Publication of theCanadian Hard of

Hearing Association(CHHA)

MOUNTAIN EAR is a publication ofthe Canadian Hard of Hearing

Association North Shore Branch. It isPublished 4 times a year on the 15th of

March, June, September andDecember.

Your submissions are alwayswelcome. Please contact the Editor:

Hugh Hetherington:

Telephone 604-926-8049

FAX 604-925-2286

e-mail: hughh@vcn.bc.ca

ISSUE 31DEC 2000

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGETHANK YOU MEMBERS: The Board would liketo thank the members for the great turn out at ourAnnual Meeting. Our speaker was Alfred Kob-beltvedt, our treasurer, who provided us with somewonderful information to mull over, see report inNewsletter.NEW MEMBERS: We welcome our new members,Keri Armstrong who is our recording secretary, RodCameron who will be doing a project on NoisePollution, Carell Hearn, Kathleen King, Hal Pover,Teresa Hemsing, Taj Virji, and Judy Belanger.HOLIDAY GREETINGS: By the time you receivethis newsletter it will be just a few days before thespecial event of the Holiday Season, so we extend toyou our best wishes for a wonderful holiday.DONATIONS: Included in this newsletter is adonation request with a reply envelope. All donationsto the North Shore Branch are tax deductible andhelp our association to cover our expenses inreaching out into the community. Please considerdonating to carry on our work making your commu-

nity more hearing accessible. Some of the expenseswe face include printing and mailing the Newsletter,notices of meetings, posters in the community,advertising and many other items.WHAT DOES CHHA NATIONAL DO FORYOU? Have you ever wondered what your NationalBoard does? Well over the next few newsletters Iwill provide some information on the activities theyare participating in and their committees. I haverequested a copy of their Annual Report, which willbe available for all members to read at the office.Without communication with National and CHHA B.C. members are isolated from the advocacy we havebuilt as an association. We who are hard of hearingknow only too well what it is like when one isisolated because of a lack of communication. Seepart one in this newsletter for some of the thingsNational does for those who are hard of hearing.THANK YOU FROM YOUR TREASURER:Alfred would like to extend his appreciation to theassociation, via a thank you note addressed to me, forthe beautiful gifts, cake, and plant for his wife, whichwere presented to him at the Annual. Alfred was toleave October 15th but that has been put on hold fora little while. In one way, as we have not got a

The flowers and good wishes raised my spirits to newheights and has helped me tremendously during myrecovery. Thank you.Erica Barrett,President.

treasurer to take Alfred’s place I am a bit relievedbut also feel sad that the date of the move could nottake place as was previously planned by Alfred andhis lovely wife who gives generously many volunteerhours indirectly to our Branch. We will miss Alfred;it is our loss and Kelowna’s gain. They are getting areal gem. The Board wishes to thank members forthe contributions they sent for Alfred’s gift and theplant for his wife.THEME FOR THIS YEAR: Our theme this year isPREVENTION OF HEARING LOSS. We feel boththe hearing and hard of hearing need to know moreabout being aggressive towards preventing hearingloss. During the 90’s in the USA, there has been a 45% increase in hearing loss by age 50 due to noisepollution. Noise is the biggest cause of hearing loss.SPEAKERS FOR 2001 MEMBERS MEETINGS:The board is currently setting up dates with speakersfor the 2001 members' meetings. It looks like thisyear’s speakers will provide valuable information tothose who attend. Please keep the following dates inmind for our 2001 Members' Meetings - February 19,April 16, September 17.INFORMAL MEETINGS IN AFTERNOON: Iwould like to remind all of you about our informalmeetings on the third Tuesday of the months we donot hold a members meeting. This is a way for youto get to know your fellow members on an individualbasis. Hope to see you there. Upcoming afternoonmeetings are: December 12, 2000, January 16, andMarch 20, 2001 - 1:30 p.m. at West VancouverSeniors' Activity Centre Cafeteria.LIBRARY, LISTENING DEVICES AND COUN-SELLING: We have now moved to our new officejust down the hall from where we were at CapilanoCommunity Services Society (CCSS). We share theoffice with another group and plan to set up a libraryand a counselling room in the very near future. I amexcited about getting this accomplished and it will bewonderful to finally have room to meet with ourmembers who are experiencing various problemswith their hearing loss.B.C. CONFERENCE: Please take time to read thereport by Keri Armstrong. There were close to 200people at the conference, the largest yet.QUESTIONS??? If you have any questions pleasephone the office at 988-7115 and your message willbe directed to one of our members.THANK YOU: In closing, I would like to add aspecial thank you to all members and friends for theirbest wishes, cards and flowers which I receivedfollowing my recent surgery at Lion’s Gate Hospital.

