RB teacher now hearing for the holidays

Sandra Moll with PPH Chief Audiologist David M. Illich

Moll said she is hearing many new sounds and conversations thanks to a free pair of hearing aids she received last week as the sixth annual Hear for the Holidays contest winner.

“It’s a wonderful thing,” said Moll, a Rancho Bernardo resident in the Bernardo Heights neighborhood for 20 years. “I am hearing things I have not heard for many years. … No question is it improving my quality of life.”

The contest was started in 2005 by Palomar Pomerado Health’s Chief Audiologist David M. Illich as a way to thank locals for the support they gave his relatives in Mississippi impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Each year the winner is selected by a panel of judges who consider degree of hearing loss and an essay explaining why purchasing the devices, which can cost several thousand dollars, is not feasible but needed. People can nominate themselves or be nominated by others. The winner receives a free pair of Phonak hearing aids and a lifetime of free follow-up visits with Illich.

Moll said “what?” and “huh?” had become regular words in her vocabulary since she first noticed her hearing problem more than 25 years ago. She tried to get hearing aids many years ago, but the $2,000 price at the time was too high for her budget, she said.

Moll is a substitute teacher in Poway Unified School District high schools, teacher at the religious and Hebrew school at Temple Adat Shalom in Poway and reading instructor at Kumon Learning Center in Rancho Bernardo.

For the past two years, Moll said she noticed she was having a harder time hearing what her students were saying. She had to ask them to speak louder and repeat, especially when trying to make sure those learning Hebrew were not dropping the final sound in their words.

“I was telling the students to speak louder because I’m hard of hearing,” she said. “I was getting away with it, though it was not very ideal.”

She said this was the second time she entered the contest after reading about it in the Rancho Bernardo News Journal.

“I thought my chance of winning was nil,” Moll said. “I’m amazed that I won. … I’m really thrilled.”

Illich said there are about 14 entries each year.

“I love to give people back the ability of hearing clearly,” he said. “Nothing is more beautiful than good communication.”

He said those with hearing loss typically become introverted and sometimes are in denial that they have a hearing problem.

Illich said he is proud he is able to continue the contest each year with PPH’s help and has seen how it has helped the previous five winners whom he sees on a continual basis.

“They have all written testimony that (this contest) completely changed their lives,” he said.

Illich said an interesting, but coincidental, trend has developed with the contest winners which he cannot explain.

“This is the sixth year and third school teacher,” he said. “I thought it was funny that two of the five (were teachers), but now it is three of six.”

Illich said he has also tried to help those who do not win by referring as many as possible to programs and agencies that can help them finance a hearing device or find a less expensive device that can improve their hearing.