Evelina, a beautiful girl aged 3 and a half, deaf, she became a bilateral CI user in January . Until now she was been wearing cochlear implant on her right ear and she has been attending therapy sessions together with her mother and grandmother at Koala NGO, based in Bucharest. Her parents are both deaf and communicate through sign language, but they wanted their child has access to sound and learn how to speak. Recently, her sister was born and their family routines are changing. One day, she was left unattended for a few moments and she threw her new processor in the toilet and flushed the water. The processor was gone and the family couldn’t afford a new one. Both of Evelina’s parents are deaf, the family income is provided only by the father and the family is struggling financially, with low-income. The family lives together with the maternal grandparents who have normal hearing.
Alice Popa, founder and therapist at Koala NGO, reached out to Lehnhardt Stiftung with the hope they might assist in securing second-hand processor for Evelina. Monika Lehnhardt and Liubov Wolowik were very receptive to our request and shortly after getting in contact, they sent a new processor for Evelina, who is now able to hear again with both her ears. It was very important for Evelina to regain access to sound again because she is very recently implanted on her second ear and the period after implant activation is crucial in order to ensure auditive-verbal rehabilitation through adequate auditive stimulation.
After a few online meetings with Monika and Liubov we managed to arrange the shipping of a ref. processor for Evelina, who is now proudly wearing her new processor. Evelina is now wearing both her processors secured with the safety cord. Evelina’s family and Koala NGO are deeply grateful for the kindness, openness and promptitude they found in the interaction with Lehnhardt Stiftung.
Often, the low-income families in Romania struggle with securing the best hearing technology for their hearing-loss children, especially when it comes to hearing-aids, because their cost is not fully covered by the National Insurance Company. Koala NGO is trying to help as many families with hearing-loss children as possible and arrange the safe and efficient transfer of any devices they might need.
Koala NGO hopes that this successful event has marked only the beginning of a close collaboration with Lehnhardt Stiftung, with the aim of providing access to the world of sounds to any child who is in need of a technological hearing solution.
With gratitude,
Alice Popa – president of Koala RAV