Archives for May 2, 2013

Hello Everyone!
On, Tuesday, April 23, 2013, I presented an educational session through AudiologyOnline (sponsored by Oticon Medical) about Microtia and Atresia discussing all options that are currently available along with sharing my own experience with Microtia and Atresia after my youngest daughter was born with Microtia and Atresia of her right ear.  This presentation/session is FREE and available to anyone who is willing to learn more about Microtia and Atresia.  The session is titled:  Microtia and Aural Atresia:  A Parent’s Perspective and can be found under the course number:  #22454.  This course has been recorded and is available at the following archived link:  http://www.audiologyonline.com/audiology-ceus/course/microtia-aural-atresia-parent-s-22454

This session was originally offered to medical professionals for 1 CEU contact hour of credit and was accredited in the following countries:  United States, Canada, Australia, UK, and for the International Hearing Society.  AAA/0.1 Intermediate; ACAud/1.0; ASHA/0.1 Intermediate, Professional; BAA/1.0; CAA/1.0; CASLPA/1.0; IHS/1.0; Kansas DHE, LTS-S0035/1.0

The following are reviewer comments made by medical and industry professionals who have listened to this presentation/session:

Hi Everyone!

This is Eva and Eva has Microtia and Atresia. Eva enjoyed Ear Community’s Florida picnic while wearing her “Microtia Kids Rock” T-shirt and having fun blowing bubbles on Saturday, April 27th, 2013 in Orlando.  Eva was proud to wear her “Microtia Kids Rock” T-shirt to school the next day!

Ear Community is proud to host seven more Microtia and Atresia summer family picnics this summer around the world.  Last year’s picnics that Ear Community hosted took place in Canada and in the United States and helped bring almost 1,000 people together.  Ear Community’s picnics welcome Microtia and Atresia families and individuals (including Hemifacial Microsomia, Goldenhar Syndrome, and Treacher Collins families), medical professionals, and hearing device companies all at fun and stress free environments!  When everyone comes together at Ear Community picnics, attendees  are given the chance to share experiences with each other, meet someone in the same situation, have the kids come together and play, and also have the opportunity to meet with medical professionals and hearing device companies so we can get the facts and learn about all of your options.  Medical professionals include Microtia and Atresia plastic surgeons, ENTs, audiologists, therapists, and anaplastologists who mingle with us helping answer our questions.  The hearing device companies that participate in Ear Community’s picnics bring demonstration hearing devices for everyone to learn about and try on.  We are also thankful for their help in educating us on hearing loss and how bone conduction hearing devices can help improve the quality of life for our loved ones who are deaf and hard of hearing.  Most of all, families and individuals who have Microtia and Atresia can connect with each other knowing that they are not alone and that they can be a part of a global 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity organization that helps give back to the Microtia and Atresia community, Ear Community.

This year’s Microtia and Atresia Summer Family Picnics will take place in:
Orlando, Florida on Saturday, April 27, 2013
Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, June 22, 2013
London, England on Saturday, June 29, 2013
Barcelona, Spain on Saturday, July 6, 2013
Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, July 13, 2013
Broomfield, Colorado on Saturday, July 27, 2013
Los Angeles, California on Saturday, August 10, 2013

Two of Ear Community’s summer family picnics will be in collaboration with Microtia surgeon conferences…
Our Los Angeles, California picnic will be in collaboration with Dr. Sheryl Lewin’s LAMAC (Los Angeles Microtia Atresia Conference) which will be sponsored by her nonprofit organization, Earicles – Miracles for Ears.  For details on attending and registering for this conference, please visit:  http://microtiaearsurgery.com/lamac  The Los Angeles conference will take place from Friday, August 9th through Sunday, August 11th.  Guest speakers will include Dr. Sheryl Lewin, Dr. Arturo Bonilla, Dr. Brad Kesser, Melissa Tumblin, along with additional expert medical professionals.  Family members who will be attending the Let Them Hear Foundation conference, http://www.atresiarepair.com/, will be bussed over to the Ear Community and LAMAC location at the Terranea Resort, http://www.terranea.com/

