FOLLOW-UP ON HEARING AIDS

Dr. Gene Bukowski is a member of IDEA’s board of directors back in Montana.  For many years he has worked closely with Dennis Drake to further the cause of providing hearing aids to IDEA’s deaf children.  It was because of Dr. Gene that Starkey Hearing Foundation was introduced to the work of IDEA in the Philippines eventually culminating in the giveaway of nearly 2000 hearing aids this last November in Bohol.   We were so happy to welcome Dr. Gene here again this March when he came over for 10 days to follow-up on the more than 260 deaf children in the IDEA / DepEd classrooms that were fit with Starkey hearing aids.  In that short time he replaced problem aids, fine-tuned all the aids, and fit aids on kids that had missed out during the Starkey Bohol Mission.  Dr. Gene also able to bring over a new laptop and software for adjusting digital hearing aids and trained Jopeth, IDEA’s nurse,  in the use of this technology.  This equipment is a huge boost and moves IDEA’s Bohol Hearing Aid Center one step closer to being able to truly serve the island of Bohol and provide inexpensive aids to all those who need them.  On behalf of all of IDEA’s deaf children and deaf adults, thank you Dr. Gene and also a big thanks to CBM New Zealand for helping make this technology and training available to us.  CBM is a wonderful non-profit organization serving children and adults with disabilities around the world.  They have been partnering with IDEA Philippines for almost 20 years and continue to play a huge role in the development of our hearing aid program in Bohol as well as almost every other aspect of IDEA’s work in the Philippines.

Dr. Gene is testing the hearing of Walter, a deaf and blind young man who works for IDEA Philippines cleaning outdoor tables, sanding wood in the shop, and washing the IDEA bus..