NEWSPAPER STORY:Our client, Beltone New England was featured in a story in the Morganton News Herald about their patient receiving the gift of hearing from The Beltone hearing Care Foundation
JONELLE BOBAK Staff Writer
A man from Lenoir is now able to hold conversations with his grandchildren and hear his pet rooster in his front yard, all thanks to a local hearing aid company.
Lacy Mikeal, 77, has had a hearing problem for many years and was not able to live life the way he wanted.
His son, Jerry Mikeal, recently wrote a letter to the Beltone Hearing Care Foundation in Morganton telling his father’s story and asking if his father could be approved for new hearing aids.
In 1970, Lacy began working in the furniture industry in the finishing room and then moved to the machine room, Jerry said in his letter.
“That’s where my dad feels his hearing problems started,” Jerry said in a press release from Beltone Hearing Center.
The machines were extremely loud at the time and they did not have adequate equipment for their ears. There wasn’t a day that went by that his ears didn’t bother him, the release said.
Jerry said that his biggest concern is that his father has a hard time hearing his grandchildren and feels that is something he misses out on.
“It made a whole lot of a difference,” Lacey said. “It had been several years that I had not been able to hear really (well).”
Once he submitted the letter, Beltone officials put in an application to the foundation to consider Lacy for a donation of new hearing aids because of his financial needs.
“He has a pretty bad (hearing) loss, first of all,” said Bill Beck, hearing instrument specialist, with Beltone Hearing Care Foundation. “We felt like we had to do something.”
Lacy was invited to the Morganton facility to be fitted for his hearing aids and to hear the difference they would make.
“The first thing he said to me as he left was ‘I can hear the birds again,’” Beck said. “He was emotional because (after receiving the hearing aids) his wife is practically whispering to him and he is hearing everything she is saying.”
Lacy says that he can now communicate better with loved ones, listen to the T.V. and music. He can also now hear his rooster crowing every morning.
“It means a whole lot and it was a great feeling to know that I was chosen to get my hearing aids,” Lacy said.
The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, donates hearing aids to those who are in need, and are unable to access them. Both individuals and organizations are eligible to receive assistance from the Foundation through direct nominations to Beltone or at one of its 1,500 locations across North America, the release said.
Staff Writer Jonelle Bobak can be reached at jbobak@morganton.com or 828-432-8907.