Dear Readers,

Valentine's Day in Tucson this year brings warm weather, which is definitely an improvement over recent times.  Many in Tucson, including ourselves and our patients, experienced loss of heat, hot water, or water in general over the last few weeks.  Repairs and reconnects have been slowed by lack of plumbers, plumbing supplies, and SW Gas representatives.  We know of at least one 90 year old lady (our patient) who was without all of the above for a number of days, while the gas company quickly fixed her 45 year old neighbor's gas -- even though he was out of town!  Tucson was not prepared for the unusual, and that brings us to our topic for today:  you may not be able to prepare for every emergency, but you CAN AND SHOULD ensure that you can hear and communicate during an emergency.  Our office protocols are set up to help our patients avoid hearing aid emergencies, as well as emergencies during which they need to hear well.

Fortunately for our 90-year old patient, she at least had back-up hearing aids, just in case.  It is in such times of emergency that our back-up systems are invaluable -- just think what would have happened in her case if she lost all utilities and couldn't communicate by phone because her hearing aids failed.  Murphy's Law says that is when otherwise reliable hearing aids will go out, right?  Right:  we cannot tell you how many times patients call us at odd times with hearing aid emergencies, and often those emergencies coincide with other specially demanding things going on in their lives.  We can usually get into the office and get a fix on their problem(s) but we cannot always get them hearing again without a repair or replacement.  That is especially the case for those patients who have not been coming in for their regular, free, "wellness" checks every three months, or for those who have old, dearly-loved, hearing aids that are bound to fail at some point (usually on Saturday night or a holiday).  These patients are often distraught, pressed for time, and they are always stressed.  They are always grateful for whatever we can do for them, but it makes us feel bad to see them in distress and under stress.  We want to help them avoid this whenever and however possible.

Fitting hearing aids is not a one-time event.  Rather, successful hearing aid use requires that the aids are properly fitted, maintained regularly (our 3-month rule), reprogrammed to reflect increasing hearing aid experience and also changes in hearing (3-month rule AND our annual hearing test rule), and evaluated after several years in terms of advantages of new products and probability of old-aid repairs (our annual state-of-the-hearing aid rule).  Eventually, all good hearing aid users replace their hearing aids.  Our protocol at that point is two-pronged:  1)  match the patient's hearing needs to the best new instruments for their needs and their pocketbook, and 2)  make sure their old aids continue to function to serve as reliable back-ups (our back-up rule).  Believe us, when patients comply with our few rules, they are happier with our services, with their hearing aids, with their ability to communicate, and with their lifestyles. 

Our careful watch on our patients is our Valentine's gift to them.  We want all of our patients to hear as well as possible as much of the time as possible and at a price that they think is worth the value they get from hearing well.  Above all, we want to ensure that all of our patients are as well prepared as we can make them for emergencies and all of the problems that come up as the result of emergencies.  Think of us as Audiology EMTs!

Thanks to all of our patients, present and past, for putting their trust in us to help them with their hearing difficulties.  It's what keeps us going in times of stability and times of emergency.