EURO-CIU NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2023
Lehnhardt Foundation with Online Counselling Centre for Russian-speaking immigrant families
Since February 2022 Liubov Wolowik (member of the board of the Lehnhardt Foundation) has been offering support for parents with children wearing a CI or adult CI-recipients from all over Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and Poland. The communication takes place via phone, WhatsApp, by email or in Zoom meetings.
Our main activities include:
- contacting employees from social service organizations in various cities to facilitate entry and search for an adequate apartment, organizing appointments with ENT doctors, CI clinics, hearing aid acousticians, service points for CI, CIC centres for inpatient rehabilitation after CI surgery, early intervention, kindergartens and schools
- translation on the phone in case google translate doesn’t work
- explanation and translation of letters from various organizations regarding the hearing evaluation of the child
- delivery of speech processors and / or spare parts for the CI system for the time when the family does not yet have any insurance
Here are three examples from many more:
- A young mother, Rimma, who had her cochlear implant for one year. She couldn’t yet understand speech on the phone. Therefore, Liubov organized appointments with the audiologist, with the University Hospital in Frankfurt and also professional rehabilitation. She participated in the phone conversations and wrote the translation into Russian by WhatsApp.
- For a mother with her son, Serhi, who wears a CI. Liubov established contact with a social service organization in Hessen to facilitate immigration and find a place to live. We then provided a speech processor and spare parts to a hearing aid acoustician in Friedberg (close to Frankfurt) because the boy´s SP was broken, and the family had no insurance yet.
- Another boy, Maxim, lives in a village far from the school for the hearing-impaired children in Stegen (near Freiburg im Breisgau in the South West of Germany). He could only attend school if he stayed at the boarding school. This was not acceptable for his parents. It took multiple and long conversations with the mother and the hearing aid acoustician. Translation of the documentation was prepared for the new school on site and rehabilitation was organized in the CIC Center Frankfurt. We provided spare parts for the old speech processor because they are not available and cannot be ordered with all hearing aid acousticians in Germany. The speech processor is only four years old and therefore it is too early to get an upgrade in Germany.
Volunteers are welcome!
Currently the support is organized by only one person. Number of requests in 18 months: over 250 (10-15 per month).
Do you speak English/German and Russian? We look forward to your support! Please click here to email.
Liubov Wolowik