Serving
San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange Counties
Hearing Loss Network
Information
and Services for Hard of Hearing and Late-Deafened People, and their Families
and Friends
|
Serving
San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange Counties
|
|
|
Hearing Loss Network |
|||||||||
|
Information
and Services for Hard of Hearing and Late-Deafened People, and their Families
and Friends
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Combined Monthly Meeting with ALDA - 2008 People sometimes ask me which are good meetings for a new person to attend, and I always give the same reply - the next one! We realize that it's often hard to attend your first meeting, but we promise you'll be happy you did. And if you put it off, when you finally do attend you'll be kicking your self for all the great meetings you could have attended, but didn't. As you can see in the following schedule we do a variety of things throughout the year. But we always make sure to allow time to socialize; we believe that getting to know others with hearing loss is the single best thing a person with hearing loss can do for herself! We began the meeting with nominations for officers for 2008. We had a lot of nominations and will have to check with the folks who weren't in attendance to see if they are interested in serving. Once we've determined who is interested in running for which offices, we'll get a list out to everyone. The next order of business was to encourage everyone to join ALDA San Diego for 2008. Our dues are still $10 for individuals or couples - really one of the great deals around! We had eight people pay their 2008 dues, and several more said they would pay them next month. We took a break and had some social time and some goodies. The goodies included a birthday cake in honor of Char and Jesse. As the chef who poured the cake mix out of the box, I have to say it was the best I ever made! ;-) We also had some great cookies, but I never learned who made those. The next topic was the programs that people would like to see in 2008. People mentioned several "golden oldies" as well as some new ideas. Suggestions included the police department, the fire department, the telephone access program, hearing dogs, speechreading, coping strategies and skills, sign classes, activities with DayTrippers, and a "Get Acquainted" day. Jane volunteered to put together some ideas for speechreading practice, and TJ Barnes suggested that we involve some SDSU students. Ann volunteered to put together some "Get Acquainted" ideas. We ended the meeting
by viewing part of a DVD on last year's ALDAcon. Most of our members have
never attended the ALDA national convention, and people were really interested
in learning more about it. The Karaoke Party was especially compelling! We had a really great meeting today! We were so happy to have three students from the SDSU Audiology Doctorate program in attendance, and we devoted the first half of the meeting to a very open and wide-ranging discussion with them. Topics included their education, how to select a hearing aid, what people want from audiologists, online hearing aids, the use of assistive listening devices, and lots more that I can't remember right now. The students and several ALDAns continued their discussions during the break, and some even continued after the meeting! So it was a really interesting topic to so many of us. After the break, a few ALDAns told their stories, and that started another discussion, which we had to cut off so we could finish the chapter business. Iris told the group about her project to generate some media interest in our group and on hearing loss and its effect on peoples' lives. She will be publicizing some of our future activities, and would like to be able to personalize these notices a bit. So she asked for people to send her their stories, or incidents they've experienced that reveal some of the difficulties caused by hearing loss, or whatever else might help personalize the her articles. Contributors can remain anonymous if they wish. If you want to know more about this or submit something, please email it to Iris at irisandben@san.rr.com We held the election
of officers, for which we had taken nominations last month. The new slate
of officers is: Next we talked about the recent efforts to organizes an outing to the Reuben Fleet IMAX theater's captioned showing. We decided that we would like to attend a captioned showing, that we would also like to organize additional social activities, and that these social activities should be in addition to, rather than in place of, our regular meetings. We don't have any "officially" designated to lead this effort, and we probably need someone to take that on. So please let me know if you'd like to do that. Additional discussion topics included the pending transition to digital television, the cool lunar eclipse we can view if it's clear Wednesday evening, and the March program, which will feature Roberta Smith from the California Telephone Access Program. Did I mention that it was a great meeting? We were privileged to have Roberta Smith from the California Telecommunications Access Program as our presenter today. She is a very entertaining and engaging speaker, and gave us a wealth of great information about all the telephone equipment and accessories that are available at no cost to folks with hearing loss. She really focused on the new equipment, which includes amplified phones with greater amplification, a cordless phone that is available to people with hearing loss ONLY (previously required both hearing loss and mobility restrictions), and speaking phones that may be appropriate for people with both hearing and vision loss. We also discussed the new Web CapTel services available from Hamilton and Sprint. These services provide captioned telephone calls to anyone with an Internet-connected device and any telephone. Several of our members have already used this service, and offered raving reviews! Here are the links
for those who would like to try/use the service. Note that it is a free
service, and open to anyone with hearing loss! Next month we'll be
having a group discussion of hearing loss issues, and in May we'll have
a speaker from the FCC to discuss the transition to Digital television
(DTV) that will be happening in February of next year! We've been trying to schedule a group discussion on Coping with Hearing Loss for several months now, and have chosen the April meeting for this program. We haven't had one of these in awhile, so everyone had a lot to say! Topics included how to deal with various hearing situations, assistive devices, and how to make the general public more aware of the challenges of hearing loss. As always, we also had wonderful goodies and some social time for more individual conversations. The speaker at the May meeting was Margaret Egler from the FCC. Her topic was the coming transition to digital television in February of 2009, and how people can prepare for it. She also addressed the question of what the transition means for captions, and she demonstrated a digital television receiving the over-the-air Channel 8 broadcast, and also an analog television receiving the same broadcast using one of the digital to analog converter boxes. Note that virtually all television stations are currently broadcasting in digital, so people who have digital television sets can use the technology now. The significance of February 17, 2009 is that is the day analog broadcasts will end. So after that date, everyone will need the capability to handle digital broadcasts in order to watch television. There are three ways to prepare for the digital transition: 1. Use a digital television set. Most sets sold in the past couple of years contain digital tuners, so if you have one of those, you're all set. Note that you do NOT need an HDTV (high definition television) set; SDTV (standard definition television) sets will work just fine. 2. Use a cable or satellite service. If you are or will be hooked up to one of these, it is the responsibility of the cable or satellite service to provide what you need to receive television broadcasts, regardless of the type of television you have (digital or analog). You may have to buy or rent a converter box, but the box must be provided by your cable or satellite company. 