Winter Newsletter 2012

Winter Newsletter
2012/13
WHO WE
ARE
Saskatoon Office
Board Members
Kristjana Gudmunson
Dale Birley
Pam McConwell
Executive Director
Jerry Markin
Manager of Marketing/
Communications
Kami Harbidge
Exec. Asst./Finance/HR
Anne Websdale
Interpreter
Kristina Haines
Interpreter
Debby Paquin
Vocational Counsellor
Jody Thompson
Vocational Employment/
Youth Worker
Kevin Braun
Community Services
Worker
Lezi Jo Trofimenkoff
Early Childhood/Family
Service Worker
Akane Ricard
Job Coach/Interpreter
Sarah Vermette
Office Coordinator
President
Past President
Director
Paulette Smith
Director
Joanne Weber
Director
Elmer Olson
Treasurer
Marilyn Richardson
Director
Katlyn Forke
Director
Norma Adams
Director
Pamela Rustoen
Director
Allard Thomas
Roger Carver
Regina Office
Leona Ames
Community Services
Worker
Diane Underschultz
Vocational Counsellor
Karen Nurkowski
Interpreter
Maureen Stuart
Interpreter
Sara Carpenado
Office Coordinator
Secretary
Inside this issue:
From the Desk of the Executive Director
Page 4
Happy Holidays
Page 5
Monthly Coffee House Social
Page 6
CHHA Grey Cup Pool and SDHHS Contacts
Page 7
Saskatoon Community Christmas Gathering
Page 8/9
2012 United Way Campaign
Page 10
SDHHS and CHS Assisted Devices
Page 11
Abi Rezai Article
Page 12/13
2013 Job Fair
Page 14
Spring ASL Classes
Page 15
Sponsors and Partnerships
Page 16-19
SDHHS Membership Form
Page 20
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Office at: regina@sdhhs.com
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the SDHHS newsletter,
feel free to contact us at:
regina@sdhhs.com
From the Executive Director’s Desk
I am entering my final year as the Executive Director as I had earlier announced my
retirement, effective next fall. It is bound to become an interesting and challenging year
with major challenges and projects coming up. I have been blessed with a talented and
hard-working staff and a supportive Board. They strongly believe in and subscribe to our
mission, and I couldn’t be prouder of our staff. Sometimes I wonder if we need an Executive
Director; for all intents and purposes, they’re on autopilot and know exactly where and why
they’re going.
The challenges ahead of us will occupy much of our attention and require a change of the
mind-set of our funders and policy-makers in order to bring about improvements in the
Roger J. Carver quality of life of our constituents and correcting misconceptions and myths associated with
Executive Director hearing loss and Deaf and hard of hearing persons. In order to make things happen, we have
to recognize that the problems don’t arise from hearing loss per se but they are systemic in
nature. We have to tackle them at their source. For our young constituents, education and
literacy are the keys that would open up the world for them and lead the way to higher
education and better employment opportunities. Joanne Weber’s recent report on a
community literacy plan sends out a clarion call to the effect Saskatchewan’s policies on
education and early childhood development for deaf and hard of hearing children are in a
dismal state in comparison with other jurisdictions throughout North America and in major
need of overhauling. We have begun shaping our Early Childhood and Family Services in that
direction which, hopefully, would prove to be a good investment for the future.
Another challenge is the dramatic increase in hearing loss rates from 1 in 10 to 1 in five in the
general population. We have to take the lead in developing partnerships with health
authorities, hearing aid practitioners, speech and hearing professionals, and other allied
groups in order to increase awareness and alleviate the effects of hearing loss. We also face
huge geographical and demographical hurdles: Saskatchewan is roughly the same size as
Texas but with just 1/25 of the population (for what it is worth, Texas has an excellent
educational outreach for Deaf and hard of hearing students). Marketing has become a key
strategic objective for SDHHS which would enable us to reach into the farthest corners of the
province. We have taken the first step with the opening of our Communication Devices stores
in both Regina and Saskatoon, and we forecast a brisk business through them.
While SDHHS has other priorities through its existing services which deserve further
nurturing and funding, I will be focused on the above in the time remaining to me, as well as
assisting with the search for my replacement. Consider this my New Year’s Resolution!
Happy New Year and all the best for 2013!
Roger J. Carver
HO, HO, HO!
Wishing you special gifts of this Holiday
Season Peace, Joy and Lasting Happiness
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
from all staff at Saskatchewan
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services
December 2012
Hard of Hearing Association
of Saskatoon Invites
you to our
Monthly
Coffee
When: First Tuesday of the
month beginning Sept 4th
Time: 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Where: Saskatchewan Deaf and
Hard of Hearing Services
House
Social
#3- 511 First Ave North
Are you hard of hearing and are looking for people who have similar
experiences? Come to the Hard of Hearing Associations’ Monthly
Coffee House Social and meet men and women who also have a
hearing loss. Someone may have ideas and suggestions that could
support you and your family in daily living.
Canadian Hard of Hearing Association
Regina and District Branch
Grey Cup Pool November 25th, 2012
Tickets: $2.00 each 2500 Tickets Sold Out!
Congratulations to the Winners!
1st Quarter $100.00 - Jackie Belhumeur - Regina
2nd Quarter$200.00 - Brent Fellner - Regina
3rd Quarter $100.00 - Megan Gray - Regina
4th Quarter $400.00 - G. Sonier - Regina
Us On Facebook www.facebook.com/sdhhsinc
OR
Tweet Us https://twitter.com/SDHHSinc
OR
TEXT US!
REGINA SDHHS: 306-527-3355
SASKATOON SDHHS: 306-229-2010
Thank you for your 2012 Community Christmas
Party Prize Donations!
Affinity Credit Union
MC College Salon & Spas
Alexanders Restaurant
McNally Robinson
Anne Websdale
Moxies
Arthur Rose
Peresphone Theatre
Boston Pizza
Prairieland Bed & Breakfast
Brads Towing
Pure Essentials Gifts & Baskets
Cheese Toast Restaurant 22nd St.
Quinn the Eskimo
Chianti's
Safeway 8th Street
Creative Compliments Fresh Flowers
Sask Research Council
Dawgs
Select Roses
Jody Thompson
Shelly Carver
Kami Harbidge
Sherwood Cheverolet
Krissy Haines
Solar Gardens
Marlene Olson (Mac)
Spa Ahava
Sunsera Salons
Ten Thousand Villages
The Trading Post
It’s YOUR gift that
makes the
season glow!
SDHHS and Saskatoon Association
of the Deaf jointly sponsor a
Community Christmas party !
SDHHS and charity volunteers ring those
phones for the United Way Saskatoon
Telefunding Campaign; November 2012!
A HUGE thank you to our Staff and Board who
participated in the 2012 United Way fundraising!
The Saskatoon Bake sale raised $463.80 and our Raffle
brought in $218.00!
This years’ campaign raised a total of $3,340.00!
Way to go team!
Thank you to those who attended our Open Houses to announce
our recent partnership with The Canadian Hearing Society! We
are excited to be able to offer hands on access to a variety of
Assisted Devices !
Alarm Clocks and Alerting Systems
Amplified Phones
Bluetooth and Listening
Accessories
Personal Amplification
Systems
Phone Accessories
TTY and Accessories
Smoke/Carbon Monoxide
Detectors
