2021 Ear Community Microtia and Atresia Summer Family Picnics
Ear Community hosts picnics every year around the world helping bring Microtia and Atresia families together. This year’s picnics will take place in the United States in Richmond, Virginia/ Mesa, Arizona/ Seattle, Washington/ Beverly Hills, California/ Ann Arbor, Michigan and in Hamilton, Ontario – Canada! It is very exciting for many families! Everyone enjoys attending our picnics and our Ear Community picnics always offer such a wonderful opportunity for Microtia and Atresia families to come together, share experiences with each other, and maybe even make a new friend. Medical professionals such as world renown Microtia and Atresia repair surgeons, anaplastologists, ENTs, audiologists, and therapists along with the world’s leading hearing device and medical device companies all come together to mingle with us at our picnics, helping educate us on all of our options including hearing loss.
*** Due to COVID-19, four of our events will be virtual again this year. We currently have two events scheduled in person as long as state regulations allow for these events to take place based on a low positivity rate for COVID-19 and help with our communities becoming vaccinated. For those events that will take place in-person, our events will take place outdoors (not confined indoors) and be socially distanced with mandatory wearing of masks (unless state guidelines state that masks are no longer mandatory). In addition, we will be limiting contact with our entertainers for extended safety measures (no face painting, but in person magic shows and balloon twisting). Our virtual events will be via Zoom including guest presentations from our Microtia and Atresia medical professionals (plastic surgeons, ENTs, audiologists and anaplastologists). We are super excited and grateful to have the continued support of our Ear Community Sponsors who will be joining us too and educating us on the latest in hearing device technology. ***
A special thank you to our amazing Ear Community Sponsors!
Platinum Sponsor – Cochlear Americas
Gold Sponsor – Oticon Medical
Silver Sponsor – MED-EL USA
*** This year’s Ear Community Zoom events were made possible thanks to our Sponsors! Without the continued support of our sponsors during COVID-19, we would not have been able to bring our Microtia and Atresia families together as we have for the past decade. Ear Community is thankful and appreciates the continued support from our Sponsors during COVID-19! Your support means the world to our community, our families and our medical professionals! ***
We look forward to seeing you at our VIRTUAL Ear Community picnics this year and those that will be in-person!
Melissa Tumblin,
Founder and Executive Director of Ear Community
Founder of the Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook
2021 Ear Community Picnics and Events
Ear Community presents with UNC Chapel Hill
Student Audiology Department
Ear Community presents on Microtia and Aural Atresia and Ally’s Act, H.R. 477/S. 41
Date: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021
Time: 7PM Eastern Time
Ear Community presents with the HLAA
Hearing Loss Association of America (Colorado)
Ear Community presents on Microtia and Aural Atresia and Ally’s Act, H.R. 477/S. 41
Date: Saturday, March 6th, 2021
Time: 11AM Mountain Time
RDLA/Everylife Foundation Webinar
Rare Disease Legislative Awareness presentation
Presentation on Ally’s Act, H.R. 477/S. 41
Presenter: Melissa Tumblin, Ear Community
Date: March 18th, 2021
Time: 12PM Easter Time
Attendance: 400 virtual attendees
Family Voices of Tennessee – PEARS
Ear Community presents on Microtia and Aural Atresia and Ally’s Act, H.R. 477/S. 41
Date: Saturday, March 23rd, 2021
Time: 6:30PM Central Time
Case Western Reserve University
Ear Community presents Ally’s Act during a Federal Policy class on Family Policy
Date: April 20th, 2021
Time: 7:30PM Eastern Time
Ear Community presents with the CAA and the Stanford
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Ear Community is a guest speak with for this regional Microtia and Atresia meeting for audiology students and medical professionals. Also presenting on Ally’s Act, H.R. 477/S. 41
Date: Saturday, May 8th, 2021
Time: 9AM Pacific Time
For more information on this accredited webinar, please click here.
Ontario Ear Community Picnic
Hamilton, Ontario (all Canadian Microtia and Atresia families are welcome)
* Dr. James Bain will join us from McMaster University helping educate us on Microtia repair. Dr. Noel Jabbour of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will also join us to talk about BAI options and Atresiaplasty. We’ll welcome Anaplastologist, David Morrison, from SunnyBrook Health Sciences Center to educate us on the prosthetic ear option for Microtia! We’ll learn about Microtia eyewear from James Hermsen. Our picnic host family is the Stewart Family. We’ll enjoy a virtual comedy show that will surely make us laugh! A special thank you to our hearing device representatives for joining us – Platinum Sponsor Cochlear Americas – Dorota Simpson, Gold Sponsor Oticon Medical – Jennifer Harris and our Silver Sponsor MED-EL USA – Lynn Stephenson.
