ESCONDIDO–During the month of May, Palomar Medical Center and Pomerado Hospital are collecting used hearing aids to they can be reconditioned and given to people around the world with hearing loss.
It’s part of a program called “So the World May Hear,” and it marks Better Speech and Hearing Month. This program recycles donated hearing aids and fits more than 100,000 hearing aids annually to children and adults throughout the U.S. and in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Palomar Health’s Chief of Audiology, David M. Illich, Au.D is spearheading the hearing aid drive and he has been on many missions around the world to help people hear—many for the first time ever.
“Hearing is your main intellectual and cognitive sense,” says Dr. Illich, “And there’s nothing more important in life than communicating with your family and friends.”
Dr. Illich points out that there are more than 36-million people in the world with debilitating hearing loss and fewer than three-percent of them have any kind of medical care or hearing care.
“Our goal is to help one-million people worldwide by the year 2020 and we are already at 650,000,” Dr. Illich says. “If you, a loved one, or friend have hearing instruments that are no longer being used, whether they are working or not, we invite you to donate them, so that together we may help the world hear.”
In fact, Dr. Illich says that they can use each and every part of a used hearing aid, “no matter how broken it is.”
Hearing aids will be collected at Palomar Medical Center, 2185 Citracado Parkway in Escondido and Pomerado Hospital, 15615 Pomerado Road in Poway.
In an effort to spread awareness and understanding of impaired hearing conditions Dr. Illich, regularly holds free classes, seminars and lectures on hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). His next class is June 6 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Pomerado Hospital Outpatient Pavilion Classroom. To register for this class, visit PalomarHealth.org/Classes, or call (800) 628-2880.