Abi Rezai is a stylish kind of guy who wouldn't be shopping for hearing aids if they were still those
bulky, putty-coloured jobs you can spot across a room.
"I wouldn't have them if it was like one of the big ones," he said while being fitted for a second, tiny
behind-the ear hearing aid that all but disappears under his hair.
"Glasses," he pointed out, "can be cool. But with hearing aids, it's not the case."
At 65, Rezai is part of a growing market that hearing aid companies want to cultivate - baby boomers
who find it tricky to follow conversations, particularly in a noisy room, and don't want to sit out the
party.
"I'd say, 'Yes, yes,' but I should be saying no," he laughed.
Rezai got one hearing aid four months ago and liked it enough to recently return to the Vancouver
Hearing Centre to be fitted for his other ear.
"It will never be like a natural ear when I was young, but it is better."
There's no doubt that a lot of people could benefit from hearing aids. Studies in Canada, Europe and the
U.S. have found between 20 and 30 per cent of people over the age of 60 have some hearing loss and
that rises to 40 to 60 per cent in the over-75 age group.
Yet a report earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found only about 20
per cent of people with hearing loss ever get a hearing aid. There are plenty of reasons for that.
For one, they're expensive. A single hearing aid can easily cost from about $1,500 to $3,000 or more
depending on the features. That's almost always an out-of-pocket expense because they are not
covered under medicare, except for children or people on social assistance. Some extended health
plans through unions or the workplace offer limited coverage.
Nor do hearing aids cure a hearing loss; they amplify sound. So for most people who have gradual
hearing loss over a number of years, walking out of the clinic into the blaring traffic can be
overwhelming. Many give up.
Audiologists Sarah Helmel and Celia McDermott of the Vancouver Hearing Centre on Broadway said
they usually adjust a patient's hearing aid to a level that's lower than normal hearing to let them
gradually get used to all the noise they haven't heard in a long time: the sounds of a house, the hum of
the city, the scream of a siren. The devices can be adjusted upward when people are ready.
For University of British Columbia professor John Robinson, 59, the needs of his work left him no choice but to
get a sophisticated hearing aid. He has been deaf in one ear since he was a child so when he found out the
other side was starting to lose some sensitivity, he readily got one.
"It's a big issue when I'm in meetings or giving a lecture or talk," he said after a hearing test with McDermott.
"Some people might feel it's a sign of advanced age, but in my case, I felt I'd better have one good ear."
Even with the hearing aid he still has some trouble making out questions from members of the audience in a
large lecture theatre. That's because hearing aids pick up ambient sound, making crowds the most difficult
situation to navigate. Directional microphones inside the aids can pick up sound from a single direction, for
instance, but can't erase interference from someone coughing or whispering in front of that speaker. While
digital hearing aids can automatically adjust to different environments - a quiet room versus riding the
bus - the results are better than older models, but still not perfect.
Age-related hearing loss usually affects the high-pitched sounds first, in particular the sibilant sounds of
consonants like "s" "f" and "th" and their counterparts in daily life.
"It was a very weird sensation to crumple paper," Robinson said of his first few days with a hearing aid. "These
kinds of sounds were suddenly very audible."
Newer hearing aids are digital and are programmed via a wireless connection to a computer using the
information an audiologist gleans though testing hearing with recorded tones and the spoken word. The
choices of features are complex and the key is to find the right aid for the right person. A younger, gadget
loving user might be keen to have one with a Bluetooth capability for phone calls, for instance. But an 85 year
old with arthritis in her fingers will want something simpler with larger batteries that are easier to handle.
Consumer Reports magazine produced some sobering research in 2009 that said shopping for hearing aids
was tedious, expensive, and fraught with upselling and jargon. It used secret shoppers who later consulted
with audiologists and found about 60 per cent of the hearing aids purchased weren't right for the customer
because they amplified too much or too little. It recommended that customers find a hearing aid dispenser
who's going to spend time with them, find out about their life and why they need a hearing aid, and discuss the
pros and cons of various types and prices. In B.C., both audiologists and hearing instrument practitioners are
allowed to test hearing and fit people with hearing aids. People sometimes start with a specialist like an ear,
nose and throat doctor after being referred by their family doctor. That step is probably not necessary for
age-related hearing loss, called presbycusis, because it doesn't have a treatable medical cause, but is a general
weakening of tiny hairlike nerve cells that sense and transmit sound in the inner ear.
Audiologists have at least a master's degree in audiology - offered at several universities in Canada including
UBC - following an undergraduate degree. Hearing instrument practitioners have two years of training at the
college level. Both fall under the same governing body under the province's Health Professions Act.
Brent Clayson is a Prince George audiologist who sits on the provincial council of the B.C. Association of Speech
Language Pathologists and Audiologists. He said the complexity of options and need for adjustments requires
ongoing interaction between a customer and a professional. Sure, you can buy some decent hearing aids at a
good price online, but will they work the way you want right out of the box? "That's why you want to deal with
someone face-to-face," said Clayson.—Regina Leader Post.
2013 JOB FAIR
For People with Disabilities
Monday, April 8, 2013
12:30 pm — 3:30 pm
University of Regina
3737 Wascana Parkway, Regna
Centre for Kinesiology, Health Sport
Brunch and Learn for Employers:
11:00 am—12:00 pm
Kimberley Ives: Accommodations Made Easy
This Job Fair is exclusively for job seekers living with a disability. It will feature
employers committed to a representative workforce, as well as service providers
with information on accommodations and funding.
Attendant Care and ASL Interpreter will be provided
For more information, please contact: Neil Squire Society at:
306.781.6023 or sk.info@neilsquire.ca
Due to environmental sensitivities, please do not wear perfumes or fragrances while attending
SDHHS SPRING ASL CLASSES REGINA 2013
Registration Deadline & Orientation Night
Date: Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Time: 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p. m
Location: Saskatchewan Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services;
2341 Broad Street, Regina
Commencement of Classes:
Dates: Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 to Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Please Note:
ASL Class Fees