Ear Community’s Barcelona, Spain picnic will be in collaboration with a surgeon conference with guest speakers Dr. Antonia Claveria and Dr. Francisco Parri at the CosmoCaixa, http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/cosmocaixabarcelona/cosmocaixabarcelona_es.html

Ear Community’s picnics are sponsored by the following organizations this year:

I look forward to seeing everyone come together at our Ear Community picnics this summer!  For a list of our picnic dates and details on how to contact a picnic host to RSVP to a picnic, please visit the following link:  https://earcommunity.org/2013-picnics-and-events/
Thanks.

Melissa Tumblin
Founder and Executive Director of Ear Community
Founder of the Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook

Bear, 2 years old, BMA, wearing his new Oticon Ponto Pro Processor

Meet Bear.  Bear is two years old and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.  Bear was born with bilateral Microtia and Atresia (born with Grade I Microtia of both ears and has no ear canals resulting in hearing loss).  Bear is a very bubbly little boy who enjoys exploring life everyday.  Even though Bear would carry on in his cute ways as any toddler would, Jenni and her husband, Trey, worried that he was not hearing very well.  At one time, Bear had a an older bone conduction hearing aid (BCHA) as a loaner unit and they realized that a device like this could help Bear hear better.  When, Jenni, Bear’s mom, realized that Bear wasn’t hearing everything she began researching how to obtain a bone conduction hearing device on a softband head band for Bear.  However, Bear’s family was denied insurance coverage for a BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid).  For the past year and a half, Jenni has gone to a number of hearing clinics and met with a number of audiologists and ENTs trying to find a way to help Bear obtain a hearing device through their insurance provider.  Jenni even struggled to obtain a denial letter from multiple hearing clinics in order to even begin the appeals process with her insurance provider.  Frustrated and wondering how they would be able to afford to purchase a BAHA, Jenni applied through Ear Community seeking help for Bear.  On April 25th, Bear was fitted with his new Oticon Medical Ponto Pro processor.

Jenni and Trey Sheneman, pictured with Bear

Jenni and Trey have been members of the Microtia and Atresia Support Group for the past year and a half  and they knew that this support group was part of a nonprofit charity organization, called Ear Community, that was founded by Melissa Tumblin, a mother of a child born with Microtia and Atresia.  Today, Bear is hearing better than ever.  “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts” say Jenni and Trey Sheneman…  “Even though Bear has always had a great smile, his smile just seems brighter than ever before.”

While the Ear Community organization is proud to have donated Bear’s new Oticon Medical Ponto Pro sound processor and soft band head band, none of this would have been possible without Oticon Medical donating this amazing hearing device to Ear Community to begin with.  Oticon Medical believes in helping individuals with hearing loss so that they can live a better quality of life.  Oticon Medical is a well respected international hearing device manufacturer that is a part of the “William Demant Group [which has] 100-plus years of experience in audiology and sound processing and established manufacturing and logistics infrastructure.”

Ear Community wishes to say a very special thank you to the hearing device professionals who were involved with helping Bear hear better.  Thank you to Dr. Erin Holman, Bear’s most recent audiologist who helped fit Bear with his new Ponto Pro processor and thank you to Alan Raffauf, Oticon Medical’s Vice President of Marketing, for donating this new sound processor and for wanting to give back to the Microtia and Atresia community through the Ear Community organization.  Ear Community applauds the passion and effort that was involved with these individuals in helping another child hear better, so Bear can hear the way life was intended.  Ear Community is also happy to have been able to help a child hear better just in time to celebrate the month of May which is Better Hearing and Speech Month.

Ear Community is a 501(c)(3) global nonprofit charitable organization that helps the Microtia and Atresia community and was started by a mother of a child who was born with Microtia and Atresia.

Thank you from Ear Community and its Board of Directors!
Melissa Tumblin
Founder and the Executive Director of Ear Community
Founder of the Microtia and Atresia Support Group