CHHA-BC Resource Centre Nowell Street Chilliwack, BC V2P 4V7 -A Success on September 22, 2012! Walk2Hear Participants getting started...

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1 CHHA-BC Resource Centre Nowell Street Chilliwack, BC V2P 4V7 -A Success on September 22, 2012! Canadian Hard of Hearing Association-British Columbia Chapter Walk2Hear Participants getting started... WALK2HEAR VANCOUVER 2012 WALKATHON It was a morning cool enough for jackets, but this did nothing to dampen the spirits of the people who met to participate in BC s second annual Walk2Hear walkathon on September 22nd. We met this year at the east end of Jericho Beach Park on a grassy lawn under spreading trees close to the seashore. Participants chose whether to walk 2km, 5 km, or 10 km, along the seawall, past Locarno Beach and down the Spanish Banks. All ages and walk styles were featured, from joggers through striders, strollers, canes and walkers. Besides the exercise, it was an excellent time for socialization. This year, instead of sponsor display tables, registered walkers, and volunteers each received a gift bag containing a variety of useful items, and informative materials, all of which were hugely appreciated. Continued on page 2... The F eaturing: Managing Hearing Loss by Leslee Scott...page 5 Diary of a Cochlear Implant by Flo Spratt...pages Issue 49 Fall/Winter 2012

2 CHHA-BC has moved into the new office space across the hall in the same building. An open house was held on Sept 15 th for visitors and members to peek at the new CHHA-BC office. I would like to thank all the staff, volunteers and CHHA BC members who assisted with the move. The Walk2Hear Walkathon was held at Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver on September 22nd, I would like to thank Marilyn Dahl for organizing the Walkathon and Miron Gazda, Sarah Farid, Rodney George, CHHA-BC staff, CHHA-Vancouver, CHHA-National, and volunteers. I wanted to encourage other branches around the province to walk in their own communities. Two board members, Leslee Scott and Deborah Scott walked in Kelowna. They reported a successful walk, having new people joining them, as they wanted to learn more about CHHA-BC and Hearing Loss. The National Educational Association for Disabled Students (NEADS) presented its 26th workshop called, The Vancouver Strategies to Employment. This event was held on November 9th, 2012, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at Hilton Metro Town in Burnaby. I provided the Keynote address "Steps to Success: The Key to Gaining Access." The purpose of the workshop is to offer practical job search strategies that can help post-secondary students and recent graduates with disabilities pursue their career goals, new perspectives, best practices, and making new contacts. CHHA National Conference is going to be on May 23-25, 2013 at Fantasy Land Hotel, located in West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. The theme is Here We Go Again the fun continues with a young at heart. I hope to see everyone there. A call for nominations is announced for all positions on the CHHA-BC Executive Committee (aka the Board) to serve a three-year term starting on May Positions on the Board include the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and two Members-at-Large. Nominations may be submitted in writing to Ruth Warick, chairperson of the Selection Committee, at least 30 days before the Annual General Meeting to be held in May Each nomination shall indicate which office the candidate wishes to fill, include a brief biographical sketch of, and a brief statement by the candidate. Both candidates and their nominators must be Regular Members. By signing the nomination paper, a candidate expressly indicates willingness to serve in the indicated position, to participate in meetings by , Skype and in person, and to promote the aims of CHHA-BC Chapter in an active manner. Please complete the application form for Nominees for Election and send back to Ruth Warick, Chair of the Selection committee, care of the CHHA- BC Resource Centre or her at: nominations@chha-bc.org Sincerely, Nora McKellin CHHA-BC President CHHA-BC 1 Fall/Winter 2012 President s Report The Loop Newsletter is published by The Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, BC Chapter. Editor: Colleen N. Güntner Submissions may be sent to: CHHA-BC Resource Centre # Nowell Street Chilliwack, BC V2P 4V7 Toll Free: Local: Toll Free Fax: Local Fax: info@chha-bc.org The Loop is distributed through CHHA BC s Resource Centre to all BC members of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association. Submissions are used according to available space and may be edited. Opinions expressed in The Loop are those of the contributors and should not be attributed to CHHA-BC. For a large print copy of The Loop please contact the Resource Centre Membership with CHHA includes: The Loop (provincial publication) Listen/Ecoute (national publication) Membership fee: $25.00 per year We appreciate donations towards the publishing costs of The Loop. A tax receipt will be issued for donations $10.00 and over. If you would like to receive future editions of The Loop via , please contact the Resource Centre. Donations, Memorials, Bequests to the Hard of Hearing/Late Deafened Fund assist CHHA-BC in its activities. Please send donations to the Vancouver Foundation Suite Hastings St. Box 12132, Harbour Centre Vancouver, BC V6B 4N6 The Vancouver Foundation will issue receipts for all gifts. Interest from the capital is used in perpetuity for CHHA-BC. The capital remains intact.

