Transcription
A MAGAZINE FOR THE COMMUNITYFA L L 2 0 1 7Fun in the Summertime!Holley Institute Summer Programs Make the Most of the Season!Hearing Loss Association of America - page 5Stories of Impact/Outcome - page 9Meet Mary Gladstone-Highland - page 9
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEBOARD CHAIR’S MESSAGE2017 Board of DirectorsDaniel DJ Megler, MD - ChairSean D. Gardella - Vice ChairSally A. Cytacki - SecretaryTimothy J. Grajewski - TreasurerArdis J. Gardella, President - Ex-OfficioWilliam J. Rice, MD, FACS, Vice President- Ex-OfficioRobert E. Hoban, President, SJH&MC Ex-OfficioPenelope A. Barker, DO, FACOICaprice W.W. BaunDennis I Bojrab, MDFrank L. CampanaleRichard A. CasteJennifer S. ChopeJudith Dallaire ChristianRev. Michael Depcik, OSFSAlicia C. KrallFrank A. Nesi, MD, FASOPRSJohn S. SchererMelodie T. SchererMark R. Weber, Ph.D.Honorary andFounding BoardJohn J. AheeMarlene L. BollTy Damon IIWade R. EdwardsKid Black FedioElizabeth Ann GarberdingChristopher HunterMary L. LamparterJanet M. LoehrMichael A. McIlroy, MDRev. Kenneth McKenna, OSFSEdward J. Russell IIITheresa A. SelvaggioDavid G. SilwesterMaryAnn Van ElslanderJacqueline A. Wetherholt, CSJPamela A. Wong2 FA L L 2 0 1 7FA L L 2 0 1 7 3
The Carls’ Family Village DedicationOn July 12, 2017, The Carls FamilyVillage invited Elizabeth Stieg whois an Executive Director of the CarlsFoundation to the village for “The CarlsFamily Village Dedication” event duringthe Family Week I. After the blessing byRev. Michael Depcik, they hosted a lunchceremony and said “thank you” for thegenerous donation.The Carls Family Village quoted, “Thank you CarlsFoundation for supporting the Deaf community andfor giving to the village and future by growing ourendowment.The campers gave her unique gifts.OField Trip Day!Senate Passes the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017Bringing Affordable and Accessible Hearing Helath Care Closer to RealityWritten By Barbara Kelley, Executive DirectorBethesda, MD: The U.S. Senate today passed the Overthe-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017. The bill was alreadypassed by the House of Representatives on July 12. Withthis groundbreaking legislation Congress has sent amessage to America that people with hearing loss need– and deserve – more affordable and accessible hearinghealth care.Kelley continued, “Our consumer voices are powerful.HLAA has led the way for affordable and accessible hearinghealth care and applauds this historic effort. While it couldtake several years before the first products come to marketwe feel it’s important for the FDA to take the time theyneed to write regulations to ensure safety, efficacy andconsumer protection.The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) hassupported the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act since itwas introduced in the Senate by Elizabeth Warren (DMA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in March of this year. Thecompanion House bill was introduced by RepresentativesJoe Kennedy III (D-MA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).“Senators Warren and Grassley and RepresentativesKennedy and Blackburn – among many others – haveworked tirelessly to ensure passage of this bill,” saidBarbara Kelley, HLAA executive director. “It is no secretthat passing any type of legislation can many times be along and laborious process because of party disagreements.However, this bill has moved quickly through Congressbecause both sides of the aisle realize how criticallyimportant and badly needed affordable and accessiblehearing health care is to consumers.”“For years, our number one request has been frompeople who want hearing aids but can’t afford them.This legislation is a step in the right direction and offershope that the cost of all hearing aids will go down withthe anticipated market innovation and competition it willbring. Everyone who needs hearing aids should be able tohave them to stay connected to family, remain on the job,and enjoy a high quality of life.”The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017 wouldmake certain types of hearing aids available over thecounter to adults with mild to moderate hearing loss.In addition, the proposed legislation would require theFood and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate this newcategory of OTC hearing aids to ensure they meet thesame high standards for safety, consumer labeling andmanufacturing protection that all other medical devicesmust meet. This will give consumers the option to purchasea safe, high-quality FDA-regulated device at lower cost.Creating a new category of OTC hearing devices wasone of the 12 recommendations in the report, HearingHealth Care for Adults: Priorities for Improving Accessand Affordability, issued by the National Academies ofSciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) in June 2016,which HLAA fully supported.n a field trip to the village on January13, 2017, Ardis Gardella and AlexaCraig re-collaborated with theBunche Preparatory Academy in Detroit.On June 5th, 2017, The Carls Family Villagewelcomed the Deaf & Hard of Hearingstudents and staff of Bunche PreparatoryAcademy, a part of Detroit Public SchoolsCommunity District, to a day of fun!While there, they toured the campus,enjoyed the company of camp counselorsand other staff members; shared lunchtogether in the dining room, had ice creamtreats, and played outside in the sunshineuntil it was time to leave. This was a greatopportunity for the kids and adults toenjoy the Carls Family Village experience.Since this new category has not yet been created it isunclear how the devices will be defined. However, theyshould not be confused with products already on themarket called PSAPs (Personal Sound AmplificationProducts). PSAPs cannot legally be marketed to peoplewith hearing loss as a “hearing aid,” only to those withnormal hearing as an amplification device.4 FA L L 2 0 1 7Now that the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017has been passed by both the House and Senate it will go tothe president to sign into law. Once the bill is signed intolaw it will go to the FDA, who will begin drafting the rulesand regulations for it. While the FDA has three years tocomplete that process we are hopeful that it will be donemuch sooner.Don’t Wait to Get Your Hearing CheckedIf you think you have a hearing loss, do not wait for overthe-counter hearing aids to come to market. First, therewill be an extended rulemaking period where anyonecan comment after which the FDA has to evaluate anddecide on the standards for an OTC device. Second, noteveryone will be able to get help from an OTC device. HLAArecommends seeing an audiologist or hearing instrumentspecialist if you are having trouble on the phone, askingothers to repeat, turning up the volume on your television,or showing other warning signs. Untreated hearing loss cancause falls, isolation, depression, anxiety, and it has beenshown that there is a link to cognition. Hearing loss shouldbe prevented, screened for, and treated without delay.HLAA has been working diligently with lawmakers to havethe consumer voice heard. We are currently working withthe FDA on labeling of OTC products, product safety andconsumer protection. The future of hearing health careis changing, allowing people to make informed choices.HLAA will ensure consumers have unbiased and factualinformation and updates about new products, regulations,and legislation as they develop.Sources: Hearing Loss Association of America and Hearing HealthFoundationFA L L 2 0 1 7 5
Meet Paul Kozakago they closed the program.) In 1998, my family decidedto attend the St. John Deaf Center in Warren, which was a45 minute commute to and from home every Sunday.In 2003, one of the church members told my parents aboutThe Holley Family Village. (Changed to The Carls FamilyVillage in 2017) my parents knew nothing of it and decidedto sign up for one of their programs called the family week.We have attended the family week program every summeruntil 2009; my parents and my sister had always made it asummer destination. We loved every moment of it; I havegone to a couple of other programs throughout 2003 to2011 such as the ACORN Art and Drama week, the YouthLeadership Week, and the Youth Catholic Week.During those summers, I loved being with otherparticipators and other families, it’s a tremendous benefitto our families and others because the family weekprogram allows their children and myself to be just kids,to be free without constraint, parents are allowed to bethemselves as well. By sharing their ideas, methods, ways,stories with others parents can constantly learn from eachother. There’s so much you can learn so much from theother 11 families within the program every single year.IPaul Kozak and Damon Steinhave been Deaf since birth in 1995. To this day, thereason why I’m Deaf is still unknown, we knew fromtesting it was not in our DNA. My family and I havenever let Deafness hinder me; it doesn’t matter to me thatmy entire family is hearing, they already put themselvesabove and beyond in my eyes by rejecting the notion ofa cochlear implant. They explained to the doctors, “it’s agift from God and we shall accept the beautiful gift” theyresearched about the subject themselves, found a way tolearn the sign language to communicate with me, and tothis day are still eager about learning facets of the DeafCommunity, its rich history, and culture, and AmericanSign Language.With my parents’ motivation, I was encouraged to findmy identity. I started to constantly learn about the DeafCommunity, and it’s dynamic culture. My parents sent meto the Deaf program at the Dearborn school (a