Skip to main content

Glan Clwyd audiology charity celebrates 25 years of community care

YGC audiology charity celebrates 25 years

A volunteer-run community audiology service is celebrating 25 years of helping Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire residents hear clearly.

Hearing Aid, which started life as Voluntary Support Service in 1994, has helped people who are hard of hearing access routine care.

Volunteers with the group receive training in routine care and maintenance of hearing aids, which is used to support patients in eight different locations across Conwy, Flintshire and Denbighshire.

The group, which has 17 volunteers, also carries out home visits in some locations to people who are unable to visit the drop-in sessions.

Heading Aid’s 25th anniversary was marked with an afternoon tea at the Kinmel Arms in St George, where the group’s volunteers met up to celebrate their work in the community.

Suzanne Tyson, Chairperson and Principal Audiologist said: “Our team are really proud of the work of our Hearing Aid volunteers, who make a real difference to the quality of life of an awful lot of people.

“It’s all about making services accessible, and helping empower people to manage their own health in their own homes.

“The team also provide a great opportunity for people with similar experiences to receive support socially. They’re a fantastic support network for each-other.

“Studies show that if you’re more socially active, it has significant benefits for your memory and your wider wellbeing, and we know of friendships which have formed on the back of the shared advice and guidance of the group.

“The work ties in with the Health Board’s wider vision of providing care closer to home, and we’re now looking at new ways which we can make accessing services easier.”

The charity is now looking to reach out to other organisations where they can support more people with impaired hearing, starting with nursing and care homes across the three counties.

Aelwyn Evans, who has volunteered for more than 11 years with the group, helps run drop-in sessions at the libraries in Denbigh and Ruthin.

He said the group’s work benefitted both patients and the audiology service at Glan Clwyd Hospital.

He said: “Everybody benefits really, it frees up the team in Audiology, who are a delight to work with, to do more technical things and focus on people who need more specific attention.

“As for people living in Denbigh and Ruthin, it saves a trek to the hospital and makes everything more convenient for them. We also do house calls to people who can’t get to hospital or a drop-in clinic.

“People come because their hearing aids might not be working efficiently, and while we can’t do anything technical, often cleaning them or putting new tubes in solves the problem.

Fellow volunteer Gill Moylan, from Mochdre, who helps run the Colwyn Bay drop-in clinic, said the social aspect of the charity’s work was just as important as the maintenance work carried out.

Gill said: “This will be my third year of volunteering now. I’m hard of hearing myself and have been all of my life. 

“It makes a huge difference to people, especially to people who might be on their own at home, who can’t hear the TV, can’t hear the phone, and are really isolated without their hearing.

“The social side of it is really important. Often people will bring a friend who might benefit, and they enjoy coming to see us and to have a chat and get that reassurance that what they’re doing is right.”