Managing Your Hearing LossA course sponsored by CHHA - North Shore Branchand made possible by municipal grants from theDistrict of North Vancouver, the City of NorthVancouver and the District of West Vancouver.The next Managing Your Hearing Loss course isbeing presented at the West Vancouver Seniors’Activity Centre, 695 - 21st Street, V7V 4A7.This course covers speach reading and other tech-niques to help you cope with your hearing loss.Classes will be held on Tuesday mornings from10:00 AM to 12:00 noon starting February 6 throughApril 17. There will be no class on Tuesday March20.The course fee is $20.00 and includes a one year'smembership in the Canadian Hard of HearingAssociation.For information or registration, please contact the

CHHA - North Shore BranchAnnual General Meeting

The 11th Annual General Meeting of the NorthShore Branch was held on September 18th, 2000 atSt. John’s Anglican Church, 220 West 8th Street,North Vancouver.Following the formal AGM, Alfred Kobbeltvedt tookover as Master of Ceremonies and introduced anevening of presentations, social activity and drawingsfor door prizes. Lynda Hepworth made the draw forthe 50/50 money and the winner was Kathy Fox, thiswas Kathy’s first meeting with the CHHA NorthShore Branch. Door prizes went to Joan Bennett,Margaret Fraser, Dermott McInnes, and MonicaCraver.Alfred Kobbeltvedt made a presentation on Leave aLegacy British Columbia. This program is aninitiative of the Canadian Association of GiftPlanners in British Columbia. They promote interestin charitable giving through a will or an estate plan.The organization educates individuals in making a

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minute and rates are often high5) Don’t chase after lost moneyAgencies set up to help you deal with fraud includethe following:1) The Canadian Direct Marketing Association isable to remove your name from mailing lists: Suite607, 1 Concord Gate, Don Mills, ON M3C 3N62) B.C. Coalition to Eliminate Abuse to SeniorsAssociation (affiliated with the Scotia Bank Fraud

Awareness Program) (604) 521-12353) The Better Business Bureau can verify andvalidate businesses in your community.The Top Scams of 1999 as produced by the BetterBusiness Bureau include:

λ Pyramid Schemes

λ Foreign Lotteries

gift in their will or estate plan to the not-for-profitgroups of their choice, thereby continuing to helppeople in need or to promote a favourite cause. Thesedonations benefit you though tax receipts. Leaving alegacy provides a unique opportunity for you tosupport organizations that are making a difference inBritish Columbia. For more information contactAlfred Kobbeltvedt or visit their website at ww-w.leavealegacy.ca.Alfred’s second presentation was on Ways to Prevent

Telephone Fraud. Telephone fraud is a common crimeand can target almost anyone. He presented 5 tips onhow to prevent telephone fraud:1) Don’t pay cash2) Always be sceptical3) Don’t give any personal information over thephone4) Beware of 1-900 numbers, they charge by the

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λ Quebec Telemarketers

λ Bogus Charities

λ Home Renovators

λ Phony Business Directory Invoices

λ Florida Timeshare Travel Promotions

λ Bogus Employment Opportunities

λ Identity Theft

λ Junk Mail and Faxes

λ Credit Card Insurance

λ Internet Fraud

λ Recovery ConsHugh Hetherington followed with a short presentationon Assistive Listening Devices and showed a newvideo distributed by the League for the Hard of

