HEARCARE CONNECTION INC

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 3,000 patients across a diverse demographic. Our hearing clinic has grown from six days per month to 4.5 days per week with the potential to expand to five days per week in 2020. In addition to the patients served in our clinic, we have provided over 6,800 hearing screenings via outreach efforts, and our patients have given over 10,900 hours of community service as part of our Circle of Giving model. Our Hearing Aid Donation Program has collected 4,000 used hearing aids, many of which are reconditioned and then fit on underserved, hearing impaired individuals in our community. GiveHear is committed to growing our service reach to the underserved and implementing programs as needed to eliminate access deserts for needed audiology services.

Programs: GiveHear has reorganized its programs for 2020 to clarify program qualifications and services provided. In 2019, GiveHear served 780 unique patients, acquired 504 new patients, and completed 1,555 total appointments. Our main office in downtown Fort Wayne has increased clinic operations to 4.5 days per week in 2020 and will soon welcome a second part-time audiologist to help manage our growth. All clinical services are performed by our licensed audiologists.

 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 also offers this program on a monthly basis – and onsite – at Salem Manor in Fort Wayne and Vista Community Health Center in Goshen, Indiana. GiveHear fit 162 hearing aids in 2019 - 92 lives improved through the Gift of Hearing!
 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. GiveHear patients and their families contributed 1,663 volunteer hours in 2019.
 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, 112 babies were tested in 2019 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, Associated Churches, and Lions Club. Screened 1,560 children in 2019 and improved our follow-up testing rate to 20%.
 Cancer Treatment and Hospice Loaner Programs: Partnerships with Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana, Heartland Hospice, and Visiting Nurse 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 20 patients in 2019.
 Cochlear Implant and Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) Programs: Provision of subspecialty audiology services to eliminate access deserts in northeast Indiana. GiveHear is the only regional provider for APD testing and diagnosis as well as the only regional center offering support for Med-El, one of the three implant systems used in the U.S., cochlear implant recipients.

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.

The average cost of a pair of hearing aids is $3,000-$6,000, and most insurance does not cover hearing devices. Traditional Medicare does not provide any hearing aid coverage, and traditional Medicaid only provides a single hearing aid for adults. Costs for batteries and other maintenance can total $350-$500 a year. In Allen County, 50,000 residents live at our below the Federal Poverty Level. GiveHear recognizes that tens of thousands more live in households at higher FPL brackets that do not possess the assets or savings to pay $3,000-$6,000 out of pocket for hearing aids.

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 250% 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. In 2020, GiveHear aims to introduce three new programs; an ALICE Program, a Patient Reconnection Program, and a Patient Navigator Program. Respectively, these programs are designed to better serve ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) households, reconnect with existing GiveHear patients who may need additional assistance to continue their hearing healthcare journey, and help our patient family navigate and utilize community resources available to them.