GPCIA Newsletter

#12, August 2006

Contents

Message from GPCIA President

Membership Application

Audiologist's Corner

2006 Retreat Report

Retreat Pictures

Retreat Feedback:

A Newcomer's Perspective

Comments & Contact Information Request

July Board of Directors Meeting and Picnic

St. Louis Research Camp for CI Students

October Picnic

Updates on Past Members:

Skeet and Jean Ellington

Foy and Betty Johnston

InSight Cinema Schedule

Board of Directors Contact Numbers

Thanks for all your support, hard work and efforts to help make the 2006 retreat a very successful event this year. I trust that each of you will come alongside and help us to present another great retreat in 2007.

As you know, everything that we do for the membership takes money, and we have included a Membership Application in this Newsletter. I am asking each of you who have not renewed your GPCIA Membership to do so as soon as possible. The Family Membership dues are only $15.00 per year. All of you who attend the retreat each June pay your dues at that time, and it is greatly appreciated, but I am asking those of you who were unable to attend the retreat this year and wish to continue your membership to please complete the Membership Application and mail it to GPCIA, P. O. Box 1172, Tucker, GA 30085-1172. We welcome your participation and we will be able to update your information in our database; this will also save us a lot of money spent each year on postage when retreat packets are returned to us marked "Address Unknown."

We are already working on the 2007 retreat and hope to be able to present a retreat that you will be proud of, but we need your input, so let us know what you would like to hear and see at the retreat by sending a note to the Editor of the Newsletter or call or write directly to me, Richard M. Bowman, President, 2610 Rocky Drive SW., Rocky Face, GA 30740-9094 or send me an E-Mail to rbowman@alltel.net.

The Georgia Peach Cochlear Implant Association, an Affiliate Chapter of the Hearing Loss Associaiton of America, is serious about improving the quality of life, educational opportunities, and overall benefits of the Cochlear Implant community and their families. As a non-profit organization we depend on the personal and financial support of our members.

To promote the opportunities afforded by the use of cochlear implants through mutual sharing of ideas and personal experiences of the members

To function as a support group for cohlear implant candidates at both the pre- and post-operative stages

To enhance community awareness of hearing impairment and to promote a better understanding of cochlear implants

To maintain a library of publications and audiovisual materials of interest relating to the cochlear implant, as an information resource for the membership and interested parties.

Below is the GPCIA membership form. For your convenience you may print this form out by clicking on the printer icon in your browser. Then, please fill it out with your information and mail your donation of $15.00 (or greater if you'd like) to the address at the bottom.

Cochlear Implant User ( )Yes ( ) No Type of Device______________________________

( ) I authorize GPCIA to share this information with other Georgia Peach Association

( ) I do not wish my address or other information above to be shared with anyone.

Whenever I evaluate a potential cochlear implant candidate, I try to include as much information for them about cochlear implants as can fit into our session. We talk candidacy criteria, technology, expected benefits and limitations, hospital stay, rehabilitation programs, etc. I provide glossy advertising and complelling performance statistics, but I think one of the most beneficial pieces of information passed along is the "Users to Contact" list.

Over the years, our office has created several lists of implant users based on age at time of hearing loss and age at time of implant. These implant users have given us permission to have candidates contact them. It is often the contact made through these lists that ultimately convinces a candidate he/she should proceed with surgery. Nothing compares to a heart to heart talk with someone who has walked in your shoes.

These contacts sometimes grow into long lasting friendships and extend to an eagerness in the newly implanted to help the next guy. I would like to thank all of you who have shared your time and experiences encouraging others to get the help they need. May your infectious enthusiasm never be cured!

- Remind them that your experience may not be their experience. Each person brings a different history, anatomy, and set of skills to the table. Encourage them to contact several implant users so they can better appreciate variations in performance.

- Stress that learning to use the implant is a process. Your skills likely did not spring forth overnight. Share what helped you while you worked to improve your listening skills.

- Information shared during your discussions with a candidate may be privileged. Respect their honesty by being discrete.

- Some people ask really hard questions. If you don't know the answer, it's fine to say "I don't know."

The Twelfth Annual Georgia Peach Cochlear Implant Association Retreat was held at the beautiful Callaway Gardens Mountain Creek Resort, Pine Mountain, Georgia June 2 – 4, 2006.

