Saturday, June 16th saw the culmination of a week-long mission with the Starkey Hearing Foundation providing free hearing aids and batteries for life to Vincentians in need.
This initiative was the brainchild of the Rotary Club of St. Vincent South, who reached out to Starkey upon learning of their hearing missions in other countries.
The Rotary Club of St. Vincent South had met with visiting representatives of Starkey on several occasions to organize the mission, and to also meet with the Ministry of Health to obtain their assistance by way of resources of personnel and venues.
The mission saw approximately 33 Starkey team members, comprising American and regional staff, providing assistance into the various aspects of the mission.
The initial phase provided training over a 2-day period for 40 Vincentian nurses and volunteers in assessing, testing, fitting, educating and counselling the hearing-impaired.
On mission day, antibiotics were also prescribed for those with ear infections.
The venue for mission day was the Arnos Vale hard courts, where over 180 hearing-impaired persons from across the nation were fitted with free hearing aids and batteries for life.
President of the Rotary Club of St. Vincent South said ‘We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, and are truly blessed to be a part of this experience.’
The Starkey Hearing Foundation will be returning in the future to follow up with current patients and to continue their mission here.
Rotary South continues its mission to provide service to its communities in an effort to improve the lives of those who are disadvantaged and unfortunate.
“We have other ambitious projects in mind for the future, but we need more volunteers to realise these dreams. We would encourage anyone who has a passion and commitment for helping those in need to reach out to us and become a Rotarian”, said President Kim.
The Starkey Hearing Foundation is headquartered in Minnesota, USA, and is owned by Mr. Bill Austin, who believes his purpose is to provide ‘the gift of hearing’ to those with hearing impediments and who are unable to afford the ongoing expense of hearing aids and batteries.