Written by Jeanne Chaussee
Guadalajara Reporter, Saturday, 28 June 2008
Sixteen Lakeside children, 12 from the Lakeside School for the Deaf and Children with Special Needs and four others from the general community, were recently the recipients of new hearing aids provided by the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s “So the World May Hear” world outreach program.
This young lady from the Lakeside School for the Deaf recently received binaural hearing aids from the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s “So the World May Hear” outreach program. She was one of 16 young people from Lakeside who benefitted from the grant. Photo by K. Campo.Debra Fry, an audiologist and a volunteer with the Lakeside School for the Deaf applied for the grant that was accepted on April 23. Citlali Bravo, the school’s audiologist fitted each child with the proper moulds for binaural (one for each ear) hearing aids that were then sent to the foundation for custom manufacture.
The Rotary Club of Jocotepec organized and provided transportation for the 16 kids and their families to Guadalajara .
The Starkey Company manufactures hearing aids. Their outreach program was founded by William F. Austin in 1973. The project has grown to enlist the aid of thousands of volunteers and donors and now provides hearing aids to some 20,000 hearing impaired people each year through 100 hearing missions stretching from the United States to Vietnam.
So the World May Hear comes to Guadalajara each year and the Lakeside School for the Deaf hopes other deaf or hearing impaired students who have returned to their local school districts rather than attending the Lakeside School for the Deaf in Jocotepec will also be helped next year.
Meanwhile, a skilled audiologist at the school will see to the maintenance of the hearing aids already gifted to the students.
To learn more about the project and how you can help, access the Starkey Foundation on the internet. To learn more about the Lakeside School for the Deaf and Children with Special Needs, contact volunteer president Mike Campo at 766-4510 or see lakesideschoolforthedeaf.org.