Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 09, 2010 (SKNIS): Over 100 residents with impaired capacity to detect sound now have improved hearing thanks to the donation of hearing aids by the Starkey Hearing Foundation, based in Florida.
Over the course of two days, December 06 and 07, seven hearing specialists and support staff, along with the president of the Starkey Hearing Foundation and his wife, outfitted just under 130 residents with hearing aids free of cost. This gesture was greatly appreciated considering that hearing aids cost US$2,500 which does not include the examination and the fitting fees.
Minister of Health Honourable Marcella Liburd thanked the Starkey Hearing Foundation noting that the individuals who received the hearing aids could not have received a better Christmas present. She said that in speaking with several of the older recipients they had expressed great joy at being able to hear more clearly. She also acknowledged Mrs. Evelyn Henville for the role she played in bringing the Starkey Hearing Foundation to the Federation.
Mrs. Evelyn Henville is the Chief Executive Officer of Caribbean Foundation for Children Inc., based in Nevis. Mrs. Henville explained to the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service that as the name of her US tax-exempt, non-profit Foundation states, she works specifically for the cause of children. She detailed that when her son was diagnosed with cancer at age three, she relocated to the United States for him to undergo 8 years of chemotherapy, her family and herself felt moved to give back by starting the foundation for children.
This they did while in the US, but their area of work extended to the Federation. CEO Henville outlined that she first came across information about the Starkey Hearing Foundation in 2002 and after taking a young girl for a hearing aid fitting she was sold on the services and reliability. Once she relocated to Nevis in 2008, contact was again made with the Starkey Hearing Foundation and discussions commenced which resulted in the recently concluded free fittings.
President of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, Bill Austin, explained that hearing aids are very personalized and cannot be compared to items such as food or wheelchairs. He noted that during the fitting, specialists would have to interpret the person’s comfort level.
“We have to look in the eyes and the face,” Dr. Austin elaborated. “We have to read the person, and not just listen to what they’re saying, we have to feel what they’re feeling, so we can make it a good as it can be.”
Mrs. Henville said that work that had to be done in the Federation prior to the Starkey team’s arrival included a survey of the schools to find out the hearing impaired children’s needs, bringing in a specialist and sending the findings back to Starkey. She further outlined that her organization facilitated training of Public Health Service Nurses for the screenings and production of ear moulds – one nurse received specialized training in the operation of an audiometer, which evaluates hearing loss.
CEO Henville said that Starkey Foundation was so impressed with the reports that they encouraged her organisation to assess the entire Federation.She said that of the 130 persons identified to receive hearing aids, 15 were children and remaining number were from the Cardin Home and the general population of the twin-island state. She thanked the Ministries of Health and Social Services and Education who she said provided the necessary support for the undertaking. The management of the Sea Bridge was also acknowledged for transporting the specialists and their equipment to and from Nevis.
The fittings in St. Kitts took place at the Cotton Thomas Comprehensive School and Minister of Education Honourable Nigel Carty mentioned integration.
“You are giving students, people of school age, the chance to be able to integrate themselves into the regular classroom,” Minister Carty noted.
Fittings in Nevis took place at Occasions. The Starkey Hearing Foundation also left recipients with over a year’s supply of batteries to power their hearing aids. The Starkey team then journeyed by private jet to Antigua and will continue on to the Dominican Republic to undertake similar humanitarian activities.
