In September 2021, The Neumark Foundation began funding a South-East England based charity called Chloe’s and Sophie’s Special Ears Fund (CSSEF) which helps deaf children, to deliver the fantastic service that they provide in South-East England, initially to two counties in North Wales, Flintshire and Wrexham. The work carried out by this inspirational charity includes supporting schools with awareness raising, to create a supportive community for Deaf children, as well as providing advice, guidance and resources, to enable them to appropriately support and enable deaf children to achieve their true potential, through a full and enjoyable learning experience.

As a foundation, we like to be able to work alongside the projects we support, wherever possible, to help in any way we can, to maximise the outcomes achieved by these projects for their beneficiaries, so when our CEO, Rebecca Prytherch, was recently approached by Karen Jackson, CEO for CSSEF with an issue, she was keen to do everything possible to help out.

The issue was that Deaf children in the schools they are supporting, are all too often faced with being offline in school hours, as a result of the batteries in their hearing aid or Cochlear Implants running out. Karen told Rebecca that parents are being called to go into schools, if the teacher is made aware by the child, that their batteries have run out, in cases where the parent hasn’t put spare batteries into their child’s bag.  

Deaf children are issued two packs of batteries at a time by their Audiology Department, which only last for up to 5-6 weeks if worn with a Radio Aid, even less if they have Cochlear Implant 675 batteries.  Parents do not have enough packs of batteries issued to them to have spares to keep at school.  It’s vital to have a spare pack of batteries in every place possible, as you never know when they will run out, and it’s not always possible to keep the same bag or purse on you at all times.  Having spares in key places reduces any anxious feelings the child or parent may have.

So far, every school, apart from one, that has been visited by CSSEF in Wrexham and Flintshire, has informed them that they don’t keep spare batteries at school, and that they don’t have the resources to be able to offer this, but would really welcome the opportunity to do so.  If batteries run out, it isn’t always possible for parents to pop into school at a moments’ notice, and so being able to hold spare batteries would be incredibly valuable for the schools, but more importantly for the children impacted, and their families.

Karen Jackson said “The ideal solution is simple, that every school in Wrexham and Flintshire, with Deaf children, holds two packs of spare batteries for each child.  The location of the batteries would be in the School Reception, safely locked away, and all deaf children would be made aware of this. Also providing the Teacher of the Deaf team with surplus batteries would ensure that they can also top up any spare packs in schools when visiting Deaf children. In addition, the provision of training for teachers working with a Deaf child, on how to change the batteries, would enable them to quickly, and easily, change batteries, without having to ask the parents to pop in.”  

As always, the greatest barrier is cost. With rising costs of living, parents don’t have the financial resources to implement this, and the schools don’t have the budget. However, batteries running out, puts Deaf children at risk of missing out on learning, when this happens in their school hours.  

Rebecca decided that this was not good enough, “I spoke to the contacts I know, one being Adrian Dowling, from Colwyn Bay Hearing Practice. They are an independent, hearing care specialist, that I have personally used for over 20 years.  They are suppliers of the very latest hearing care equipment, and world-leading brands. Adrian put me in touch with Suzie Bryant, who is Head of marketing at Starkey UK, a supplier of hearing aids. Starkey UK have now generously donated 500 packs of hearing aid batteries, to help overcome this issue for children in these schools.”

Suzie Bryant from Starkey UK said “At Starkey, we make innovative hearing technology, but caring is our core value, and has always been at the heart of everything we do. It’s our “why” and something that we weave into every area of our company. Starkey was founded on the principles of helping others. Our passion for changing the world starts with our product innovation and comes to life through the people and communities we serve. Starkey is committed to helping our local communities by helping them to access technologies and hearing support so they can hear better and live better.”

Karen from CSSEF, is absolutely delighted with the response, “We are over the moon with how quickly our conversation with Rebecca CEO of The Neumark Foundation, to raise this important issue, has turned into a donation of 500 packs of batteries from Starkey Hearing UK to break down this barrier for Deaf children.  We can get to work straight away to reduce the anxiety and mental health that Deaf children have around their batteries running out, and providing the necessary training for teachers.”

 

On behalf of The Neumark Foundation, Karen Jackson, and the team at CSSEF, as well as the schools and children, who will now hugely benefit, we would like to thank Suzie Bryant and everyone at Starkey UK for their incredible generosity that will make such an incredible difference for so many children and families.