Juliette Sterkens, AuD

On Friday May 2 and Saturday May 3, HLAA sent us their national Loop Advocate Juliette Sterkens, AuD,  to keep us in the Loop!  Our HLAA chapter and  the Sanderson Center  helped Loop Utah pull off a big, two day event for May’s Better Speech and Hearing Month which we called Don’t Be Left Out of the Loop.  Both day’s meetings were held at the Sanderson Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the looped classroom to show off the looping difference.

Friday morning’s session was set up for Salt Lake area audiologists and the afternoon session was for facility managers and architects.  We made a great connection with the Sundance Festival organization that afternoon.

Hard of Hearing Assistant, Jodi, tried the loop for the first time and was amazed at the difference.  She shared her enthusiasm with the audiologist attendees.

Marilyn and Jodi give their thumbs up.

Saturday was set up for those of us who wear hearing aids and wanted to learn more about them and the t-coil.  We had 50 people show up that day, 50 interested consumers.  Juliette spent a lot of time talking about hearing aids, their advantages and disadvantages, what they can and can’t do alone.  She talked about all the things our audiologists should be doing but many aren’t.  She answered questions from frustrated users and her honesty was refreshing.

Then she went on to talk about the loop and how hearing loops benefit us and our hearing aids.  How they work and how we can help advocate for them ourselves.

During lunch, she gave an interview for Channel 4 News which aired Saturday night: http://www.good4utah.com/story/d/story/new-technology-for-the-hard-of-hearing/23029/t6ooMGsBs0umXrh9KXMY9g  (Be sure to leave a comment at the website supporting the loop or hearing loss in the news.)

A silent auction was offered each afternoon to help Loop Utah raise funds.  There were a lot of fun items to bid on, here are a few of them pictured:

There were gorgeous pictures, quilted blankets, ski tickets for next season, a home loop provided by Listen Tech, tickets for the Sundance Festival, a giant cookie basket, gift certificates for services and much, much more.  Friendly competition pursued with fun for everyone.

The event was a success and brought many people together which became a reunion of sorts.  Thank you to everyone who came and helped to make it such a success.

Loop Utah hopes to put on an event every year during Better Speech and Hearing Month.