As we’ve mentioned many times, one of our favorite things about summer is that it’s time for Ear Community’s Microtia and Atresia Summer Picnics. This year, in honor of the amazing connections that happen at these picnics, we’ll be sharing the experiences of attendees. We’ll start with an overview from the Founder of Ear Community, Melissa Tumblin.
“We had 220 people RSVP for our California picnic that took place in Pleasanton, California on June 21, 2014. We had Cochlear, Oticon Medical, and Stryker CMF as sponsors who attended to help families learn about their options. We had an anaplastologist there helping families not just learn about prosthetic ears, but to also physically see and touch them. Many people tune out the option for a prosthetic ear until they see how real they look and how well they can be matched to skin. Many times, in a line up, people can not pick out who is wearing a prosthetic ear because they look that real and blended,” Melissa explained. “We also had Dr. Joseph Roberson who joined us from the California Ear Institute as one of the world’s leading Otologists/Neurotologists for atresia repair and also Dr. Grant Fairbanks who helped families learn more about the rib graft option for external ear reconstruction.”