Treating the Person

My wife and I are very active in our local ALDA (Association of Late Deafened Adults - http://www.alda.org) group. We got involved because we were looking for help with her hearing loss and related issues, and ALDA has made a huge difference in our lives. That's the reason I get so depressed when new people show up at one of our meetings!

Don't get me wrong - it's wonderful that they found us, and I have no doubt that hooking up with an ALDA group will make a huge difference in how they deal with their hearing loss issues. That's the wonderful part. The depressing part is that they've often had significant hearing loss and worn hearing aids for 20 years or more, and they just now learned about ALDA. Not only did they not know about the various support groups that could help them, they often didn't know about free amplified telephones or TTYs, assistive listening devices, captioned movies, or even that their television set has captions! Many claim to have never met another person with hearing loss!

The only thing they know about is hearing aids. They've been wearing them for 20 years or more, and they've purchased several pairs in that time. Think about how much better their lives would be today if they had taken advantage of some available resources 20 years ago . . . . . or ten . . . . . or even five.

I know that many of you try to educate your patients about various resources, and sometimes they don't want to hear about it. And I know that sometimes you're just too busy to spend the time to educate them. But I also know the isolation that so often results when your patients are uninformed - whatever the reason.

If you could provide each of your patients with information that will help them lead more fulfilling and productive lives, and if you could do it at virtually no cost in money or time, wouldn't you commit to doing that?

Well, the fact is that you can!

Hearing Loss Network provides a "Coping with Hearing Loss Information Sheet" that directs your patients to the resources they need. You'll find it in our online library (http://www.hearinglossnetwork.org/serv/out/docs/docs.htm). Please download, copy and distribute it.

While you're there, why not grab a copy of the "Communications Tips Sheet" as well? Note that this is a two-sided sheet with tips for a person with hearing loss on one side and tips for a hearing person on the other. Please copy and distribute that, as well.

These flyers won't take the place of the time you devote to patient education in your office; words on a page don't invoke the trust your patients have in your experience and judgment. But just maybe, after they get home and kick back and think about their day, they'll remember those papers you gave them, and they'll make a call or visit a website. And then they'll thank you for treating the person rather than the hearing loss.