HLAA Convention 2010 Special: Opening Session, Keynote

[Guest guest]

NVRC News - June 19, 2010

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Opening Session and Keynote Address, Part 1

By Cheryl A. Heppner, 6/18/10

The opening session of Hearing Loss Association of America's 2010 convention

took place in one of the Ballrooms at Milwaukee's Frontier Center. While

waiting for the session to begin, I had a delightful conversation with

Carole Purdum of Kansas.

Stone, President of the HLAA Board of Trustees, recognized the

chapter representatives and trustees in attendance and then turned the

program over to Deputy Executive Director and Hearing Loss Magazine

Editor-in-Chief Barbara Kelley. Barbara thanked the those who made the

conference possible - the sponsors, captioners, and assistive listening

device specialists. She gave a reminder for the Young Adult event on

Saturday night and some other conference activities.

Bevin K. Baker

Before leaving the podium, she introduced Bevin K. Baker, a special guest

whose government work here in the health field has drawn acclaim. Among the

things he is known for is his health initiative to reduce teen pregnancy 50%

by the year 2015. " They people here look healthy and happy to me, " she said,

" so he must be doing a great job. "

Mr. Baker won us over in short order with his statement that hearing loss is

a major health concern, and he applauded the work HLAA has done to call

attention to it. With 17% of people experiencing hearing loss, he said more

must be done to remove the stigma. He expressed his pride in Wisconsin's

passage of a mandatory hearing screening for newborns, but cited issues that

remain for people with hearing loss, such as lack of access in auditoriums

and movie theaters, hearing loss due to iPod and MP3 player use, and the

need to develop new technology. Key to resolving these issues, he believes,

are education and advocacy.

Issues related to hearing loss are personal for Mr. Baker because he has

responsibility for the health of the entire city and also because he and his

wife have adopted a little boy from Ethiopia with a lot of health

conditions, including hearing loss. He heard this three year-old child's

first words three weeks ago. In addition, his daughter's interest in

communicating in sign language with a person in the Post Office, has led him

to desire that every American be able to talk with their hands.

Mr. Baker's final message was " the most powerful words often spoken are in a

whisper. " Last year his mother became very ill and he was the last of her

children to arrive to see her. She was fading and barely responsive, but

when he walked into the room, her eyes opened for the first time in hours.

He moved closer to her, pressing his ear to her lips and heard her say,

" Thank you. I am so happy to see you. "

" I missed my mother's last 46 hours, but I heard her last 30 seconds, " he

said.

In closing Mr. Baker thanked the 800 people at the convention for coming to

" the little city by the big lake " and said they have transformed his life by

the work they do.

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