Upcoming Events
TECHNOLOGY UPDATES: WORK/SCHOOL/PLAY
Joint New York AGBell – Center for Hearing and Communication Workshop
Sunday, March 25, 2012 (RSVP by March 20th)
New York, NY
Go to the Events page for more information
President’s Message
December 2011
As 2011 draws to a close I would like to take a moment to thank everyone for their dedication and support for the New York State AG Bell Chapter. Both myself, along with the members of the board, would like to extend our wishes for a happy and healthy New Year!
2012 promises to be an exciting time for the NYS AG Bell Chapter as we move forward to fulfill our mission statement and work together to support and promote families and individuals with hearing loss. As New York is a geographically large and diverse state I would like to establish four chapters, each with an appointed district representative in order to streamline communications between myself, the Board, and other district leaders. My hope is that each district representative will be able to further local community involvement by organizing meetings within their region to share issues and solutions. My goal is to get these chapters up and running by the spring of 2012; as this would help many AG Bell members become more familiar with AG Bell’s advocacy and legislative efforts at the national level.
Closely linked to the establishment of these regional chapters is the development of a local support group to assist families and individuals who are dealing with various ranges and stages of hearing loss. This will not only help bring awareness of hearing loss issues to the local community, but will also provide support and understanding to those who are dealing with hearing loss. It can be frustrating when a healthcare professional does not fully understand what is involved with hearing loss and chapter meetings can provide an opportunity to invite an audiologist to spend time answering questions and helping people understand what to do if their hearing loss progresses. These meetings can also serve as a great way to connect and socialize with other individuals with hearing loss and can help reverse research findings that show that children and people of all ages with hearing loss tend to have withdrawals and depression from feelings of isolation.
Earlier this fall I was able to visit Rochester, New York and met with many people with hearing loss in the Rochester area. I am in the process of trying to secure a meeting place for those in the Rochester regional area and am waiting for contact information for NTID, RIT, University of Rochester, Nazareth College, Rochester Health and Speech Center and Lifespan. I will continue to pursue outreach efforts in other areas of the state from Albany to the Long Island sound, as I am currently working with Speech and Hearing Centers to host support group meetings for AG Bell members.
It is important for us to reach out within our communities to keep AG Bell networking effective at both the state and local levels. We can all work together in order to keep the enthusiasm moving for us to reach our goals that might seem impossible now, but with our strength in numbers we can work towards making possible. We need to continue networking AG Bell in our state, even during the darkest hours with our state government’s inactive agenda due to the ongoing budget settlement.
I would like to see our 2012 agenda planning to get our members involved with planning ideas with Educational Outreach, Health Care Workshops, Marketing, Fund Raising, Long Term Planning and Membership. New members bring new ideas and enthusiasm, and as an organization it is important to find new ways to partner with other organizations to make sure that our goals are met. The current board is working on a survey which will be distributed to all our NYS AG Bell members as to what and how you would like to participate keeping this state chapter moving forward.
Lastly, I am pleased to share with you that I am fortunate to have many long time AG Bell members serving on the board working diligently to fulfill the AG Bell mission statement to keep our chapter strong. It is our duty to promote and support people with hearing loss and to help improve their quality of life. The board will be working on setting goals for 2012. If anyone is interested in helping out or would like to contribute ideas, please do email me.
Happy Holidays!
Ed McGibbon
Chapter President