RC St. Lucia Teams Up With The Starkey Hearing Foundation

Posted by Sean Paddy on May 23, 2017
For most of us being able to hear and see properly is taken for granted. This is not so for over 360 million people who have disabling hearing loss. Out of these, 32 million are children. The Starkey Foundation’s goal is to help these people. After an initial presentation to the Rotary Club of Saint Lucia earlier in the Rotary year it was Saint Lucia’s turn to be added to the list of countries receiving assistance.
 
 
 
 
 
At a two-day workshop facilitated by RC St. Lucia, approximately 200 people, including several children, benefited from hearing tests and the provision of hearing-aids. The initiative was spearheaded by Club President Selma and supported by Club Past President Frank, as well as, telecommunications provider FLOW which donated and will maintain a phone line that will be used for a hotline to assist individuals with problems with their hearing-aids.
 
 
Chalese Buttars (pictured above) – Director of International Programs at the Starkey Hearing Foundation – was an integral part of the workshop and in testing the hearing of several children. She is an audiologist who was introduced to humanitarian audiology and the Starkey Hearing Foundation when she participated in a hearing mission in Peru in 2013 while a student at Utah State University.  Today, Chalese helps with the coordination, education and training of the Starkey Hearing Foundation's 51 programs that cover 47 countries throughout the globe. 
 
 
About the Starkey Hearing Foundation:
 
As a young man, William F. Austin, founder of Starkey Hearing Foundation, realized his true calling in life was helping people hear, and that by doing so, he could have a lasting impact on the world. For more than 50 years, Austin has been providing the gift of hearing to people in need, and to formalize the philanthropic efforts of Starkey Hearing Technologies, he officially founded Starkey Hearing Foundation in 1984. 
 
"Life is made up of sharing ideas, dreams and goals. Hearing is vital to that. Giving one person the gift of hearing may seem like a small act of kindness, but it has a compounding effect on the future of our world." (William F. Austin)
 
Austin built the organization on his vision — So the World May Hear. Over the last three decades, he has expanded the Foundation’s reach from Minnesota across the United States and around the world. With the help of thousands of volunteers and supporters. In just 30 years,  the Starkey Hearing Foundation has assisted 1.1 million people in need in over 30 countries.
 
For more information on the Starkey Hearing Foundation and to learn more about their programs, visit www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.