Six years ago, David Carr set out to help restore hearing to children in a village in China through an acquaintance in the Compassion Network.
The experience was something he’ll never forget. “The faces of the children stay with me even today,” he recalled recently. Carr, who owns McGuire’s Hearing Aids and Audiological Services, noted, “Those kids evolved from their world of near-silence to a hearing world, and it was absolutely life-changing for them.”
In April, Carr planned to return to China again, but he was preceded in his travels by McGuires’ Director of Audiology, Dr.Toback.
Dr.Toback endured extensive travel delays, long hours of testing children for hearing losses, and a range of unusual culinary choices served for her meals.
Her reaction?
“It was the best experience of my life,” she declared without reservation. “The children were absolutely wonderful and the Chinese government was very supportive, providing me with an interpreter round-the-clock. I was extremely gratified when I had identified about 50 children who were ideal candidates for hearing aids,” she concluded.
Dr.Toback provided her test results to GN Resound, the hearing device manufacturer responsible for donating the aids. Once the devices were custom-manufactured for each child, Carr collected them and traveled to China with his two teenage daughters.
“My daughters were absolutely blown away by the whole experience,” Carr said. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to help others and give them the gift of hearing – particularly when you can conquer cultural and language barriers with a smile or a simple expression,” he added.
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