|
ReSound, the technology leader in hearing aid solutions, has partnered with the Foundation for Sight & Sound to provide hearing aids to Americans in need via its Help America Hear program.
In most states, Medicare and Medicaid do not pay for hearing aids and neither do many insurance companies. Help America Hear was created in 2009 to help hearing impaired individuals with limited financial resources. Since then, 130 patients have received hearing aids through the program.
"There's a lot of great charity work being done abroad," said Mitch Shapiro, president of the Foundation for Sight & Sound, "but so little here on American soil. Our partnership with ReSound is really a grass roots initiative to get hearing aids to those people that cannot afford to buy them."
Help America Hear relies on pro bono work from hearing professionals, whether it is participating in mission trips, fitting individuals with donated ReSound hearing aids or simply nominating eligible patients for assistance.
To receive a hearing aid through Help America Hear, the individual must undergo a thorough screening process to ensure that all financial resources have been explored and exhausted. Shapiro interviews each candidate himself, reviews check book statements to determine spending habits and requires the candidate to sign an affidavit stating that Help America Hear is a last resort.
"I feel blessed to have been given this opportunity to hear again," said Ora Johnson, of Dothan, AL, who was fitted with two ReSound hearing aids in December 2010. "This Christmas, I got the best gift of all - the gift of sound."
For more information: www.gnresound.com/helpamericahear.
|