3. If you will receive your television signal over the air and have an analog television. You MUST have a digital to analog converter box to receive the television signal after February 17, 2009. These boxes are available from many stores that sell audio/video equipment, both brick and mortar stores and those on the Internet. The boxes are generally priced between $49 and $70, and the federal government will provide each household in the US with two coupons, each worth $40 towards the purchase of a converter box. For more information, point your browser to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ This was a really important presentation, and really helped get the attendees ready for the transition in February of next year. Following the presentation, we had some refreshments and social time, and then reconvened for discussion, announcements, and meeting new members! Jerome Paquette and hearing dog Suede were the center of attention for today's meeting. Jerome did most of the presenting while Suede made himself at home by meeting our members, being petted, and modeling good hearing dog behavior. Suede was trained by the folks at Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), who train all kinds of assistance dogs. In addition to hearing dogs, they also train assistance dogs for people in wheelchairs and facility dogs (for schools, hospitals, etc), and companion dogs. Dogs are raised to a year and a half by volunteers. Their job is socialization and early behavioral training. The volunteers assume total responsibility for these dogs, including all financial requirements. At the age of 1.5 years, the dogs are turned over to CCI for 6 months of dog college. Dogs are initially trained for wheelchair assistance. Those who fail that training are then directed to other assistance assignments, including hearing dogs. Only 30% of dogs succeed in being placed as assistance dogs. Qualifying for a dog includes demonstrating need (hearing loss), the capacity to work with the dog, and the capability to care for it. People who are selected to receive dogs spend two weeks being trained at the CCI facility, before being presented with their hearing dog. Jerome explained that, in addition to performing his duties as a hearing dog, Suede had also given him more confidence and improved his social life. Jerome and Suede are a great team, and wonderful CCI ambassadors! It sorta makes me wonder why more people with hearing loss don't have hearing dogs??? Of course, we also had coffee, tea, cookies, etc. and lots of social time! We had a very interesting meeting today, with a "double whammy" of presentations. First we had Deb McClendon and Char Sivertson talk about their pending cochlear implant surgery. (Both will be implanted Monday!) Deb had one of the early implants in 1985, and it lasted only six months. She then had an implant in her other ear a few years ago, and Monday she will have the 1985 implant removed and will be reimplanted with current technology. Char has been qualified for an implant and has been considering one for several years, and has finally decided to just go ahead and do it. She's nervous about the operation, of course, but looking forward to being able to understand speech better. Several audience members with cochlear implants added their thoughts during the discussions. It was a great discussion. After a break for coffee, tea, cookies, etc., Bonnie Eggert and Bill Zitrin discussed their recent trip to Vancouver, BC to attend the conference of the International Federation of the Hard of Hearing (IFHOH). This international organization holds its conference every four years, and this was the first time it has been held in North America! Bonnie commented that they had a wonderful time and met many people from other countries. She discussed a workshop she attended on a new type of communication that is a cross between a traditional voice phone call and text messaging. The folks communicating use text, but communicate in real time, just as people do in a voice call. This is much more natural than current text messaging, in which each message from one person to the other is a separate event. The system will undergo testing in the Netherlands this summer, and we're hoping to see it commercially available soon. Then Bill talked about a workshop he attended on emergency planning. He offered a detailed list of suggestions, some of which were generally applicable, and some which were specific to people with hearing loss. Suggestions included having all important papers in a strongbox, having hearing loss equipment (including spare batteries, chargers, etc.) organized and ready to go, having supplies for your pets assembled, etc. An interesting discussion ensued, and people indicated an interest in additional information on this important topic. During the Emergency
Planning discussion, Jan Jensen mentioned that she had been working with
the County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services to ensure that their
planning included people with hearing loss, and a few group members indicated
an interest in being part of those discussions! We're very excited to have a presentation on emergency planning this month. There was so much interest in this topic when Bill reported on a workshop he had attended last month that we decided to have a full presentation soon. And because fire season will soon be here (and did you feel the earthquake?), the August meeting seemed like the perfect time. Bill and Jan Jensen will present, and they have a wealth of great material and suggestions for how to be ready for our next emergency! We will have our Annual Picnic and BBQ at the September meeting. We have a variety of acivities in addition to some wonderful food. It seems like the weather always cooperates for this event, and we are able to play outside, as well as inside! TBD We will have our Thanksgiving Potluck in November! This is always a great meeting, with lots of wonderful food and lots of time to chat. We will have our Holiday Celebration, White Elephant gift exchange and CAROLING! If you've never participated in a White Elephant gift exchange you've been missing an exciting new experience! And if you haven't heard this group sing, you're REALLY missing something.! Those who have attended our holiday celebrations in the past know to turn off their hearing aids , bring earplugs, or do whatever else they can do to protect themselves from the truly horrible sounds we produce ;-) Oh, yeah, and lots of holiday goodies! |
|
|
|
© Copyright 2003
Hearing Loss Network, All Rights Reserved
|