Hearing New York called Come Hear with Me. Thisvideo showed and demonstrated products that assisthard of hearing individuals cope with daily activities.Question: Margaret Charles asked if the devices areavailable in Canada?Answer: Hugh felt most devices were available inCanada although the make and model may vary. Moreinformation about ALD’s is available from theWestern Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing,ALDS, Inc. in Richmond, from audiologists or bycontacting CHHA - North Shore Branch at (604)988-7115. Hugh invited further questions during thesocial and offered to demonstrate any of the itemsshown.Awards: Alfred Kobbeltvedt

Erica Barrett made a presentation to Alfred Kob-beltvedt in thanks for his contributions to the Branchas:

λ Treasurer

λ Dedication to hearing loss

λ Time and advice

λ Legal work for the North Shore Branch

λ Community presentationsOn behalf of the North Shore Branch he waspresented with a Chrysanthemum by Erica Barrettand a gift basket by Hugh Hetherington. Alfred willbe moving to the Okanagan Valley shortly and willbe greatly missed by all. Alfred Kobbeltvedt pre-sented plaques to the following individuals for theirwork with the North Shore Branch:Lynda Hepworth

Lynda has served as director for four terms begin-ning in 1995 and is recognized for her work, effort,and skills. Lynda was instrumental in developing theincorporation of the North Shore Branch as a B.C.Society.Audrey Kirkpatrick

Audrey has served as director for three termsbeginning in 1997 and has been integral in develop-ing, and working on, the membership committee.Margaret Fraser

Margaret has served as executive director for fiveterms at the Capilano Community Services Societybeginning in 1994 and is recognized for herdedication to our work. Margaret will be running forcouncil in the upcoming municipal election.Alice Keating

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CHHA BC Annual ConferenceReport by: Keri ArmstrongOn a rather gusty Friday afternoon over 175individuals interested in learning about hard ofhearing issues, made their way to the Delta Vancou-ver Airport Hotel in Richmond to hear speakers andattend workshops. The conference commenced with awarm welcome by Maggie Dodd, the President ofCHHA-BC. Other members of the Hard of Hearingcommunity in BC also made welcoming remarksincluding Counsellor Linda Barnes who is the liaisonfor the Richmond Committee for Disabled Individu-als.Dr. Daniel Ling led the conference with hisdiscussion on Where we Have Come From andWhere we are Going. Dr. Ling is an acclaimedresearcher and teacher of the hearing impaired. Hislife-long interest has related to the use of emergingtechnology in the rehabilitation of hearing impairedchildren and has worked and studied worldwide. As apioneer and renowned authority in the uses oftechnology and the development of spoken languagefor the deaf and hard of hearing, Dr. Ling offered hisunique personal and historical perspective to lead usthrough the important developments of hearing andsound technology as they have made an impact onthe educational and auditory experience of hard ofhearing and deaf individuals. With this background

we can consider the technology and remainingchallenges of today and better prepare for tomor-row’s. From programs for spoken language develop-ment in infants to how to get the most out of yourcochlear implant for late-deafened adults, Dr. Lingoffered the wealth (and wit) of his long livedexperience in this field working with countlessindividuals of all ages.Dr. Ling continued in the afternoon session offeringinformation on Getting the Most out of CurrentTechnology. His clear understanding of the technol-ogy available and the ability to interpret test resultsprovided insight that left many attendees wanting topull out their audiogram for analysis and revisit thebasis of their hearing loss. Dr. Ling was graciousenough to have provided a complete set of his noteson this discussion, which will be available at theNorth Shore Branch Office shortly.Sometimes out of the woodwork comes somethingunexpected but delightful to all. In the secondafternoon session we were fortunate to have Mr.Stuart Bird of the Vancouver Rotary Club presentinformation on the Projected Rotary ENT andHearing Centre. The Rotary Club is a group ofbusinessmen who are determined to uphold the highethical standards set out in their business andpersonal lives. It started in 1913 in raising funds forbuildings, programs, and education. Their test ofethics is based on the following four questions: Is itthe truth?; Is it fair to all concerned?; Will it buildgood will and better friendship?; and will it bebeneficial to all concerned? Today they have raisedover twenty million dollars in funds towards chari-table contributions.The Rotary Club of Vancouver has dedicated itsfundraising efforts into developing the Rotary Hear-ing Foundation, which began in July 1987. Thisproposed fund would support the cost of research andtreatment for deafness and hearing disabled individu-als. Since 1987 the Vancouver Rotary Club haspartnered with the Pacific Otolaryngology Associa-tion, UBC, Westcoast Energy, and the RotarianHearing Clinic at St. Paul’s Hospital, to name a few.The foundation has provided research funds to Dr.Stapells at UBC for deafness in newborns tosix-month-old babies. It has committed to communityoutreach by providing greater than one milliondollars to the Hard of Hearing Associations and itsbiggest goal is to develop the Rotary Hard ofHearing and ENT Institute.The proposed Rotary Hard of Hearing and ENT

