Today is the 200th edition of Take Heart!!!
I remember writing the 100th Take Heart in May 2022. I had just visited the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, and had been deeply touched that this is where Martin Luther King had given the “I Have a Dream” speech. In that 100th edition of Take Heart, I shared my dream about how hearing care could be done differently. Way too many people buy hearing aids like a commodity or get prescribed hearing aids like a prescription. At Avalon, we are doing hearing care so differently! We are an educational, relationship-based hearing care practice with HEART.
The beginning of my confession
It just spent the week in Cape Coral, FL helping my 82-year-old uncle and 79-year-old aunt move into a new home. My dear sister, Connie, and I flew down to help them unpack and get settled into their new home.
My uncle was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a few years ago and has taken a turn for the worse. His voice has become very soft and his words literally run together. I watched my aunt and uncle who have been devoted to one another for 41 years be frustrated, angry, and deeply resigned. It broke my heart.
I also noticed that my aunt would misunderstand what I would say and if you have ever met me, you know that I have a strong, clear voice. The joke is I don’t know if I should teach people to speak more distinctly or help people hear and listen better. The truth is I do both!
Confession Time
On Thursday morning, my aunt’s hearing became part of our conversation. Three years ago, she’d gone to Costco and been fitted with hearing aids. She wore them for a while and finally put them away because they bothered her, and she felt that she heard good enough. Sound familiar?!?!
She found her hearing test from 2021 and showed it to me. According to the hearing test, she was missing more than a third of her hearing, which explains why she misunderstood. She kept insisting that she could hear fine. Because she can.
But it was hard for her to acknowledge that things weren’t clear. She blamed it on my uncle and the truth is that his speech is definitely not clear.
Here comes the confession. I found myself pushing against her denial and telling her all these things I knew about hearing loss to get her out of her denial. She did not need that. She needed compassion and a safe place to explore how she felt about her hearing loss. Eventually, I landed there, but it took me about 20 minutes. I’m ashamed of myself because I know better.
Denial is a form of protection
As I was pushing against her denial, I made her protective layers even thicker. I imagine she felt misunderstood and maybe even a bit attacked. These are not good feelings, and rarely help people take action when it gets to hearing loss.
For my aunt, getting hearing aids three years ago, only made life more complicated, and they didn’t help that much. Remember, she hears. It’s just not clear all the time.
Here’s where I want to scream – the first time
She never went back to Costco. She didn’t know how to take care of her hearing healthcare. She thought she was buying an electronic device at Costco. When you buy an electronic device at Costco, you don’t go back to get help on how to use it. You try to figure it out yourself.
Hearing aids are electronic devices, but you need someone walking with you, holding your hand as you learn to listen to the world in a whole new way. And part of that walking with you is to make sure that you have follow-up appointments to make the necessary reprogramming adjustments, and to make the learning curve gentler.
People with hearing loss often feel alone and misunderstood. That continues even when they get hearing aids, but especially if they do not get any follow-up care.
Avalon’s ALWAYSCare Program
When we opened up our hearing practice on June 1, 1989, our golden rule was that no one left our office without an appointment to come back. We adopt you. And these are not hooky words. This is our commitment to you – to keep you hearing and understanding the best you can for life…your life, now and for years to come.
The second time I wanted to scream
On Saturday I met some good friends of my aunt and uncle. I’ll call them Carol and Jerry. They both wear hearing aids. They were kind enough to drive me to the airport that afternoon. During the drive, we had a very interesting conversation.
Jerry had hearing aids from the VA and he was clearly having trouble understanding conversations. He hadn’t been back to the VA in a couple of years for any follow-up care. For all we know, his hearing aids just needed a good cleaning. And he definitely needed to be retested to monitor any changes in his hearing.
Carol got her hearing aids through an audiologist who worked for an ENT doctor. She had not been back for any kind of service or testing for over two years.
Out of that educational conversation, Carol committed to call her audiologist for an appointment and to make an appointment for her husband at the VA.
Three people…three different ways they got hearing aids
One way is strictly buying an electronic device in a big box store or smaller retail store. The other is going through a medical office where hearing aids are often dispensed with very little time to educate and support the patient with their hearing healthcare. The third is going through the VA if you lost your hearing because of your time in the service. The VA is definitely not set up for follow-up care. All three of these models do an incredible disservice to people with hearing loss.
I want to scream, again, as I share this with you
We can do this so much better for people experiencing hearing loss.
I am committed to revolutionizing hearing healthcare in a way that supports people in every way when faced with the challenge of hearing loss. It’s where my passion lies. I know we can do better for people with hearing loss.
Avalon’s WHY of being in business
It’s all about connection and the need for us to belong. That’s why Avalon is a heart-centered hearing care practice.
As I watched my aunt and uncle struggle so terribly after 41 years of marriage, I see that I am even more committed and more passionate about helping people to stay connected.
Hearing aids help
And hearing aids are not the only part of the solution to staying connected to the people and things that you love in life. There is a missing piece and I call it heart-centered hearing. To reach 41 years of marriage takes something. There are many ups and downs, challenges, and rewards to having relationships in your life. It could be with a marriage partner. It could be with your son or daughter. It could be with a grandchild. It could be with a dear friend. All these relationships are impacted when the Elephant of hearing loss walks into the middle of the relationship, taking up a lot of space. That’s why I invite you to participate in my monthly Living Happily Ever After with Hearing Loss masterclass.
Join the Free Masterclass "Living Happily Ever After With Hearing Loss"
My aunt
I have ordered Starkey GENESIS 24 hearing aids for her and will call the right hearing care practice in Cape Coral to give her a thorough test AND make sure that they will walk with her hand-in-hand through this process. She does not have to be alone in taking care of her hearing healthcare.
My uncle
On May 1, he starts another round of speech therapy. This time, he is committed to practicing 15 minutes every day like they ask of him to strengthen his voice. He agreed to do this if my aunt would take care of her hearing. The irony is that part of the speech therapy is about screaming!
Grateful and now, I’ll stop screaming
But I will shout from the roof tops about how grateful I am that so many of you choose Avalon for your hearing care! No one should do hearing loss alone. At Avalon, we adopt you!