Time to get started! REPOSTED!

The Hear, Hear PEI Planning Committee is excited to announce that we will be ready to start accepting applications for hearing aids this month as we put the final pieces of the program into place. We are very excited to get going!

When we’re ready to officially launch the program we will announce it here and in the media. For now, though, there are some steps that you can take to prepare if you are planning to apply to the Hear, Hear PEI Hearing Aid Assistance Program. They are:

1.      Determine if you meet the Program’s financial criteria: Annual HOUSEHOLD income: Single person family - $20,000 or less; two person family - $30,000 or less; add an additional $10,000 income allowance for each dependent child (i.e. two parents with one child = $40,000 or less household income).

2.      If you meet the financial criteria, get a referral for a hearing test from your family physician, nurse practitioner, public health nurse, or speech language pathologist so that the cost is covered by the Province (we do not cover the cost of hearing tests). A copy of a recent hearing test (less than 12 months old) has to accompany your application form so this is an important step.

3.      When you have your referral, contact PEI Hearing Consultants, our partner clinic, at 902-629-8834 to set up your appointment with Steve Wong for the hearing test.

4.      Steve will have our application forms there and will fill in his section of the document after your test is completed.

5.      You will then take the application home to fill in the remainder. Incomplete applications will not be accepted so please be sure to include everything that is required.

Our selection committee will meet in mid March to review the first round of applications so get your completed application in as soon as possible. We decided to post these steps tonight so that you will have an adequate amount of time to prepare.

Every effort was made to keep the cost of the hearing aid program as low as possible. As a result, we are so pleased to tell you that we are able to offer hearing aids to our successful applicants for $100 a pair!  A custom ear mold may require an extra cost.   

Mike and I would like to extend a huge thank you to Steve Wong from PEI Hearing Consultants and Annie Lee MacDonald from the PEI Chapter of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association for all of their work and dedication in developing the Program with us. We couldn’t have asked for a better planning committee and we certainly couldn’t have done all of this without them!! Thank you Steve and Annie Lee!

A big thank you also goes out to our hearing aid donors! We appreciate each and every one of you!!

Finally, as always, we are looking for donations of used hearing aids. The number of people we can help each month is dependent on the number of hearing aids we get donated. Please help to spread the word!!

If you have any questions, please email us at hearhearpei@gmail.com.

Thanks,

Rose and Mike

NOTE:  We appreciate all hearing aid donations that we receive through the program and we’ve received many so far!! The kindness of Islanders is amazing and makes us proud. With the quickly changing technology in hearing aids and the different styles available, we will not be able to refurbish the majority of hearing aids that we get. This is completely normal for hearing aid recycling programs. The ones that can be refurbished are behind the ear and less than five years old. However, we are working toward getting credit with manufacturers for the hearing aids that can’t be refurbished. We hope to use these credits to purchase new hearing aids to use in the program to help Islanders. That way, we are using every single hearing aid that is donated. If you’ve donated hearing aids or plan to, please know that you are making a difference and we appreciate it! Every donation helps!