Alice is recognized for her contributions as directorsince 1997. She brings many skills and accomplish-ments to the North Shore Branch.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2000/2001Erica Barrett, President

Hugh Hetherington, Vice PresidentAlfred Kobbeltvedt, Treasurer

Alice Keating, SecretaryPeter Jones, Member-at-largeFlo Spratt, Member-at-large

Marion Ladkin, Member-at-large

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Institute would provide research, education, Audiol-ogy services, and clinics to residents of BritishColumbia. Through their hard work and dedicationthey have procured 65,000 square feet in a newcomplex at the Vancouver General Hospital site thatwill house this dream. Work with the Past Presidentof VGH and UBC Hospitals, Dr. Murray Morrison,has provided them with opportunities that thirteenyears ago did not exist. An outstanding aspect of thisdevelopment will be the contributions and integrationof varying medical and professional fields in acombined private and public facility. The RotaryClub has incorporated academic, teaching, adminis-trative, research, and clinical space requirements,including space for commercial and communityoffices.The contribution of $15-$20 million by the Vancou-ver Rotary Club has made this a possibility. TheInstitute will be coordinated with the Children’sHospital and will become the referral facility for theProvince. Ongoing outreach clinics around the main-land and in rural communities will be maintained andpublic awareness campaigns will be heightened.However, due to the recent disintegration of theVancouver/Richmond Health Board, plans to beginconstruction in 2001 have been put on hold. Mr. Birdwas pleased with the outstanding dedication demon-strated by the Rotarians of Vancouver and theMedical community and committed to seeing thisfacility become a reality. He has the involvement ofthe Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard ofHearing, the Vancouver Oral Centre and CHHA-BCto ensure the needs of the hard of hearing are beingmet in its development. His main focus is onawareness, long-term support, publicity, and advo-cacy on behalf of the hard of hearing in allcommunities.After such thrilling news the attendees were treatedto a wonderful dinner catered by the Delta Vancou-ver Airport Hotel. Following dinner we were pre-sented with Unheard Voices, written by DaleneUveges, writer and actress, and performed by GaelHannan, actress and President of CHHA OntarioChapter. The sketch portrayed various individualsand their emotions and actions as a hard of hearingindividual or caretaker of a hard of hearing indi-vidual. It powerfully portrayed the stigma anddiscrimination experienced by individuals with hear-ing loss. After the presentation, therapist Larry Greenwho works with hard of hearing individuals dis-cussed the “Human Condition” in order to stayconnected to family and friends as hearing loss is

What does CHHA National Do?This is the first in a series of articles by Erica Barretton your National Organization.For more information, you may visit the CHHAwebsite at www.chha.ca.λ CHHA advocates for the Hard of Hearing and late

deafened adults at the National level.λ They hold an Annual General Meeting and Conference

yearly. The past two years they were in New Brunswickand Newfoundland. Next year it will be held in Regina.(Getting closer)

λ Publishes and distributes the Listen/Ecoute magazine to allmembers

λ Elections for the Board are held every three years. TheBoard consists of people from coast to coast. The presentB.C. Board Member is the President of the VictoriaBranch, Bob Sochowski.