3 WALK2HEAR VANCOUVER 2012 WALKATHON continued from front page The purpose of the walkathon was to raise awareness about hearing loss and hearing protection, as well as raise funds for programs and projects which CHHA provides locally and provincially. Pledges raised by the 99 registered walkers, and donations by sponsors, raised approximately $10,000. And let s not forget the generous supply of door prizes from other corporate and individual sponsors. Funds raised, after expenses, will be allotted to the various Branches who participated their pledge monies will go to the individual Branches. The BC Chapter and Vancouver Branch co-hosted the event; the Young Adult Network, BC Parents Branch, and Hear Branch walked. At the same time, that morning, Leslee Scott and Deborah Scott, walked in Kelowna, registered as part of our Vancouver based walk. They set a great example to others around the province, who cannot get into the primary walk site, to consider doing something similar next year. Some friends and relatives also joined them on the morning walk. We greatly appreciated the participation of our professionals and service providers the UBC School of Audiology; representatives from BCASLPA, BC Family Hearing Resource Centre, St. Paul s Hospital Cochlear Implant Clinic, Mainland Hearing, UBC School of Engineering walked with us. Events like this succeed only because of the volunteer commitment and time donated. Thanks are due to all of these individuals the members of the organizing committee from Branch and Chapter for hours involved, and for all those additional persons who helped on the morning of the walk. Special appreciation also to the two young women, Sara and Mahin, who worked (Cont d on page 3) Miron Gazda ( Rep for Air Canada) presented Hielga Enns-Grand Prize Winner, Air Canada tickets. Walk2Hear Volunteers Stephanie Bryant and Sharon Davis collecting new registrations. Ruth Warick and Marilyn Dahl announcing prizes. CHHA-BC 2 Fall/Winter 2012

4 WALK2HEAR VANCOUVER 2012 WALKATHON continued from page 2 Dr. Warick, Stephanie Bryant along with Nora McKellin and her two nieces. part time as our ambassadors, and their friends who volunteered to help on the morning of the walk. We could not have done it without you! Thanks! GET TO KNOW OUR SPONSORS Our Walk2Hear Vancouver 2012 was fortunate to have some generous and supportive sponsors. If you want to see a great many smiling faces... Please do go to the websites: and click on the Walk2HEAR2012 name in the header, and then learn more about each of our sponsors clicking on each logo in turn. This will take you to their web pages were you can read about their work and service opportunities to hard of hearing people. Marilyn Dahl, Facilitator, Organizing Committee, Walk2Hear More participants... Volunteers handing out the Walk2HearT-Shirts. L to R: Stephanie Bryant, Sara Farid, Miron Gazda, Rodney George,, Marilyn Dahl, & Mahin Torki. Dr. Charles Laszlo and his wife receive a prize. CHHA-BC 3 Fall/Winter 2012