Date: Saturday, May 15th, 2021, virtually via Zoom Events
Time: 11AM Eastern Time
RSVP for Zoom invite to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com and specify this picnic
California Ear Community Picnic
Beverly Hills, California
* Dr. John Reinisch of Reinisch Plastic Surgery and Dr. Joe Roberson of the California Ear Institute. Paul Tanner will educate us on prosthetic ears. We’ll learn about Microtia eyewear from James Hermsen and we’ll enjoy a virtual comedy show that will surely make us laugh! A special thank you to our hearing device representatives for joining us – Platinum Sponsor Cochlear Americas – Carla Sanchez-Cabanas, Gold Sponsor Oticon Medical – Dina Panopoulos and our Silver Sponsor MED-EL USA – Lynn Stephenson.
Date: Saturday, June 5th, 2021, virtually via Zoom Events
Time: 10AM Pacific Time
RSVP for Zoom invite to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com and specify this picnic
Washington Ear Community Picnic
Seattle, Washington
* Dr. Kathleen Sie and Dr. Amit Bhrany of Seattle Children’s Hospital. Paul Tanner will educate us on prosthetic ears. We’ll learn about Microtia eyewear from James Hermsen and we’ll enjoy a virtual comedy show that will surely make us laugh! A special thank you to our hearing device representatives for joining us – Platinum Sponsor Cochlear Americas – Heather Hook Fabregas, Gold Sponsor Oticon Medical – Michaela Stapp and our Silver Sponsor MED-EL USA – Lynn Stephenson.
Date: Saturday, June, 26th, 2021, virtually via Zoom Events
Time: 10AM Pacific Time
RSVP for Zoom invite to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com and specify this picnic
Michigan Ear Community Picnic
Ann Arbor, Michigan
* Dr. David Zopf of the University of Michigan Medical Center will present on Microtia reconstructive surgery and genetics. We’ll have a guest anaplastologist to speak with us about prosthetic ears and James Hermsen will help us learn about Microtia eyewear. We’ll enjoy a virtual comedy show that will surely make us laugh! A special thank you to our hearing device representatives for joining us – Platinum Sponsor Cochlear Americas – Mary Humitz, Gold Sponsor Oticon Medical – Lisa Reedy and our Silver Sponsor MED-EL USA – Lynn Stephenson.
Date: Saturday, July 24th, 2021, virtually via Zoom Events
Time: 11AM Eastern Time
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com and specify this picnic
Educational Audiology Association
Virtual Conference
Ear Community presents on Microtia & Atresia and Ally’s Act, H.R. 477 and S. 41
* This webinar will be an accredited presentation for audiology professionals.
Presenter: Melissa Tumblin
Date: July 12th, 2021
Virginia Ear Community Picnic
Richmond, Virginia (Henrico county)
* This event is planned to be an in-person event! Our picnic host families will be the Herzing and Logan Families! We’ll have lunch provided with some fun entertainment for everyone! A special thank you to our hearing device representatives for joining us – Platinum Sponsor Cochlear Americas – Martha Schley Smith, Gold Sponsor Oticon Medical – Katie Soltys and our Silver Sponsor MED-EL USA – Lynn Stephenson.
Date: Saturday, October 2nd, 2021
Time: 11AM to 3PM Eastern Time
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com and specify this picnic
Arizona Ear Community Picnic
Mesa, Arizona
* This event is planned to be an in-person event! Our picnic host family will be Kristy, Olivia and Pete Smith! Paul Tanner will educate us on prosthetic ears. We’ll have lunch provided with some fun entertainment for everyone! A special thank you to our hearing device representatives for joining us – Platinum Sponsor Cochlear Americas – TBD, Gold Sponsor Oticon Medical – Michaela Stapp and our Silver Sponsor MED-EL USA – Lynn Stephenson.
Date: Saturday, October 2nd, 2021
Time: 11AM to 3PM Pacific Time
RSVP to Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com and specify this picnic
Oticon Medical Pediatrics Clinical Workshop
Grand Hyatt San Antonio River Walk
Ear Community presents on Microtia and Aural Atresia
Date: Thursday, November 11th – Friday, November 12th
Canadian Ear Community Virtual Picnic
May 15, 2021
Our Canadian Ear Community Microtia and Atresia event took place on Saturday, May 15, 2021 and was amazing! We had nearly 100 people attend our event from all over Canada and everyone learned about all options for Microtia and Aural Atresia! Our event hosts, Cindy (Cynthia Stewart Tattrie) and her son James Stewart, shared their journey with us about James’ outer ear reconstruction and his surgery with his implantable Cochlear Baha 5 Attract hearing device. James reminded all of us of how we are all unique and how important it is to embrace being unique with Microtia and Atresia and to be proud of yourself! Cindy is also an amazing parent, advocate and an Ear Community Board Member! In addition to families joining us, we also had some audiologists, nurses and social workers joining our event so they could be better educated on Microtia and Atresia for the families they help in Canada! There were many positive experiences shared with stories during our event from children wanting ears to have more confidence and feel good about being in pictures to wanting a prosthetic ear on your wedding day! We also heard about great experiences with improved hearing thanks to bone conduction hearing device technology and how hearing your best really does matter!
