Educating teachers and children on the importance of using FM systems in the classroom came up many times at our Patient Advocacy Workshop. Here’s a great video by St. John’s Medical Center that does just that. This is a great tool that shows the difference a FM system can make for a child with hearing loss. Share it with your children and their teachers.
What would any 6-year-old boy say about being featured in a comic book? “It’s awesome,” said Anthony Smith about being the inspiration for the Marvel superhero “Blue Ear.”
Anthony has been through a winding journey in the quest to help him hear. As part of that journey, Anthony’s mother, Christina D’Allesandro, even helped him become a comic book superhero.
Early on, Anthony realized that other kids his age, and more importantly, superheroes in comic books and on television, didn’t wear “Blue Ears,” the nickname his family gave his hearing device. This made Anthony feel different than other children. His mother, Christina, assured him that superheroes did wear hearing devices too. Although she didn’t know for sure if she could find such superheroes, Christina didn’t stop at just saying they exist.
On October 31, after a several-month-long battle, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ruled that Bone Anchored Hearing Systems and auditory osseointegrated implants (AOIs) will remain a covered benefit for Medicare enrollees with qualifying indications.
As many of you know and have experienced, Bone Anchored Hearing Systems (BAHS) are an important and life-changing tool to fight against hearing loss that cannot be duplicated by traditional hearing aids. More than 100,000 people are currently benefitting from a BAHS.