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This Month's
Chapter Meeting on Zoom
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Did you miss last month's meeting?
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Our speaker was Paul Morillo, representative from Get Set Up. Get Set Up is an online and social community built exclusively for older adults. Paul shared with us that the program offers over 200 classes, ranging from basic technology classes to healthy living and topical social hours. Classes are taught live by retired professionals, specifically for older adults. Classes are recorded and provided upon request. He also showed us how to register for classes. In response to a question regarding whether the classes were captioned, he shared they are working on it and will provide closed captions in about 90 days. To find the website and explore or register for classes, just use your internet search engine (or use Google) to find Get Set Up or type www.getsetup.io
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As reported last month, Ram Kakkar has agreed to become Treasurer, due to the resignation of Craig Bowlby from that position. This left the Vice President position vacant. Our bylaws allow the Board to fill an empty officer position; Linda DeGuire graciously accepted the nomination and the Board voted her in. Thank you, Linda!
Members of the Board continue to make calls to Chapter members to check in with them. If you haven’t gotten a call and want to just check-in, send an email to info@hlaa-lb-lakewood. It’s been a long year of not seeing familiar faces. We miss all of you!
The Board has an ongoing discussion about changes to the Informer newsletter. Katie Wright, Editor, would like it to be entirely electronic (unfortunately no print option), emailed to members and posted on our chapter website. The discussion is centering on how to bring the Informer into the 21st century, avoid copyright issues, and still meet the needs of our members who prefer (need) a printed copy.
Would you please help us decide what direction to go with the Informer? The Board needs your input. We invite you to think about what the newsletter means to you taking into consideration the advantages and disadvantages listed below.
Then please help us by completing a short survey at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/523WMW3
Thank you!
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Advantages of an Online-only newsletter
- We are not restricted by space: by linking to online articles (rather than reproducing them for print), readers can read entire articles, regardless of length, at their original source.
- By linking directly to articles, we avoid copyright issues
- Easy and immediate—read on your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
- Can be easily shared with family and friends by simply forwarding a link to them.
- Takes us significantly less time to prepare the newsletter. Between Ilga and Katie, producing the printable newsletter uses at least 10 labor-hours; the online-only version takes half that time.
Advantages of a Printable (PDF) newsletter
- Any articles we select are included in their entirety, including links to the source.
- The newsletter can be read online or easily printed from the PDF.
- Printed newsletters can be mailed to subscribers who are unable to access the internet.
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Says Katie: “Plainly speaking… we need to move into the 21st century while still meeting the needs of all of our members. Our chapter needs to grow to survive and we need younger members to do so. Emailing a PDF newsletter is not going to attract younger, more tech-savvy people. Working people especially want to click on what interests them and then move on. A modern version of the newsletter could be instrumental.”
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This is Connor’s 8th year as our Walk4Hearing Team Captain for the team Connor’s Beach Buddies!
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The money we raise for the Walk4Hearing is vital to our Chapter. We use it to pay for captioning services at our meetings.
You can donate online by clicking here:
Connor’s Beach Buddies
or
Mail a check payable to “Long Beach Walk4Hearing” to:
Katie Wright 7802 Kingbee St. Downey CA 90242
The HLAA Walk4Hearing is a national program that reaches out to the more than 48 million people with hearing loss, their families, friends, and hearing health professionals to raise awareness about hearing loss, good hearing health, and communication access.
Thank you for supporting our chapter!
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AB435 is a bill in the California legislature to require hearing aid dispensers to inform their clients in writing that the hearing aids they are purchasing have “proprietary” software. The use of proprietary software severely limits the choices a consumer has for repair or programming adjustments. For instance, if you are traveling, or the professional you bought your hearing aids from has gone out of business, you could be out of luck obtaining even a simple repair or a tweak to programming. The bill does not eliminate “locked hearing aids” but it does require consumer notification.
The bill's first Committee Hearing is scheduled for April 6. HLAA-CA sent an email detailing how you can show your support for this legislation. Take Action!
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Spring allergies and weather changes:
Are your ears ready?
Contributed by Joy Victory, managing editor, Healthy Hearing
Last updated March 16, 2021
Springtime brings barometric pressure changes, seasonal allergies and wet weather—all of which can impact people who wear hearing aids...
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Hearing loss statistics at a glance
Hearing loss is the third most common chronic physical condition behind arthritis and heart disease, affecting people of all ages. This is what hearing loss looks like by the numbers.
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Does tinnitus cause cognitive issues?
Tinnitus, one of the world’s most common hearing conditions, is known to impact a person’s hearing and well-being, but can it also affect a person’s cognitive performance? Many people with tinnitus think it can, based on various reports of concentration problems due to tinnitus. Researchers may think it can too…
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Several HLAA Chapters in California are holding Zoom Meetings this month. Find something to interest you!
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Saturday, April 10, 1:00 p.m. PT
Hosted by HLAA California
Dana Sunderland, HLAA Los Angeles chapter member, will moderate a panel on coping with hearing loss featuring couples, married and dating, best friends and parent-child challenges! Panelists will come from a mixed environment— those who are hearing and others who have hearing loss. It’s going to be an entertaining and provocative discussion on the challenges of mixed relationships. Bring any questions you may have regarding your own communication/relationship issues, and please invite hearing family members, friends and others to attend!
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Save the Date! June 24-36, 2021
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Have you always wanted to go to an HLAA Convention? Here's your chance!
HLAA 2021 Convention is going virtual! Join us for the world's premier event for people with hearing loss - safely from the comfort of your own home! This three-day event will be jam-packed with the same robust educational workshops, innovative HAA exhibitors, and unique networking opportunities you are used to having at HLAA Conventions.
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