"Working Together We Can Do It" was the theme for the retreat and, as all of you know, it takes teamwork/working together to accomplish most things.

We received some very good evaluations from the retreat attendees this year and will try to work harder in the future to pull together some of the presentations that each of you have recommended that we have on the program in the future.

The participants at the retreat this year had a wonderful time sharing their many stories with each other regarding the cochlear implant, making new friends and renewing friendships with friends from all around the area. We had representation not only from Georgia, but Tennessee, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi.

The "Welcome Celebration" and Luau, scheduled at ‘Poolside" on Friday night, but moved inside to the Peach Ballroom due to the rainy weather, was certainly a big hit with everyone who attended. Connie Stratigos, GPCIA Hospitality Director went all-out for this event. Let’s do it again Connie!!!

The "Silent Auction" held on Saturday afternoon in the exhibit area was another popular spot for retreat goers this year. Funds raised from the silent auction always go to the expenses of the children’s program at the retreat.

The "Key-Note Address" presented by none other than the Executive Director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, Terry Portis, Ed.D. was enjoyed by all. GPCIA is an Affiliate Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America.

GPCIA is already busy gearing-up for the thirteenth Annual Georgia Peach Cochlear Implant Association Family Retreat which will be held June 8, 9 & 10, 2007 at the beautiful Cohutta Springs Conference Center nestled in the North Georgia Mountains in Crandall, Georgia. Mark your colander now and make your plans to attend.

I have been implanted for seven years and never met another person with an implant. That changed when I contacted Richard Bowman to ask about the GPCIA organization. His enthusiasm and kind-heartedness convinced me to attend the GPCIA 2006 Retreat at Callaway.

After check-in, I went to the sponsors area and began to meet everyone. It was a novel experience to not have to explain about being deaf and implanted to every new person I met. We all went to lunch together in the excellent restaurant and then there was some free time to get settled into our rooms before the festivities began.

The ice cream luau Friday evening was a great meet-and-greet experience. If you haven’t seen Connie Strategos in a hula skirt you’ve really missed a treat. She was everywhere at once keeping a handle on things. I don’t know how much she enjoyed the luau (being so busy) but everyone else had a great time.

Saturday the full program began. I enjoyed each session because I learned so much. There has been tremendous progress in all areas since I was implanted. Advocacy, new programming strategies, a whole bucket full of new assistive devices…I’ve been missing out on a lot.

Saturday evening the cookout by the lake was fantastic. The weather was perfect, the food good and I met even more people. I was stationed on Guam in the US Air Force years ago. So were two other GPCIA members but in different decades. Guam is a very small island. What are the odds that three people stationed there, each one ten years removed from the other, would all be from Georgia, all be implanted and then all become members of GPCIA? My math isn’t good enough to figure that one out. But we had a great conversation. I hope we didn’t bore the ladies too much with our ‘war’ stories.

The most important thing about the retreat was not the activities or even the products and sponsors. The most important thing was the people. Being around others like me for three days relaxed tensions inside that I did not know I had. I didn’t have to explain about my ‘condition’. I didn’t feel left out. It was a wonderful feeling.

I have joined GPCIA and hope to contribute to the group in whatever way I can. I want to thank everyone I’ve met so far for making me feel welcome.

And for all of you I haven’t met, I want to meet you at the fall picnic. So just come up and introduce yourself. I’m easy to spot, I’m the guy with the implant!

"Thanks for all your hard work that produced a great retreat! It is such a joy to talk with others "in the same boat"!!!

"Friday evening at the ice cream social we renewed our acquaintance with a lovely couple that we met last year. Their names were Dwight & Sue. I do not remember their last name. He is hearing nothing with his CI & was evaluated by the Denver "experts" on Thursday, I believe. We did not see them again anywhere that weekend. Could you possible find an address for them...e mail or snail mail so I could check on them, please? If you do not feel comfortable giving out their address, would you please ask them to contact me? Thank you ever so much!!!"

Linda Holland
408 Arden Lane North
Macon, GA 31210

ljbholland@cox.net

Jimmie and Catherine Shippy invited the GPCIA Board of Directors to hold their July Board meeting at their home, July 15, 2006.