Classes are held once a week

70% attendance is required for
completion

Ages 16 and +

Approximately 12-15 week
Level Three...$180

Interpreting Pre-training
(Units 17-24)
Level One...$150
(Units 1-8)
Level Two...$165
(Units 9-16)
Level Four...$180
For more information call
306.352.3323 or
E mail: regina@sdhhs.com
ASL Textbooks
Level 1, 2, 3: $150
Level 4: $75
Sponsors & Partnerships
Sponsors & Partnerships
Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Inc.
Saskatoon Office
#3– 511 1st Avenue North
Saskatoon, SK S7K1X5
Phone (TTY): (306)665-6575
Fax: (306) 665-7746
Toll Free: 1-800-667-6575
Email: saskatoon@sdhhs.com
Regina Office
2341 Broad Street
Regina, SK S4P 1Y9
Phone (TTY): (306)352-3323
Fax: (306)757-3252
Toll Free: 1-800-565-3323
Email: regina@sdhhs.com
Website: www.sdhhs.com
Membership Fees as follows:
Full Membership: $5.00 Per person per year (Newsletter, discount battery
Organization Membership: $15.00 Per organization or association per year
access to library
program, library services, vote at AGM)
(Newsletter, with duplicating privileges,
services and videos, attendance at AGM – no voting privilege)
Membership Application(Please Print)
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Please support Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. Just fill out the information below and mail in to us.
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