Dr. Ashley Huerta, a Clinical Audiologist at Denver Ear Associates, participated in a November mission trip to Comitan, Mexico through the Colorado Neurological Institute (CNI) World Hearing Network. Comitan is the fourth largest city in Mexico near the Mexico and Guatemala border. She was joined by Amy Nelloms, an Audiology student participating in an externship at Ashley’s practice.
ReSound worked with Ashley to donate a number of hearing aids to support her mission work. According to a recent article by Tiffany Chin, the mission served both adults and children with hearing related disorders. Mission volunteers fitted 110 patients with hearing aids. Together Ashely and Amy fit all the hearing aids donated by ReSound in 2 and a half days!
Ashley adds, “It was such an eye-opening experience. People traveled from far away and waited for hours, sometimes all day, to see us and be fitted with a hearing aid. It was very gratifying to see the immediate benefits a person received after being fitted. Although, some cases were emotional, such as seeing a 20 year-old who has bilateral profound hearing loss receive no sound awareness from a hearing aid and ultimately having to tell the parents we cannot help their child. Still, all the people we worked with were so grateful that we were there. The children and adults we were able to help by means of surgery or fitting them with a hearing aid make the trip one of the most rewarding activities I have participated in and I can’t wait for our next trip.”
About the Colorado Neurological Institute: CNI’s World Hearing Network is an international volunteer organization of physicians and medical professionals dedicated to helping to alleviate hearing loss and diseases of the ear worldwide by empowering local doctors and audiologists and transferring state-of-the-art medical knowledge, training and tools. Established in 1989 World Hearing Network has sponsored nearly 25 missions to developing nations including Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Vietnam, Honduras, Mexico and Jamaica.
Great job everyone!