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

Saturday, June 11th was a beautiful day in Colorado where close to 100 people met at the park for food, fun and fellowship.  An awesome mom created this group to encourage other families to become better educated about their options for microtia and/or atresia.  Be sure to check out my flicker page for all the photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandylh22/sets/72157626874770555/

And check out the Microtia & Atresia Support Group Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sfrm=1#!/pages/Microtia-and-Atresia-Support-Group/118851728152174

Don’t forget to see our Baha group too!

http://www.cochlearcommunity.org/baha

There is a Baha Parents group on the community too:

http://www.cochlearcommunity.org/bahamoms

Dr. Sanya Richardson speaking at the hearing aid clinic at Children's Hospital Colorado

In May of 2011, I helped organize and advertise a hearing aid event at Children’s Hospital Colorado as a member of the Parent Advisory Council that I am a part of for Children’s Hospital Colorado.  I asked Ally’s audiologist, Dr. Sanya Richardson, to speak at our event and help educate us on the types of hearing loss, hearing loss technology and what’s new for improved hearing.  It was an educational session that was open to the public.  I also briefly spoke about Microtia and Atresia at this event and offered some helpful tips on BAHAs along with passing Ally’s bone conductive soft band head band processors around from Sophono, Oticon Medical, and Cochlear.  I also told everyone about our 1st Annual Summer Picnic that I would be hosting a couple of weeks from this event.

In May of 2011, my second article is published in the Hands & Voices 2011 Spring National newsletter for The Communicator.  My article is called:  “Mixed Feelings:  Making Surgical Decisions for Children With Microtia/Atresia.”  This article along with my other article “Falling Through the Cracks With Microtia/Atresia” are currently on hand at many surgeon offices.  In addition, both of these articles have been read by numerous audiology students and audiologists, therapists and counselors and kept on hand at many organizations such as the Hands & Voices, schools for the deaf and blind and at various children’s hospitals across our nation.

In April 2011, I attended the “new” Microtia Clinic that Children’s Hospital Colorado now organizes.  At this clinic, I was able to meet with Dr. Peggy Kelly, a Rib Graft surgeon and also Barbara Lillo who is an anaplastologist.  I not only was able to physically touch and see some prosthetic ear models, but I had some of my questions answered as well.  Barb’s father happens to be the “father of anaplastology” as he coined the term, anaplastology as we know it today.  Following the microtia clinic, I waited outside of the clinic for an additional 2.5 hours hoping to catch other Microtia and Atresia families on their way out in hopes of telling them about the summer picnic for M/A families that was planning on hosting during the summer.  Two of the three families I spoke with attended our summer picnic.  🙂