I would like to thank OTICON MEDICAL for sponsoring our 1st Microtia and Atresia Family Summer Picnic in Toronto through Ear Community and the Microtia and Atresia Support Group.  I am honored and thankful for your support and in helping me bring together families with children and adults who have Microtia/Atresia, Hemifacial Microsomia, Goldenhar Syndrome, and Treacher Collins.  Thank you for your kindness and compassion in helping bring families together and in helping educate them about hearing loss.

Sincerely,
Melissa Tumblin
Founder of Ear Community and the Microtia and Atresia Support Group

Hello Everyone!
On Wednesday, February 1, 2012 the new EarCommunity.org website launched and on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 the press release went out announcing the launch of EarCommunity.org Below are just some of the news wire resources who announced Ear Community:
Yahoo Finance:
Link no longer available, but may be archived.

Market Watch:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/earcommunitycom-is-first-to-offer-support-and-resources-for-individuals-and-families-living-with-microtia-and-aural-atresia-2012-02-08

Street Insider:
http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/EarCommunity.org+Is+First+to+Offer+Support+and+Resources+for+Individuals+and+Families+Living+with+Microtia+and+Aural+Atresia/7149394.html

Bradenton Herold:
Link no longer available, but may be archived.

Spin Shell (Japan):
Link no longer available, but may be archived.

Hearing Review:
http://www.hearingreview.com/2012/02/earcommunity-com-launched-to-support-people-with-microtia-and-their-families/

AudiologyOnline:
http://www.audiologyonline.com/news/news_detail.asp?news_id=5047

Advance for Practice Management:
http://audiology.advanceweb.com/News/News-Watch/New-Website-on-Microtia-and-Aural-Atresia.aspx

As of 2/16/2012, EarCommunity.org has had 2,120 visits to our website with 9,281 page views in just the first 15 days. If you look at our “global” map, you will see how many are utilizing EarCommunity.org across the world already.

Thanks so much!
Melissa and Ally (RMA/almost 2.5 years old)
Founders of Ear Community and the Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook

Following the announcement of the press release for Ear Community, the Small Wonders Foundation recognizes Ear Community by announcing us on their Facebook page.  The Small Wonders Foundation was founded by a group of parents in hopes of helping other children receive surgery who could not afford it. This group of exceptionally wonderful parents have children or loved ones themselves that needed surgery. When recognizing the talented surgical skills of Dr. John Reinisch, they decided to found the Small Wonders Foundation as a way of giving back to families and helping with surgeries through Dr. Reinisch. This group of parents is amazing and I want everyone to know these parents along with the help of Dr. John Reinisch (a highly recognized and world renown pediatric plastic surgeon and the pioneer of the Medpor surgical technique in ear reconstructive surgery) are the amazing people behind the Small Wonders Foundation.  Thank you for all that you do!

Following the announcement of the Ear Community press release, Dr. Thomas Romo, Founder of the Little Baby Face Foundation recognizes the Ear Community website by announcing it on support groups and in his own blog on his website.

Hello Everyone,
I am very proud to say that the press release went out today (Tuesday, February 8, 2012) at 1PM EST for our new website www.EarCommunity.org in my efforts of helping promote public and educational awareness about Microtia/Atresia.  The press release was picked up by many business searches including Yahoo Finance, Reuters, Street Insider, Ameritrade, Spin Shell.TV (which is a Japanese search), Market Watch, Bradenton Herold, and many more (1110 results to be exact although some are bogus). In addition to the above mentioned searches, the press release also went out to “all” hearing journals.  I am very happy about this and very pleased. Also, since our website launched on Feb. 1st, Google and Yahoo have been indexing our site to make it more available in searches and so far we have had 1,164 visits to the site and 5,488 page views as since the launch of February 1st.  Below are just some of the links where our press release was announced:

Audiology Online:
http://www.audiologyonline.com/releases/earcommunity-com-first-to-offer-1967

Market Watch:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/earcommunitycom-is-first-to-offer-support-and-resources-for-individuals-and-families-living-with-microtia-and-aural-atresia-2012-02-08

Street Insider:
http://www.streetinsider.com/Press+Releases/EarCommunity.org+Is+First+to+Offer+Support+and+Resources+for+Individuals+and+Families+Living+with+Microtia+and+Aural+Atresia/7149394.html

Bradenton Herold:
http://www.bradenton.com/2012/02/08/3858016/earcommunitycom-is-first-to-offer.html

Spin Shell (Japan):
http://spinshell.tv/news/view/58346/earcommunity_com_is_first_to_offer_support_and_resources

Thanks!
Melissa and Ally (RMA/almost 2.5 years old) 🙂
Founders of Ear Community and the Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook

I am pleased to announce that on February 1st, 2012 my new global website called, Ear Community (www.EarCommunity.org) launched.  The Ear Community website is a labor of love for me as my daughter, Ally, was born with Microtia and Atresia.  This website contains everything one needs to know about Microtia and Atresia while touching on associated syndromes and conditions such as Hemifacial Microsomia, Goldenhar Syndrome, and Treacher Collins.  Our new website contains over 130 pages of emotional support, surgical options, hearing loss technology options, and a forum to help connect families across the globe and in your own community.  The website is available to be translated into 48 different languages and contains hundreds of helpful photos.  I founded Ear Community in order to promote educational awareness about Microtia and Atresia, help encourage advocacy, and help bring families together around the world.  The first support group that I founded on May 20, 2010, called the “Microtia and Atresia Support Group” has over 2,000 members from all over the world.  Of these members, in addition to individuals and families born with Microtia and Atresia (including Hemifacial Microsomia, Goldenhar Syndrome, and Treacher Collins), our members also include surgeons, doctors, ENTs, audiologists, audiology students, therapists, early intervention program providers, nurses, teachers, members from schools for the deaf and blind, and major organizations such as the Hearing Loss Association of America, the House Research Institute, AudiologyOnline, the Educational Audiology Association, Oticon Medical, Sophono, Cochlear, and many more.  Within the first two days of our launch, Ear Community had over 500 visitors view our new website and over 2,200 pages were viewed.  We are off to a wonderful start everyone!  Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy and benefit from our new global website, www.EarCommunity.org

Melissa and Family