λ A major goal is to have all children tested for hearing loss,and see that this information is as readily available to theproper authorities as vaccination records. Address hearingloss at its core with early diagnosis.

λ The head office is in Ottawa and has three paid staffmembers.

λ They publish many educational documents. The NorthShore Branch will soon be able to have these publicationsavailable in our new library which will be up and runningin the near future.

λ They have a number of committees which I will report onover the next two newsletters.

λ Projects: The creation of the CHHA Foundation, Senior’sIndependence Program, Print Interpretation Study, BranchAccess Promoters, National Educational Campaign,Captioning and Captioning Quality, Access to Post-Secondary Education, Working and Coping with HearingLoss.

experienced. Part of staying connected is completinga grieving process because “if we don’t have thecapacity to grieve our capacity to love may shrink”.Mr. Green provided us with the realistic expectationsof what happens during a hearing loss experience andhow to successfully transform back into a fullycapable individual. He emphasized that everyone inthe family suffers the loss of hearing and needs todeal with the denial in order to fully recover.Early Saturday morning the attendees arrived back atthe hotel to continue learning at the conference. Themorning session, CHHA Branches in Action, pro-vided insight as to what other activities branches in

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VOLUNTEERINGYour National Board puts in numerous volunteerhours for us, and please remember that they are alsovolunteering for their own Branch or Chapter.STATISTICSλ 2020 Members as of March 31, 2000λ 45 Branchesλ 6 Chaptersλ 1 Provincial Officeλ B.C. has the most members at 688 and Ontario has 627.

NEW BRANCHES AND CHAPTERSλ Bulkley Valley, B.C. - August 1999λ Yukon Chapter - May 1999

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2000Through corresponding with the their Vice Presidentto find out if they had any formal long term plans, Ifound out that their Annual Report is available. Theydo not appear to have such plans but they do havegoals. Their annual report is available at theConference but is not distributed to Branches. I havealways been concerned about being isolated from theNational Organization, and took it upon myself toask some questions. At this time I found out I couldsend for their annual report. I believe that it isimportant for all Branches to receive the report andto know what took place at the Conference andA.G.M. even if there has to be an additional chargefor this. The Hard of Hearing know about theproblem of isolation and I feel strongly that it isimportant to stay connected at all levels. With thatsaid, let’s go on to the A.G.M.The A.G.M. was held in St. John’s, Newfoundland inMay 2000. The usual motions for minutes, reportsfrom president, treasurer and committees, etc. werepassed. I will comment on three of the other motions.Motion 8 - That the PROPOSED BOARD MOTIONBE ACCEPTED AS WRITTEN. This was carriedand I summarize it, as follows: The complete motionwas displayed on a flip chart. The concept is that thefamily unit membership will consist of a maximumof 2 people and all others living in the samehousehold. The family will receive 2 votes. Thismembership will cost $25.00 per year. At the presenttime, no consideration has been made for two

lifetime members residing at the same address, butthe idea will be noted. When the National Bylaws arereviewed in the future, the new Family UnitMembership will be considered.Motion 9 - THAT CHHA ESTABLISH A COM-MITTEE FOR PERSONS WITH A COCHLEARIMPLANT. This motion which was presented byEdmond Jarjour was carried.Motion 10 - THAT CHHA ESTABLISH A LEAD-ERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FOR THEPURPOSE OF TRAINING FUTURE LEADERS OFCHHA. This last piece of business was presented tothe A.G.M. by Leon Mills and was followed bydiscussion and carried.COMMITTEE REPORT - CAPTIONINGHighlights of the report are as follows:

λ A report has been filed with the CRTC on thepoor quality of captioning.

λ The Chair watches for renewals of licenses of thenetworks.

λ Complaints have been received about newsprogramming.

λ The importance of captioning was identified bymembers through an Angus Reid survey.

