About Us

In June 2022, the first activities for the Help for Hearing project started with a donation of a few pair of used hearing aids given to the Concordia Rotary in Argentina by several members of the HLAA - Chester County Chapter (HLAA-Chesco). At that time, Steve Shugarts, the HLAA-Chesco President contacted Celia Esplugas because of her previous connection with the West Chester Sunrise Rotary Club. In September 2022, the President of the Concordia Rotary, Dr. Gilabert, was attending a professional meeting in Philadelphia and was invited by Celia and Jim Kane to attend the Chapter picnic. Dr. Gilibert was very thankful for the hearing aids donation. This effort started a conversation between Jim Kane and Steve Shugarts about whether
HLAA-Chesco could do more to help those in need of a hearing aid but could not afford them. This led to research into website reviews of what other HLAA Chapters, government agencies, and other nonprofit groups did to support low-income people with a hearing loss. The search led to a better understanding of what happens to hearing aids when people receive a new pair or had a relative with hearing aids, who passed away. In March 2023, Jim and Steve launched a program to help the underserved receive refurbished hearing aids. At first, it was mostly making inquiries into different health agencies and hearing support professionals to determine if anything like this was being done elsewhere. This research indicated that there was an ongoing project in New Jersey sponsored by the New Jersey Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing called the NJ Hearing Aid Project that provides low-income seniors access to reconditioned hearing aids. Medicare and most insurance programs do not cover the cost of hearing aids for seniors. Also identified was a national project administered by the Hearing
Charities of America to get donated hearing aids to low-income people. While researching the New Jersey project, Steve touched base with Julia Carano, who was the founder and administrator of the Hearts4Hearing project in New Jersey. That project uses Montclair State University to refurbish and dispense the hearing aids to those in need as does the NJ Hearing Aid Project. In April 2023, Steve and Jim developed a working strategy to begin phase 1 of the Help4Hearing (H4H) project. It began by collecting hearing aids in a few local senior living communities, senior centers, churches and libraries and posting flyers there about the project as well as in other locations. Within a few months, we were able to collect over 50 hearing aids and assistive listening devices. In June 2023, we met with Jason Camis, the recently appointed Director of the Sertoma organization and the Hearing Charities of America (HCOA) Hearing Aid Project (HAP), and we developed a relationship. This connection inspired us to move H4H into the next phase of the project where we began redirecting the donated hearing aids to the Hearing Charities of America (HCOA). We continued our collection effort until later in the year when we helped a Sunrise project by donating 30 hearing aids to a Honduras clinic where Dr. George Trajtenberg and his team had donated free medical services. Additionally, we were able to provide more hearing aids to the Concordia Rotary. As the end of 2023 neared, the number of used hearing aids that we collected significantly increased, and we decided to ramp up our efforts to find a method to dispense them to the underserved in Chester County although continuing to send hearing aids to HCOA. At the same time, we started working with West Chester University Community Support Services and they volunteered an intern to help us build a website and advance the marketing of H4H. As we began 2024, we were firmly established as a collection point for used hearing aids to be refurbished and given to low-income recipients. By March 2024, H4H had collected over 200 hearing aids and processed them to be delivered to those in need. Although we have had limited success to date in our efforts to establish a connection with a local Audiologist to oversee the testing of low-income patients and the distribution of hearing aids to them, we are slowly making headway to identify audiologists that might support the project. As we continue to receive pre-owned hearing aids, we’re hopeful to have the final phase of the project implemented in the coming months and be able to dispense refurbished hearing aids directly to the underserved in Chester County who are in need.