5 Resource Centre Report July1-November 13, 2012 Submitted by Sharon Perry Since we moved to our new office we have been very busy. The second Managing Hearing Loss Speech-reading Instructors Course was held at Simon Fraser University from July 30th to August 3rd. Leslee Scott and Sharon Perry Linda Scarlett-Hauck facilitated the Course. Six Instructors are newly certified, including Stephanie Bryant from our office. Our Open House was held September 15th with about 25 visitors. The CHHA-BC Walkathon was held September 22nd with the Resource Centre being very involved with the planning and execution of the very successful event. On September 27th Sharon Perry attended the annual Chilliwack Community Services Peer Counsellors Education Day on behalf of CHHA. Starting October 5th for 8 weeks, Sharon Perry is presenting the Managing Hearing Loss Speechreading Course to a class of Seniors at Primrose Independent Living (part of the Menno Campus of Care) in Abbotsford. On October 10th we met with the principals of the new company called Advanced Listening Systems. Their mandate is to Loop BC and are currently installing Loop Systems at select VanCity Credit Unions as a pilot project. They are also producing Editor s Message Submitted by Colleen Güntner a movie about the Science of Sound. Also on October 10th we participated in a webinair regarding advertising. We held Strategy Planning Meetings here October 2nd and again October 30th. On October 24th CHHA BC Vice-President Rodney George met with the staff to talk about our future direction.stephanie attended the Council for Service Providers meeting in Burnaby on November 2nd. In response to a request from CHHA-BC Treasurer Sharon Davis, we have been provided with several student volunteers from Chilliwack Schools who will be helping us by making Hospital Kits, creating databases, cleaning and testing equipment and performing other duties as required. Stephanie Bryant and Sharon Davis will be attending the Not for Profit and Charity Forum November 16th at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. The BC Board meeting will be held here at the Resource Centre on Saturday, November 24th. Remote CART will be provided. A call is out for nominations to the CHHA-BC Board. The Annual General Meeting will be held in the Spring of Ruth Warick is chair. Ruth can be reached through our CHHA-BC office at info@chha-bc.org or nominations@chha-bc.org Submitted by Sharon Perry Administrator Nomination forms are posted on the website and the hard copy will be in the next newsletter. Things are moving along at a fast pace...our new volunteer-courtney is organizing the library, A.J. is helping Stephanie with donations from the Christmas Campaign, Ron keeping up with the mail-outs, and we have 4 students from different schools around Chilliwack helping out with data input and completing hospital kits. We are grateful for all the work and help! Thank you. Please join us for coffee time on Thursdays from 10:30 am to noon...we are enjoying our time chatting with one another about solutions, and ideas along with coffee and treats. Thank you to all who have submitted their articles. This newsletter would not be as successful without your help and content. Feel free to send in articles or ideas to me anytime. cguntner@chha-bc.org I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! CHHA-BC 4 Fall/Winter 2012 Colleen Güntner

6 Managing Hearing Loss Program Submitted by Leslee Scott Two classes are currently being held, one in Kelowna and one in Abbotsford. Sharon Perry is holding her Friday morning classes for 8 weeks within a Seniors Independent Living facility in Abbotsford. They were invited to run the classes after she and Marlene Witzke did a presentation. They average 8 10 students. The challenge is that it is a Mennonite facility where most students are Dutch or German. So they are the ones with the accents which is a challenge for a hard of hearing instructor! She says The words look different on my lips than they do on theirs so I have them help me by asking them to repeat some of the words or phrases after me. It is such a positive experience because they all really participate and they have a great attitude. She is invited to join the group for lunch after every class and she finds it very rewarding to see their enthusiasm. What was so special with this whole thing was in February CHHA-BC was invited to host a table at a one day Trade Show and Seminar sponsored by Sysco Systems which is a huge food services company supplying institutions (hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living and independent living residences etc.). Sharon Davis and Sharon Perry went to Langley for this Trade show. They talked to a lot of Professionals in the industry. They were asked if they would do presentations which was how they met the rep. from Menno Campus of Care in Abbotsford, a group of facilities with over 700 residents. Sharon P and Marlene presented to them June 8 (26 people) and again Sept. 29 (37 people). She feels it is important that MHL instructors try to get sponsored by Leslee Scott a senior s facility in order to run their classes. In Kelowna, there is a group of 6 hard of hearing seniors and 3 spouses that regularly attend the MHL classes. The spouses attend to support their husbands/wives but also to learn. They have found it a challenge to speech-read especially because two have acute hearing. One brings earplugs. We hold these classes on Thursday afternoons for 10 weeks. It is a lively group with good discussions during the speech-reading practice sessions and during the coping strategy sessions. The classes are held within the building where WIDHH Okanagan office is. The funding for this program is provided through the Central Okanagan Foundation for which WIDHH is grateful. The instructor, Leslee Scott, is setting up two classes starting in January, another day class and an evening class with hopes of attracting people who are employed and experiencing hearing loss. The MHL instructors meet once a month on Skype to share experiences and to encourage each other to hold classes so as not to lose their skills they learned this past year. Several have indicated that classes will be held in the New Year. Some plans to team teach are in the works in the Lower mainland. We look forward to more classes being held throughout the Lower Mainland. There is a demand on CHHA BC to hold classes and they are struggling to meet these needs. There is a need for more instructors. If people are interested, please contact the CHHA BC Resource office to express your interest. We can obtain funding to hold speech instructor training again in Chilliwack. CHHA-BC Living with Hearing Loss Course Submitted by Linda Linda Scarlett- Hauck "The first and introductory class of the CHHA-BC Living with Hearing Loss Course (Instructor: Linda Scarlett-Hauck) was held at the Brinkworthy Clubhouse on Salt Spring Island on Friday morning, October 26, Because no fees are charged and all Park residents are invited, we have the Clubhouse rent free. Five people attended. Everyone was interested in continuing into December as they felt this was interesting and useful information and practice. We will all continue to talk to others to see if we can increase attendance." CHHA-BC 5 Fall/Winter 2012