λ Captioning is important for accessibility for thehard of hearing.

The issue of the quality of or lack of captioning wasraised at the CHHA BC Conference in November.This will be covered in the January issue of TheLoop newsletter. If you have any immediate concernsabout captioning you can call CHHA BC toll free at1-866-888-2442 Voice or 1-866-8882443 TTY/VCOor you can email chha_bc@yahoo.ca.Instalment #2 on CHHA National will be publishedin the March issue of Mountain Ear.

DonationsThe Canadian Hard of Hearing Association -North Shore Branch gratefully acknowledges thereceipt of the following donations:Royal Canadian Legion Branch 60 $500.00Kiwanis Club of West Vancouver $500.00

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Your Branch really needs yourhelp!

As you know, we depend on your generous donationsto keep the Branch going, especially when you, themembers, want assistance with hearing problems,information about new medical and technology ad-vancements or simply meeting other fellow hard ofhearing people. So we are appealing to you to use theenclosed form and addressed envelope to send in yourdonation.Did you know that any donations up to $200.00 givesyou back about 25 cents on the dollar in income taxsavings and for the portion of donations exceeding$200.00 you receive back 43 cents for every dollardonated. Here are some examples of combined federaland provincial tax savings triggered by donations:A $100.00 donation creates a tax credit of $25.42A $200.00 donation creates a tax credit of $50.83A $300.00 donation creates a tax credit of $94.19We were asked what we do with the donations. If youhave attended the Annual General Meeting, you wouldhave received a copy of the Financial Statementswhich detailed the disbursements and the projects. Forexample we publish the Mountain Ear, we give andsponsor Assistive Listening Devices such as loopsystems in places where you, the members, congre-

gate, for example in churches, seniors homes, etc. Weconduct a highly successful Managing Your HearingLoss course, a self help program that has helped somany people. We print and distribute brochurescontaining a wealth of helpful information, both forour members and for the hearing public. And severalother projects.If you want, we would be pleased to add a copy ofthe financial statements together with the officialreceipt that we issue as a registered charitableorganization. Just leave a short note with yourcheque.Some of our members receive a growing number ofphone calls from people asking for donations and thequestion is how do you know if the callers arelegitimate charities?Ask for written information including full name,telephone and address, if the canvasser is employedas a professional fundraising agency, and, veryimportant, the charitable organization’s official taxnumber. At a minimum, ask the canvasser to sendyou a brochure. If the canvasser says that the charitydoes not have a brochure and that it cannot afford toprint a simple information brochure, chances are thatit is not a legitimate charity. Look carefully at thename of the charity. Some fraudulent operators usenames similar to registered legitimate charities. If youhave the slightest apprehension, phone the BetterBusiness Bureau, or Phonebusters at 1-888-495-8501or visit their website at www.phonebusters.com.Alfred Kobbeltvedt, Treasurer, CHHA North ShoreBranch

Next Members’ Meeting.The next members’ meeting will be held onMonday, February 19 at 7:00 PM at St. John’sAnglican Church, 220 West 8th Street, NorthVancouver. In keeping with our theme for theyear, Prevention of Hearing Loss, we plan tohave a speaker from the Workman’s Compensa-tion Board speaking on Hearing Loss Prevention.The meeting will be followed by a social withrefreshments. We will also have ALD’s ondisplay and available for demonstration.Please mark February 19 on your calendarnow.

THANK YOU MEMBERSThe Board would like to thank all its memberswho have renewed their membership for 2000/2001 year. Your support is greatly appreciatedand helps us to carry on with our efforts to makeyour community more hearing accessible.The North Shore Branch forwards the Nationalportion of your membership fee to CHHA inOttawa and this ensures that you continue toreceive the LISTEN Magazine published byCHHA National. You will also continue toreceive our North Shore Branch newsletterMountain Ear and the many other benefits ofbelonging to our organization.

RECYCLING OF USED HEARINGAIDS

If you have any old hearing aid that you wouldlike recycled to needy people or third worldcountries, please bring them along to ourmeeting.

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