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VA’s new Mobile Audiology Van visits Youngstown; Boardman Navy vet fitted for new hearing aid
YOUNGSTOWN
Kenneth Ferguson of Boardman took advantage of a convenient new Veterans Affairs service and got tested for a new hearing aid at the new Mobile Audiology Van parked at the VA’s Youngstown Outpatient Clinic on Belmont Avenue on Tuesday and today.
Instead of driving for hours to the Wade Park Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Cleveland and spending $60 to $70 for gasoline and tolls and other expenses, he drove a few minutes across town and got the same service.
“The VA treats me like a million dollars. I can’t say enough for the VA,” said Ferguson, a Korean War-era Navy veteran who served from 1953 to 1956. He receives treatment at the VA for several medical conditions.
At his appointment Tuesday, Ferguson’s hearing was tested and a mold made of the interior of his ear from which hearing aids will be made, said Dr. Elaine Kalous, lead audiologist for the mobile van.
Kalous, a graduate of the University of Akron, said she did her internship with Dr. Sheryl A. Figliano, owner and president of Centers for Hearing Care in Boardman.
It will take a couple of weeks for Ferguson’s hearing aid to come in, and then, he will make an appointment to do the final fitting and adjusting of sound to optimize his hearing at Wade Park or when the mobile van returns to Youngstown, said Dr. Darlene Moenter-Rodriguez, chief of audiology and speech pathology from the VA facility at Wade Park.
While the mobile audiology clinic spent two days at the Youngstown VA and the other VA community-based outpatient clinics in New Philadelphia, Ravenna, East Liverpool and Sandusky, in subsequent trips, it will spend four days at each site, delivering audiology services where none previously were available, Moenter-Rodriguez said.
The mobile clinic features an audio booth and equipment that allows audiologists to perform complete hearing evaluations, hearing-aid fittings and post-fitting appointments. All of the audiology equipment, such as an audiometer and tympanometer, is brand-new and state-of-the-art, VA officials said.
The mobile clinic, funded by a grant from the Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Health, also is equipped with a generator, wheelchair lift and storage for equipment and supplies.