Hearing Associates Newsletter
Spring 2020
Health Report
A message from Dr. Girard…
As we continue to monitor news and information surrounding the coronavirus, our highest priority remains supporting our patients and the staff at Hearing Associates. Our thoughts are with all those impacted, as well as those caring for others. 

We are HEAR for you! Our office is here to serve our loyal patients and their needs. Please call our office so we can find the best way to assist you during this time. We are offering curbside, no contact appointments and telehealth appointments available for your hearing health needs. We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time and look forward to seeing you very soon!
How a Pandemic Allowed Us to Improve:
Hearing Associates has always been dedicated to improving the quality of life of those in our community through better hearing. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we had to temporarily suspend our services for the health of our patients and our staff. We used this time to develop ways to improve access to our care, continue our education, and redevelop office protocols. We have been working tirelessly to figure out ways to continue to provide best patient care. These are some of the changes we have implemented:
Curbside service. We now offer no-contact curbside services for hearing aid services and repairs; and hearing aid supply pick up. 

Telehealth appointments. These appointments offer face-to-face communication with your provider, enabling us to provide counseling, education, or device troubleshooting from the comfort of your own home! With today’s technology, we are even able to make remote hearing aid adjustments! (Requires an internet connection and/or smart device).

Continued education. Our providers used this time to enroll in webinars to learn more about what today’s technology has to offer our patients, current research on hearing and brain health, and so much more! 

Infection control protocol. Due to COVID-19, infection control is more important than ever. We are utilizing face masks and gloves during any patient interaction, we are disinfecting all surfaces before and after any patient contact, and we are practicing social distancing when able. We also will require all patients who enter our office to wear a mask to protect themselves and our staff. Our office is cleaner than it ever has been and we are dedicated to keeping you safe and healthy.
Now offering remote appointments!
Need help right now? We are pleased to offer unique ways to make adjustments to your hearing aids while still maintaining social distancing. Hearing aid adjustments could be remotely done from the safety of your home, or from a safe distance at our office. Please call our office and we will be happy to discuss the best option to get you hearing as best as possible.
Consider the addition of accessories to hear your best!
During uncertain times, staying connected with family and friends is more important than ever! We know that understanding speech while someone is wearing a mask can be extremely difficult. We suspect that you may be using your computer or phone more frequently in order to video chat with friends and loved ones. We also understand that you’ve probably found yourself watching more television lately now that you’ve been spending more time at home! 

If you find that these situations are still difficult for you, we have options for you! There are remote microphones, bluetooth dongles, television adapters, and many other accessories, that all can help you hear the best in those more difficult situations. Let us help you explore the latest advances in hearing technology to find a solution that will be customized to your specific needs. 
How can you help us?
Social distancing is a tough phrase, since we are so inclined to be social people. If you haven’t liked us on Facebook , now is a great time!  We post interesting articles about your hearing daily and we will be trying to throw some more personal updates from our staff on there as well! Dr. Jones recently posted our Top 5 Communication Tips for communicating with your loved ones. With the use of masks limiting our ability to lipread and social distancing requiring us to communicate with people at a greater distance than we typically would, implementing these communication strategies is more important than ever!

I'm sure you can imagine that this month long closure of our business has been tough on us. This is a great time for you to show us your support by leaving us a review on Google or Facebook and let everyone know how much you appreciate our service.

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What have we been up to while the office was closed?

While our office doors have been closed, we created an online store so that our patients are easily able to order their supplies directly from our website.







We also renovated our Gurnee office (with some help from Dr. Girard’s son, Bauer) and we cannot wait to have you back in to see it! We’ve missed our patients and look forward to seeing you back in the office soon.