The Hearing House relies heavily on donations to keep some of our specialised non-funded services up and running. These donations can be financial, or in some cases, volunteers give us their time free of charge to finish projects so clinicians can focus on supporting clients face-to-face.
Over the past 18 months, 15-year-old Maya Selvaratnam (the daughter of Caroline Selvaratnam, our adult programme manager) has been volunteering at The Hearing House every week to complete both her Duke of Edinburgh and Girl Guiding community hours. In her first project, she digitised all of the adult team’s rehabilitation resources so clients could book and change their appointments online.
During lockdowns this was an essential part of our service, but it has now become so much more.
“It’s amazing knowing that a job I thought was really quite simple has made such a difference,” says Maya who’s in Year 11 at Epsom Girls Grammar School.
“I loved it when Bronwyn (one of the clinicians) told me how well the online clinic has been received, and how much her clients appreciated not having to travel to Auckland for appointments.”
In addition, over the last few months, Maya has been cleaning and checking all our donated parts and devices, including processors, dry boxes and cords, to be given away. These are all essential elements to a Cochlear Implant, and means that clients can now access additional equipment to use as backups or replacements.
Thanks to Maya’s efforts, many of our clients have been able to receive upgraded equipment which represents a huge saving for many people.
We’re very grateful to all our clients who donated their old equipment to assist those in need, and to Maya for her help and initiative to support sustainability at The Hearing House.
