HESP Partnership Provides Free Hearing Aids, Services to Holocaust Survivors
Through a new partnership, UMD’s Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (HESP) and the Jewish Social Services Agency (JSSA) will provide hearing aids and aural rehabilitation services to Holocaust survivors. UMD faculty and graduate students will assist in providing hearing aid fittings and screenings for the clients.
The selected recipients are clients of JSSA’sHolocaust Survivor Program. As an organization that receives funds from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and local donors, JSSA assists more than 400 Holocaust survivors who are in financial need in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia.
“The ability to interact and communicate with others is a basic human right. These clients have shared their stories, experiences and wisdom with their communities over the years; I can think of no better recipients of this equipment and these services than members of JSSA’s Holocaust Survivor Program,” said HESP Clinical Assistant Professor Lisa Rickard. “Our goal is to help these clients maintain communication and relationships, and improve their quality of life.”
Without these services, these clients might otherwise suffer significant communicative impairment from lack of auditory amplification and rehabilitation, or might struggle with the financial burden of costly equipment and services.
“We are thrilled to work with HESP’s extraordinary faculty and students, who continually demonstrate not only their knowledge and expertise, but also their care and commitment to our community,” said Ellen Blalock, JSSA’s Holocaust Survivor Program Coordinator.
Each potential candidate will receive a complete hearing evaluation by audiologists in the Rockville area to determine candidacy for the equipment and services. Those selected will be fitted with amplification and receive training in the use and care of their aids, as well as aural rehabilitation to maximize the effective use of the hearing aids.
Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. and Sivantos. Inc., manufacturer of Siemens hearing instruments, have generously donated 40 pairs of digital behind-the-ear hearing aids to the JSSA to be distributed through the program.
“We are extraordinarily grateful to Siemens and Sivantos for this wonderful equipment, which will dramatically increase the quality of life for our clients,” said Professor Rochelle Newman, chair of HESP. “We also are grateful to the JSSA and their clients for placing their trust in our faculty members and doctoral students. This is a wonderful education and service opportunity for the University of Maryland.”
The program’s first two clients were recently fitted with hearing aids at JSSA headquarters in October.
One of them was Neli Melman, whose loved ones were among those murdered along with nearly 34,000 other Jews by German death squads at the Babi Yar ravine in 1941. Her medical career was later compromised by systemic anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union.
Published on Tue, Nov 3, 2015 - 11:52AM