and phone calls set up this week with people who can provide input and/or guidance. Steve and Annie Lee have been reaching out to their networks as well. When we get together, the four of us will develop a program that will help ensure that Islanders who need them will have access to affordable hearing aids.

Mike and I are so pleased to be working with such compassionate and professional individuals like Steve and Annie Lee, and look forward to having other professionals and community groups join us in bringing the gift of hearing to Islanders.

We welcome the opportunity to meet with audiologists, hearing specialists, non-profits, businesses or any other individuals or groups that would like to help in some way with this project. Please email us at hearhearpei@gmail.com.

We are also still accepting donations of hearing aids! Please let us know if you would like to donate.

Thank you,

Rose and Mike

Young Islander donates hearing aid

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Chant and her family dropped by tonight to donate her hearing aid that she got when she was just five-years-old. Sarah was born deaf in one ear so she knows the importance of hearing aids. When she heard about our Hear, Hear PEI project she knew it was time to take her children’s hearing aid out of storage and donate it to help someone who needs it.

When asked why she wanted to donate, Sarah said that she was getting a new hearing aid so she wanted to make another kid happy by donating her pink hearing aid. She even included the original fun stickers that came with them.

Sarah is a student at Bluefield High School who plans to go into the trades. We think she’s pretty awesome and are so grateful for her generous donation. Thank you, Sarah, for giving the gift of hearing to a fellow Islander!

If you would like to donate a hearing aid, please contact us at hearhearpei@gmail.com. We will travel all over the Island to pick them up or you can drop them off to us in Charlottetown, if that's preferable. We want to make it as easy as possible to donate!

Great things are happening...and quickly!

Photo: Deborah Annear donating her late grandmother’s (Edith Robinson) hearing aids. A big thank you to Deborah and her parents, John and Hazel Robinson, and family for your generosity! We appreciate you!!

Photo courtesy of Alison Jenkins.

Our first business partner!

We were thrilled to get a call today from PEI Hearing Consultants who heard about our initiative and wanted to get involved. I spoke to co-owner Steven Wong at length today and let me tell you, he is motivated and has great passion for this cause. In fact, this was something that he has been working on for the past few months so he is happy to get on board with Hear, Hear PEI to make it happen. After our conversation, he started making calls to get hearing aid donations through his contacts. We’re excited to have PEI Hearing Consultants join the team.

My interview on CBC Island Morning

Matt Rainnie from Island Morning sent me the MP3 file with our interview, which I am pleased to share with you! https://soundcloud.com/rose-barbour/island-morning-interview-january-18-2017

What great exposure that was, and the response was amazing! After the interview, the hearing aid donations started coming in quickly and we had a non-profit contact us wanting to meet to find out how they can help us with the program. We will meet with their President next week. Things are coming together quickly!

Please continue to share the blog to spread the word.

If you have hearing aids to donate, please email us at hearhearpei@gmail.com. 

Introducing our first donor!

I am so pleased to provide a good news update on our Hear, Hear PEI initiative. Today, I was presented with our first hearing aid by Kathy Weatherbie who lovingly made the donation in memory of her wonderful father, Alphonse Gallant, who passed away just over a year ago.

Kathy wrote a beautiful letter to give to the recipient of her dad’s hearing aid. She said that I could share it with you.

This hearing aid is a gift from my dad ~ Alphonse Gallant ~ he is helping you from heaven L and would take great pride in knowing someone is benefitting from what once helped him so much in his life...the gift of hearing. He was the most thoughtful and giving person on earth and took every opportunity to help others and encouraged his children to go through life doing the same. That is why I was compelled to donate his hearing aid to the Hear, Hear PEI initiative that the wonderful Rose and Mike Barbour are leading. It is a fantastic program that I hope and pray will be successful with the help of many donors!

Kathy is just the type of person that we need to reach. There are many people who have hearing aids sitting in a drawer after a loved ones passing.  Those hearing aids could be life-changing for another Islander. Though it is so hard to part with things that belonged to loved ones, please know that you are giving a beautiful gift to someone else.

There are also people out there who have upgraded their hearing aids or had to switch to different ones for some reason. We could really use your old hearing aids for the program as well. Every donation is appreciated!

Without hearing aids, there will be no program. Please give if you can by emailing hearhearpei@gmail.com. We would be happy to make arrangements to pick them up or give you directions to our home to drop them off. We could even meet you somewhere. Whatever works for you!

Sincerely,

Rose and Mike

The gift of hearing for Islanders

My name is Rose and I am married to a wonderful man named Mike who has suffered from hearing loss his entire life. Because of this, we are well aware of how expensive hearing aids are (they range from $2,500 a pair up to $6,500) and how this cost makes them out of reach for many Islanders. We’d like to change that.

We are starting the Hear, Hear PEI program because we know that most hearing loss can be corrected if you can afford hearing aids. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford them so this actually makes hearing loss a financial disability, not a physical one. This is a positive thing, though, because we can come together to do something about it.  

Hearing loss is an isolating condition for so many Islanders who, like Mike, have felt the awkwardness of not being able to hear in social situations, the embarrassment of saying the wrong thing because you heard something incorrectly, and the uncomfortable feeling of having to ask people to repeat themselves again and again. It is easier to say nothing at all and just withdraw from the conversation so that’s what many people do.

Hearing loss can affect relationships, jobs, self-esteem and quality of life. This is why the Hear, Hear PEI initiative – which will help to get hearing aids into the ears of Islanders who need them – is so important, but we need your help.

We are starting this program with the full knowledge that we can’t do it alone, no matter how much we care about and want to help people with hearing loss. We need MANY Islanders to join us if the program is to be successful. Together, we can help make hearing a reality again for many Islanders.

The first phase of this new program is to collect as many hearing aids as possible. The more hearing aids that we collect, the more Islanders we can help! The hearing aids can be new or used; working or not working (as long as they are in good shape). They will be refurbished so they can be used again by someone who needs them. Without hearing aids, this project can’t get off the ground so please donate, if you can.

  

In addition to collecting hearing aid donations, Mike and I will be trying to find businesses, community organizations and other partners with the expertise, experience and/or compassion to help with this program.

The most important and absolutely necessary partnership of all will be with hearing healthcare professionals across PEI. If you are a hearing healthcare professional who can devote/donate some of your time (like one Friday afternoon a month, for example) to doing hearing tests, hearing aid fittings, and follow-ups, we would love to talk to you.

If you are a business or community organization that would like to serve as a drop off centre for hearing aid donations, please contact us. It would be great to have locations across the Island.

To donate a hearing aid or discuss a partnership with Hear, Hear PEI, please send an email to hearhearpei@gmail.com. If you prefer to speak by phone or to meet in person, we will gladly arrange a time to call or meet.

Finally, please share this blog post with others so that we can reach as many people as possible. Together, we can give the beautiful and life-changing gift of hearing to Islanders!

Thank you!

Rose and Mike Barbour