7 Greetings, Loop Readers! My name is Paige Thombs and I m with the Deaf Access Office in Burnaby, BC. The Deaf Access Office (a program of Provincial Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services) works with professionals and service providers across the province promoting accessibility for people who are Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing. This November, DAO is excited to be heading to Kelowna. The DAO is thrilled to announce that we have been invited by the RCMP in the interior to do two workshops to all officers during their annual training days. Over the course of two days, DAO will have the opportunity to talk to over 200 officers about working with Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing people. We will cover things such as communicating with Hard of Hearing people, working with interpreters and available technology. As well, I will have time to meet with clients to hear about the challenges they face when utilizing services. I will be available to meet with people on November 5 th, 6 th and 7 th. If you d like to meet to discuss a specific issue or just learn more about DAO, please contact me at paige.thombs@gov.bc.ca or I hope to hear from you, Paige Deaf Access Office Heads to Kelowna! Submitted by Paige Thombs Great presentation! As officers we all need to learn and be aware of every person that we serve so we can treat them with respect and refer them to the services that they need. ~Nicole, West Vancouver Police Officer The Canadian Hard of Hearing Association Scholarship Program Applications are now being accepted for All applications must be received by February 28, Late, unsigned or incomplete applications will not be considered nor will applications be accepted by or fax. Please mail your completed application to: Canadian Hard of Hearing Association Scholarship Program 2415 Holly Lane, Suite 205, Ottawa, ON K1V 7P2 Voice: (613) Toll Free: Fax: (613) TTY: (613) Applications are attached or available on our website: Here is an interesting website-ccac means captioning advocacy. Captioning (subtitles) is our Language too-don t Leave us Out! Another website of interest: Dr. Neil Bauman HEARING LOSS HELP e-zine "The premier e-zine for people with hearing loss" CHHA-BC 6 Fall/Winter 2012

8 A Tribute to an Amazing Woman CHHA-BC extends our deepest condolences to the family of Carol Suggitt. Carol passed away suddenly on August 28th, Carol Suggitt was a valuable member of the community who generously gave her life experiences and knowledge to help Deaf, Hearing, and Hard of Hearing people. Carol was a long-time member of CHHA, a huge supporter and extremely instrumental with all our events. She always found solutions, always giving, and always had a never give up attitude. Carol Suggitt will be missed but not forgotten. Remembrance Day-November 11, 2012 On Remembrance Day Alex Zytaruk (from the CHHA Chilliwack Branch, Volunteer, and speaker at the AGM in Surrey in May 2012) and Sharon Perry (our own CHHA-BC Administrator and member of Legion #280) lay a wreath. Alex had 5 brothers in the army during wartime and Alex was in the RCAF in CHHA-BC 7 Fall/Winter 2012

9 The Vancouver Aquarium will be celebrating accessibility on December 1, We will have all of our usual accessible services offered and the following additions: * American Sign Language interpreters will be at all of our marine mammal and dive shows, including one of our holiday favourites, Scuba Claus. * The Wet Lab will be open every hour so guests can experience our aquatic world through touch. * Volunteers will be available upon request to assist visitors who are blind or have low vision for a more descriptive tour. * Extra volunteers will be onsite to interact with guests and showcase a variety of props in the galleries. For more details, you can visit our website at the following link: experience/events/annual-andupcoming-events/celebrateaccessibility The Vancouver Aquarium is a non-profit society dedicated to the conservation of aquatic life. UBC School of Audiology and Speech Sciences is Looking for Hearing Aid Users Hearing aid users are invited to take part in a research study to investigate a new method for improving the effectiveness of hearing aids in noisy environments. The new technology removes the background noise from the sound amplified by hearing aids, allowing wearers to more clearly hear spoken words. This study is being done to determine what improvement this provides over existing hearing aid noise reduction programs. You qualify if you: Are over 19 years old, and Wear two hearing aids that are less than 4 years old, and Have worn your present hearing aids for at least 6 months, and Have not been diagnosed with a cognitive impairment (e.g. Alzheimer s disease) If you agree to take part in this study, it will involve about 3 visits to a testing facility at the University of British Columbia to take hearing tests. Each visit will be about 2 hours long. At each visit you will listen to recorded sentences spoken with varying levels of background noise, and your ability to hear the words will be measured. You will also be asked to listen to about 20 hours of audio books of your choice processed with the new technology. You may listen to these books on your own time between visits 2 and 3 in the lab. No new hearing aids will be given to you as part of this study. The new technology being tested will not improve your hearing or your current hearing aids. It is being evaluated for its benefit in future models of hearing aids. There is nothing to buy, and you do not have to pay for study visits or tests that are part of the study. Costs of travel to the testing facility will be reimbursed. You will receive $200 for participating in the study. If you are interested in participating in this study, or would like more information, contact: Lindsay or Heather (regarding the Hearing Aids and Noise study ) lab phone: AmpLab@audiospeech.ubc.ca Principal Investigator: Dr. Lorienne Jenstad, PhD UBC School of Audiology and Speech Sciences Phone: The next copy deadline is: January 31, 2013 CHHA-BC 8 Fall/Winter 2012

