There is a new nonprofit clinic in town that provides hearing health services in exchange for volunteer work.
Grace Hearing Center helps underserved members of the Tucson community buy hearing aids at a reduced cost in exchange for volunteering at an organization of their choice.
“I want anybody who can’t afford hearing aid, or even a hearing test, to have a hearing test because it’s such a sneaky disability,” said Judy Huch, president of the Grace Hearing Center. “You don’t realize what you’re missing until it’s too late.”
In partnership with Hear in Tucson, Oro Valley and Tanque Verde Audiology, the volunteer team at the clinic helps fit hearing aids and facilitates testing and rehabilitation. Grants, donations, corporate sponsorship and volunteers sustain the program, and recipients sign a contract pledging to volunteer as a way to say “thank you” to the funders and donors.
Huch opened the clinic in August after learning about HearCare Connection out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. She modeled their concept of providing hearing care for the underserved community at a discounted price in exchange for sweat equity.
Grace Hearing Center is open one Saturday a month as well as every Monday at Tanque Verde Audiology, 5625 E. Grant Road. The clinic operates on a sliding fee scale that goes up to 250 percent of the federal poverty line, Huch said. The more money a person pays, the less community service they need to complete.
“I would really love to focus on the working poor because it affects how much income we bring home,” Huch said. “The greater the hearing loss, the less income that they get, the less chance for going up into higher aspects of their jobs, their career.”
The average price for a hearing aid in the United States is $2,000 an aid, according to Huch. But with the help of Grace Hearing Center, people can pay as little as $75.
Grace Hearing Center can offer discounted pricing by refurbishing old hearing aids, and with the help and donations of hearing aid manufacturers and audiologists in the community who donate their time.
Providing support,
raising awareness
Patients at Grace Hearing Center say they have benefited from the program because they might not have been able to afford hearing aids otherwise.
Glenn Regal lost his hearing when he was 4 years old, and in his mid-20s was still wearing the same hearing aids he had since middle school, which had begun to fail. He attempted to go through insurance to get new ones, but because he receives government assistance, they wouldn’t be covered.
“At the time I was kind of a little bit almost at the point of giving up because I couldn’t hear very well and my self-confidence was so low that I just couldn’t really find myself doing anything,” Regal said.
Once Regal joined the clinic’s program, he said it gave him purpose in life again. To fulfill his commitment to Grace Hearing Center, the 27-year-old volunteers at HabiStore, a branch of Habitat for Humanity that sells furniture and appliances that people can buy to fill their homes. Regal said he would love to work there permanently after completing his volunteer hours if he could.
“I’m glad they came along when they did,” Regal said of Grace Hearing Center. “If it wasn’t for them, my other hearing aid probably would have died and I’d probably hear quite literally nothing. Because of them, I have the confidence to actually want to do something now.”
Rose Ellis is another patient who has benefited from the clinic’s services. Ellis is 81 years old and on Social Security, and without the clinic she would not be able to afford the device she needs to be able to hear.
“They’ve always been wonderful, and it’s a wonderful experience,” Ellis said.
While Grace Hearing Center seeks to serve the community, its focus is also on raising awareness about hearing health.
“We hear about heart disease, but nobody is talking about hearing loss,” Huch said. “They talk about the expense of it, but they don’t talk about the benefit if they take care of it, or even prevent hearing loss.
“Quit thinking it’s an old people’s thing, quit thinking it’s insignificant because it just comes with age. Those are all untrue facts. We can help, we can do awesome things, we can change lives if we can even get people that first step of getting hearing checked.”