few yearsNot only that, we were able to interact with some amazingcounselors, every year the directors hired amazingindividuals so diverse was the group of counselors and itwas comforting to see everyone was encumbered withtheir own unique backgrounds. One thing they all share inthe common is that they all are proud to be Deaf. Whichechoed my mom’s words to me that she said all the time“You are Deaf, Be proud.” Those counselors become rolemodels to us as children and even the parents as well.They learn from those counselors what it is like to be Deaf,giving some amazing tips and insights of how our parentsare supposed to raise their children. Sure, every parent’smethods of how to raise their child are different; no one istotally wrong, or right in their methodology. After all, theone thing that is important is to be true to yourself andallow your children to reach their fullest capabilities, in thatregard, you have to work with your children and don’t lettheir Deafness become their obstacle.That amazing groups of counselors are what made mewant to return every year, I just knew I wanted to be one6 FA L L 2 0 1 7of them; I want to be amazing just like them. So in 2010when I was no longer able to participate in Family Weeks, Idecided to return as a counselor in training.realized what my true motivations were, why I kept comingback there, it was and is because of those families, and thatI wanted to be able to create new experiences for thosefamilies to enjoy. As a result of my reflections, ultimately Idecided to take the offer and become the director.Over the next five summers at the village as a counselor,my desires to be just like the awesome counselors I hadgrown with had finally come true. Every year, we got toBeing one of the Directors presented me with a scope ofwork with a variety of interesting people, including onenew challenges I have never thought I would be performingof my best friends from high school; it all was part of ourin my life. With our other amazing co-director, we camerather interesting experiences. I never thought I would beup with tons of ideas; we got to hire another season’sseeing how those families came developed. I got to knowworth ofamazing counselors. In the end, the familieswho those families are, in some ways, wewho attended said they’re the besthelped the families and ourselvesthey had seen in years here. Welearn from each other. Being abledesigned the shirts and decidedto be with them during the week,on the color purple, which isBeing one of theit gave me a lot of insights intoand will be always a great colorwhy I want to be a social worker.choice!Directors presented meThose counselors, being able towith a scope of newplay with the families, and at theWe also got to come up withsame time providing support andchallenges I have neverthe schedule of events for theadvocating within or betweensession. There was a ton ofthought I would bethose families with us really was afreedom in what we could doperforming in my life.driving force.with the program. We decidedto stick with the traditionalMemorably, one morning duringmovements of the family weekthe early years of being a counselorschedule and tossed in some newduring the flag raising where we raiseideas we came up with using ourthe US Flag and perform the Pledgeexperiences as participators around 15of Allegiance. I then realized, after allyears ago. One of those amazing ideas that my cothose times, it is actually beautifuldirector came up with was giving the parents a groupthat one day those kids could bename, in all of the 20 or so summers with this programcounselors, they could end up with families themselves,parents were never granted a group name. Parents lovedone summer, and they could be directors for this program.the concept so much. Another amazing idea, a 6-teamEvery single kid went to the program, they have a brightcapture the flag called “conquer the world” the familiesfuture because of how tirelessly their parents worked andloved it! As a co-director we have to work closely withhave given tremendous support to their children. Theysenior programs director and each other, we work quickly,didn’t give up; they kept coming back because they lovemaking sure everything goes well, often going to bed afterthe village, they love to learn; they love to see their kidsmidnight, and waking up at 7 in the morning with coffee orlooking up to their counselors and having role models.hot tea in our hands. Thanks to those
Penelope A. Barker, DO, FACOI Caprice W.W. Baun Dennis I Bojrab, MD Frank L. Campanale Richard A. Caste Jennifer S. Chope Judith Dallaire Christian Rev. Michael Depcik, OSFS Alicia C. Krall Frank A. Nesi, MD, FASOPRS John S. Scherer Melodie T. Scherer Mark R. Weber, Ph.D. Honorary and Founding Board John J. Ahee Marlene L. Boll Ty Damon II Wade R. Edwards Kid Black Fedio Elizabeth Ann .