10 MEMBERS: Have you renewed your membership? When you pay membership fees, you indicate your belief in what we are doing and shows us that you continue to support our efforts. Thank you. CHHA-BC does not receive any government funding. Yet, we work hard to provide programs and services that are needed in our region. But there is a cost that is attached to it all. A cost that is covered by our own internal fund-raiding campaigns which run throughout the fiscal year. By joining our membership you not only contribute much needed funds to us and our National office but it benefits you in return. Keep in the loop with the latest technical advances; learn about workshops planned in your area; keep in touch with what s happening in the hearing industry and learn how you can help by volunteering your time and wisdom. For more information on membership call the CHHA-BC Chapter: (604) Toll Free: or by info@chha-bc.org Got A Penny? Wondering what to do with all those extra pennies? They will soon be a thing of the past, so please consider donating them to your favourite charity. Thursday Morning Coffee Time CHHA-BC Resource Centre # Nowell Street Chilliwack, BC V2P 4V We extend an Invitation to join us every Thursday morning for coffee/tea, friendship, discussions, ideas, and much more! Bring along your concerns and needs to help us help you. 10:30 am-noon...see you then... CHHA Vancouver Branch News Two of CHHAVAN Branch members were recently honoured in their respective fields. Congratulations, Ruth and Charles! Dr. Ruth Warick: Senior Diversity Advisor, Disability, with Access and Disability at UBC was one of nine staff who received the President Staff Awards. Ruth was recognized for her work in promoting accessibility for diverse populations, particularly in disability services. She is a widely respected authority on disability services and education, and has worked to bring broader notions of diversity to disability services at the international level. Dr. Charles Laszlo: Formerly the Dean of Biomedical Engineering at UBC, received the Faculty of Applied Engineering Outstanding Emeritus Award. Dr. Laszlo was recognized for his dedication to academia; the transfer of his research into the industrial domain, and his passion to the service of the hard of hearing community. Happy Holiday Season Peace Joy Hope CHHA-BC 9 Fall/Winter 2012