We were joined by Dr. James Bain of MacMaster University, who is James’ Microtia repair surgeon. Dr. Bain shared with us about the rib graft surgical technique for outer ear reconstruction. Dr. Bain also shared that he has been training on the Medpor technique as well with Dr. John Reinisch! Dr. Bain took the time to still join us even though he was working in the ICU during COVID lock down – thank you for your commitment to these families and our event! Thank you to Dr. Noel Jabbour of the Congenital Ear Center of UPMC at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for joining us and educating us on atresiaplasty and the options for Bone Anchored Implants (BAIs)! Thank you to David Morrison of Sunnybrook Health Science Centre for speaking with us about the prosthetic ear option! Thank you to James Hermsen of Adaptive Eyewhere Solutions for sharing with us the wonderful strap option for helping turn regular eyewear into Microtia eyewear that stays on your head without slipping off when you don’t have an ear or two to hold up glasses!
* Thank you to our Platinum Sponsor Cochlear Canada with Dorota Simpson for educating us on the Baha 5 and Baha 6 Max , including the Osia System!
* Thank you to our Gold Sponsor Oticon Medical Canada with Jennifer Harris for educating us on the Ponto 3SP and Ponto 4!
* Thank you to our Silver Sponsor, MED-EL Canada with Lynn Stephenson for educating us on the ADHEAR and BONEBRIDGE systems!
We also enjoyed some fun virtual entertainment for the kids with Jonathan the Juggler! 
Jonathan performed magic for us, juggled on a unicycle and made a bunny appear!
Our host, Cindy Stewart, organized a fund raiser for Ear Community and also had some beautiful Microtia and Atresia t-shirts made in collaboration with Pryintz Custom Printing To order these beautiful shirts at the Pryintz website, type in Microtia. Not all shirts are set as different colours, but if you email Pryintz directly to pryintz@gmail.com Michelle will let you know if it can be changed. Proceeds from t-shirt sales will go to our Ear Community Organization!
Kelly”Here is a news clip from our 2018 Hamilton, Ontario Canada Ear Community picnic.
California Ear Community Virtual Picnic
June 5th, 2021
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Washington Ear Community Virtual Picnic
June 26th, 2021
Michigan Ear Community Virtual Picnic
July 24th, 2021
Virginia Ear Community Virtual Picnic
October 2nd, 2021
Our Virginia picnic was hosted by Mazie Herzing and Ella Logan and their families (both were born with Microtia and Atresia). Mazie Herzing is also a Baha recipient through our Ear Community Organization when their private insurer in Virginia denied her a Baha four years ago! We had (3) Ear Community Board Members join us on our special day (Angela Zabel_ – past board member), Rachel Bernhard and Shannon Culbertson. We also had (2) of our support group admins in attendance too! (Kasi Logan and Erin McNally).
Ear Community’s amazing sponsors educated us on bone conduction hearing devices –
Thank you to Cochlear Americas for educating us on Baha 6 Max and the Osia System.
Thank you to MED-EL for educating us on ADHEAR and the BONECBRIDGE System.
Ear Community families also filled out (60) Ally’s Act, H.R. 477/S. 41 letters that were mailed to their local lawmakers in Virginia asking them to co-sponsor our bill! We had LOTS of audiologists at our picnic too, including from UNC Chapel Hill Audiology. Ear Community’s Founder, Melissa Tumblin, also provided updates on what our organization has been working on in regards to helping families, genetics, legislation and some exciting news for National Microtia and Atresia Awareness Day! A special thank you to Jonathan Austin Jonathan Austin’s 24 Hour Emergency Juggling and Magic for entertaining all of us, making us laugh and for making our special day even more special!
Arizona Ear Community Virtual Picnic
October 2nd, 2021
We had a wonderful time at our Arizona Ear Community Microtia and Atresia picnic on October 2nd! It was a beautiful day for Microtia and Atresia families to come together to mingle and learn about all of their options! We had families join us from Arizona, Utah and North Carolina!
A special thank you to the Smith Family for hosting our special day! Kristy, Pete and Olivia Smith have been very involved with our Ear Community Organization ever since sweet Olivia was born with one little ear! In addition Kristy being an Ear Community Board Member, she leads the HLAA Walk4Hearing team for Arizona Microtia families each year, supporting both nonprofit organizations! Kristy Smith is an amazing advocate and supporter to our community along with Olivia by her side! A special thank you to Paul Tanner for helping educate about the prosthetic ear option! Paul makes beautiful prosthesis! Thank you to Abbey from Adaptive Eyewear Solutions for being with us to educate about eyewear for Microtia kids! Families enjoyed lunch and enjoyed a fun magic show by Christopher the Magician and balloon twisting by Arizona Rick!
