Meet Tamara from Scarborough, Ontario! Tamara is a sweet, happy little girl excited to be in school and learn all that she can! Tamara was born with Microtia and Atresia of her right ear. Now that Tamara is seven years old starting elementary school, Tamara noticed she was struggling to hear well in the school classroom. Her mother, Amad, took her to get her hearing checked. During Tamara’s hearing test, their audiologist educated them on a hearing device called a bone anchored hearing system and how this hearing device could help Tamara hear better. Once Amad saw the results of Tamara’s audiogram, showing how her hearing loss was brought back up within normal hearing range when aided, she was so excited to help her daughter hear better with a hearing device. When taking the next steps to obtain a BAHS, the family surprisingly learned that they were not covered by the National Healthcare program in Canada. As a result, Amad was faced with an out of pocket quote for $6,600 for a BAHS if she wanted to help her daughter hear.
Not knowing how she was going to find help obtaining a BAHS for Tamara, Amad discovered the Ear Community Organization! She reached out to Ear Community for a hearing device for her daughter along with help from their audiologist, Dr. Dana Song. Amad was overjoyed to learn that Ear Community would be able to donate a new Ponto 5 Bone Anchored Hearing System from Oticon Medical for Tamara to hear better with! On February 7th, 2022, Tamara was fitted with her new Ponto 5 thanks to Oticon Medical through the Ear Community Organization! Tamara’s smile says exactly how happy she is to hear better now with her new Oticon Medical Ponto 5! Ear Community is so proud to have helped another child hear thanks to Oticon Medical partnering with our organization, helping children with Microtia and Aural Atresia! A special thank you to Tamara’s audiologist, Dr. Dana Song at Sick Kids, for donating her time and services to fit and program Tamara with her new Ponto 5!
A very special thank you to Kate Yakimow, Director of Oticon Medical Canada, Janna Brubacher and also Siiry Fortey of Oticon Medical Canada for helping with Tamara’s Ponto 5 at her fitting. 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 would also like to thank our donors and members of the community who want to help our organization continue our work – none of this would be possible without your support! We are so happy to have been a part of helping Tamara hear better!
Everyone at Ear Community is excited to know that Tamara will thrive everyday while hearing her best with her new Ponto!
Ear Community
www.EarCommunity.org
About Melissa Tumblin
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