GiveHear

Givehear (a Dba of Hearcare Connection) was founded to eliminate the access gap for quality hearing healthcare available to the underserved in our community. Our program is unique and unduplicated by any other agency in northeast Indiana. Established in 2011, Givehear has served over 7,700 patients across a diverse demographic. We are committed to growing our service reach to the underserved and implementing programs as needed to eliminate access deserts for needed audiology services. Programs: in 2023, Givehear served 1,514 unique patients, acquired 1,067 new patients, and completed 2,801 total appointments. In 2023, Givehear installed a second audio booth at its main site in downtown fort wayne to increase its capacity footprint. This allowed us to accommodate growth in our service to the community. Hearing assessment program: encompasses diagnostic assessment of hearing function using state-of-the-art equipment, which is appropriate for patients of any age and functional ability. Givehear receives assessment referrals from other area healthcare professionals, Indiana's early intervention program first steps, organizations assisting veterans, other nonprofit agencies, and by self-referral. Hearing aid rehabilitation program: encompasses the selection, fitting, follow-up, and maintenance of new or donated hearing aids. Patients qualify for this program according to adjusted household income and pay for a portion of their device cost based on our reduced sliding fee scale. Givehear fit 403 hearing aids in 2023. Circle of giving: Givehear hearing aid recipients on our sliding fee scale complete a set number of volunteer service hours at a nonprofit agency within their community to give back via volunteerism. Because Givehear relies on community support to execute our mission, our patients give back to the community that supports us and makes their hearing healthcare possible. Hearing aid donation program: we collect gently used hearing aids that can be reconditioned and reprogrammed for our patients. This program serves many of our hearing aid recipients and gives an opportunity for the community to rehome used hearing aids to our clinic. Newborn hearing program: provides affordable, price-capped follow-up diagnostic testing for babies who fail or do not receive a newborn hearing screening at birth. Using our highly specialized equipment, 258 babies were tested in 2023 through our partnerships with local hospitals, birthing centers, and midwives. School screening program: provides onsite hearing screenings, primarily preschool-aged children attending early education programs for low-income families and/or children with special needs. In an effort to identify hearing loss as early as possible, grant funded follow-up testing in our clinic is also offered for children who do not pass the onsite screening. Partnerships with brightpoint head start, public and private preschool programs, and lions club. Screened 715 children in 2023. Cancer treatment and hospice loaner programs: partnerships with cancer services of northeast Indiana, heartland hospice, and stillwater hospice allow us to provide hearing aids for patients undergoing cancer treatment or in hospice care. The loaned hearing aids foster improved communication with family, caregivers, and community. Served 6 patients in 2023. Givehear is unique. There are no other similar programs to ours in the region. Only a handful of similar programs exist nationally, some of which Givehear helped develop at the request of those communities. The effects of undiagnosed and/or untreated hearing loss are significant, detrimental, and can be mitigated or eliminated with appropriate, quality hearing healthcare. Hearing aids are a highly effective, yet costly tool to counteract the negative impact of most hearing losses. They are designed to improve sound localization, listening in noisy situations, speech understanding, and provide better overall hearing. In fact, 80% of hearing losses can be effectively rehabilitated using hearing aids. According to the american speech language hearing association (asha), less than 25% of people who could benefit from hearing aids actually have them. Oftentimes, cost is the limiting factor. These issues are at the heart of the services Givehear provides to our community. Our clinics provide hearing screenings, hearing tests, hearing aids and related accessories, hearing aid maintenance and repairs, and follow up care to individuals who otherwise would not have access to these services. Fees for hearing aid services are based on a sliding fee scale according to family size and income, and we primarily serve individuals up to 400% of the federal poverty level. In addition to our nominal fees, we require our financially qualified patients to complete a set number of volunteer service hours at a nonprofit agency within our community. This volunteerism helps reduce social isolation, ensures they are invested in their own hearing healthcare, promotes self-sufficiency, and builds feelings of self-worth. This is our "circle of giving" program. In addition to hearing aid services, Givehear also connects with our community via outreach efforts, providing hearing screenings at schools and health fairs. We have identified access deserts for certain subspecialty audiology services and offer those services locally, ensuring that the community has regional access to a more comprehensive roster of audiology services.