11 Diary of a Cochlear Implant Submitted by Flo Spratt I Want to Hear Just like You A number of people who knew me before my CI (cochlear implant) surgery continue to remark how impressed they are with my ability to hear with very little effort. In fact, some of my HOH friends who were once reluctant to even consider applying for a CI are now hoping to become CI recipients. They too want to enjoy the world of sounds and speech as I do. They have seen the change in me and others with CIs, and realize they too may have that gift, should they be eligible for this technology. Recently two of these friends visited me to ask questions about the process of eligibility for the surgery and the rehabilitation that one undergoes after the implant is turned on (6 weeks later). I did my best to answer their questions that afternoon. However, I realized that, given the 3 years since I had my surgery, there could well be some more up-to-date information regarding the issues that concern them. So, after the visit, I asked my audiologist; Jowan, at St. Paul s, to give me more current information. Once again he was very helpful. In this article I will respond to the questions my friends asked by giving combined responses from both Jowan s expertise and my own experiences. Question: When is someone too old to apply for a CI? Answer: Age is not a factor. The clinic looks primarily at one s medical/surgical candidacy along with the audiological criteria. This means Dr. Westerberg, the surgeon, needs to determine if the person is healthy enough to undergo the surgery, and will assess this by your medical records and current health status. There have been cases of younger applicants who met the audiological criteria for CI, but were not healthy enough to undergo surgery safely. If you desire to pursue the CI surgery, you must ask for a referral to the program and get assessed (see b e l o w o n t h e r e f e r r a l process). Your capacity to undergo surgery is the decision of the surgeon. Question: What if I m doing "OK" in quiet situations because I use a huge variety of coping strategies with a variety of grammar/semantics skills, to figure out what is being discussed and how to work my way in conversations, but I am not coping well in the real world where noise and constant unpredictable sounds interfere with my interactions with others? How can the clinic assess that aspect of my eligibility for a CI when I would be assessed in the quiet environment of the sound booth? CHHA-BC 10 Fall/Winter 2012 Answer: The current candidacy criteria are based on sentences in quiet. This is consistent across all clinics in North Flo Spratt America and the criteria have been approved by Health Canada and FDA. The candidacy criteria are supported by research which indicates that it is safe and reliable to implant that group of patients. There is continued research to evaluate the candidacy criteria for implantation. St. Paul s clinic has been and continues to be involved in this research. If the person is not deemed a candidate, it means that there should be reasonable amounts of residual speech understanding that would allow him/her to benefit from ALDs like FM technology. Also, the tests results indicate that he or she is doing better than every other CI recipient who was deemed to be a candidate at the time of their assessment. I can t underestimate the use of ALDs (Assistive Listening Devices) and other means that technology offers to the hard of hearing in addition to hearing aids. For me, prior to my CI, I used the FM system almost continuously, even in quiet situations; I also used the Voice Carry Over telephone (by Ameriphone) and exclusively to keep in touch with the people in my life. Because they were my life line, I became comfortable using them. Question: What will the clinic tell me if I fail the candidacy process? Continued on page 11

12 Diary of a Cochlear Implant Submitted by Flo Spratt (continued from page 10) Answer: If you are not YET deemed to be a candidate for a CI, you will be encouraged to pursue options that are available for improving your quality of life. The clinic will explain your current level of hearing and whether your hearing aids are fitting you appropriately. They will show how your results compare with what could be acquired, given your hearing levels and what could be provided, given your aids power or stronger hearing aids that are available. The clinic will encourage you to work with your hearing aid person to increase settings to get optimal hearing and will encourage you to have a good trial with FM technology. The clinic will discuss the value of speech reading courses to augment your hearing and to contact community resources such as CHHA to provide further supports to you and your family. Finally, you will be made aware that none of their recommendations will restore hearing to normal, but rather that you are to maximize the use of your residual hearing. An important point to remember is that a small 10-20% increase in speech access is a bigger deal for people coming in for CI assessments than for normal hearing people. I think we all, as hard of hearing persons, understand this fact: for example, just having background music turned down or off is a tremendous benefit to our efforts in hearing others, even though our hearing loss does not change. Question: What can the clinic recommend in the unfortunate case of someone who meets the audiological criteria but is deemed physically unable to undergo the surgery due to a critical condition (e.g., a terminal disease)? Answer: In the cases where a HOH person can t have the surgery and is without sound or only can access limited sound, the clinic will discuss things like Vancouver Community College s speech reading course, support services by CHHA, consideration for use of ALDS, as well as other technologies like Dragon Dictation software which can be used on computers or as an app on iphones. If necessary, they will also discuss the possibility of using sign language if that is something the person is willing Kelsie Grazier sent in an interesting story (that isn t captioned). Kelsie wrote: I thought I would pass on this story about an 8 year old girl from New York that wrote a little book on hearing loss that I came across. So great and inspiring! The link: to consider. Jowan emphasized to me that, fortunately, it is extremely rare to have someone turned down permanently. Question: Who makes the referral to St. Paul s clinic for my application for a CI? Answer: Audiologists, Hearing Aid Practitioners, ENTs, GPs can all make referrals now. By opening up the referral sources, the clinic at St. Paul s is trying to make the CI program more accessible to those that need it. Once the clinic reviews all of the materials that you need to send in, they do an intake on the information. If the information indicates that you might be a candidate, then they will contact you and book you for an assessment. If you are clearly not a candidate then the clinic will also contact you and recommend that you work with your hearing aid provider by exploring ALDs and support from your local CHHA branch. As a long standing member of CHHA, I can t say enough for the support I have received from our CHHA branch. I have been challenged many times to try yet one more coping strategy, to learn pleasing and assertive ways to understand what others are saying, and to not give up. I have received encouragement and understanding by others with hearing loss that enabled me to feel less alone and hopeless in my circumstances. Most of all, I learned that, even with a hearing loss, I have much to offer others and that life is about focusing on what we can give. CHHA-BC 11 Fall/Winter 2012