ED Message: A Special Home for A Special Community

After over two months of halting on-site services at CEID in response to Shelter In Place orders, we re-opened for in person audiology appointments in June. A limited summer child care program began a few weeks later and we are cautiously back on campus. Devising protocols, determining best practices and creating new ways to provide quality care in the midst of these uncertain times was and continues to be quite an undertaking. Staff, children and patients were happy to return to our special CEID home. Meanwhile, our distance learning programming and tele-intervention continue. The connections we have worked to maintain despite being physically apart from people we cherish reminds us that community exists through how we connect and support one another.
 
When our specialized CEID center was established in the 2000s, the decade we are celebrating with this newsletter, the newly built center provided staff and families a more secure setting, allowing CEID to grow and expand services responding to new needs within the community.  Moving to our custom home on Grayson Street allowed the space to create an on-site child care program that has grown to become an inclusive preschool classroom providing profound benefits to children who are hearing and children who are deaf/hard of hearing.  In response to unmet needs locally and in surrounding counties, we expanded our audiology clinic, complete with a sound booth for hearing testing, to provide comprehensive services not only to babies and children but also to adults. Meeting the individualized needs of patients of all ages and all income levels with high quality hearing health care services allows us to maximize communication and reduce social isolation.
 
Now, in the decade of the 2020’s, we are growing in new ways, extending services beyond our physical location to strengthen services and connections to the surrounding community. As throughout our 40 year history, we continue to provide exemplary education and health care services with flexibility, persistence, and creativity -- both in-person and virtually -- to reach patients, students, and families where they are. Join us in celebrating our CEID home and the community we’ve built that transcends place and time.

​Happy Summer to each of you, however it may look, and thank you for your ongoing support! 

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