Donate your old hearing aids to charity
I was tidying out some drawers the other day and I found my old hearing aids. I have some Siemens ITCs and two pairs of Starkey ITEs - I’m sure I also have at least one pair of BTEs somewhere but they didn’t turn up. My first thought was to throw them into the bin with the rest of the stuff from the drawer but I remembered reading something somewhere about charities that recycle old hearing aids and give them to people who aren’t able to own a new pair.
Even though some of these aids are very old they are still in good working order so I might as well let someone else benefit from them. A quick Google showed that the Starkey Hearing Foundation are running a recycling scheme. Starkey’s Hear Now webpage has an address for postal hearing aid donations. This same page also has an application form should you wish to receive a donated aid. They are also looking for hearing professionals who could volunteer their time and expertise to help with the fitting and follow up of Hear Now clients.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any schemes like Starkey’s Hear Now that are running in the UK. This is a shame. If you know of any such UK scheme then please add a comment and I’ll link to them. Thanks.
Do you keep a set of back-up hearing aids? I’m always terrified that one of my aids will give out on a weekend when my audiologist’s office is closed and I absolutely HAVE TO HEAR for an event.
Cindy
That’s a good suggestion. My friends and I all use aids. We have some old and broken aids, but where to denote them?
Brynn
Vist my blog
http://www.deafloves.com/blogs
I stumbled across your hearing aid donation quandary as I’m in the same boat. Help the Aged had a Hearing Aid Appeal earlier this year but I can’t track down whether it’s still going…
Hearing Aid Appeal
Help The Aged
Freepost Lon-13616
Alternatively, this Lions group (pride?) have collected and distributed over 5000 hearing aids. E-mail contact details on…
http://www.hastingslions.org.uk/
Good luck!
Postscript: Here’s some more detail - it looks as though Hasting Lions are national coordinators…
http://www.circularsound.co.uk/lions.htm
Paul.
@Cindy
I will definitely keep a pair as a back-up. I’ve been lucky in that I have never had a pair of hearing aids break on me (hope I haven’t jinxed it by writing that!).
@Paul
Thanks for the info. I’ll check out that link and update the main article. Thanks.
U can donate hearing aids to your hometown Lions club.
I have your site for its useful and funny content and simple design.
There needs to be a grass roots organization formed to get hearing aids directly to those who need them. No charitable organization, including the Lion’s Club, will help anyone who needs a hearing aid. I would take any old hearing aid from anyone’s trash to at least give my 80 year old father a chance to hear again. He has become increasingly deaf for years and now it is almost impossible for him to hear anyone speaking to him. Unless I want to trade my one car payment for hearing aid payments (and that is a conservative estimate), there is nothing to be done. If anyone can help me, I am in Syracuse, NY and my e-mail is keatsy9264@yahoo.com. If anyone can donate ONE old hearing aid to my father, please get in touch with me.
One more note - everyone always thinks there is help for people - there’s an organization out there, there’s this group or that place to get help. Taking care of my elderly parents, I’ve found, unless I want them to be wards of the state, which I do not, there IS NO ONE. There never is. I’ve applied for countless things and been told to call a number of people. At the end of the day… we are still alone and unaided. So - if you run across someone who needs help - don’t wait for the Red Cross or Catholic Charities or a government agency to help them - DON’T ASSUME ANYONE WILL HELP THEM. DO IT YOURSELF.