While hearing aid specialist Peter Reinhard traveled to Moldova to help people with hearing loss hear better again, hearing aid specialists supported people with hearing impairments in Ukraine through the “Hearing Without Borders” project.

Andrei, a Moldovan, is nearly 50 years old, a single father, and almost completely deaf in both ears. He is in the same situation as many people in Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe. This is because both medical care and, more specifically, access to hearing aids for people with hearing loss have long been lacking there. Hearing aid specialist Peter Reinhard learned about this situation from acquaintances who are originally from Moldova but now live in Germany. These stories stayed with him—he wanted to help!

After doing some research, he contacted the “Emanuel Day Clinic,” a Christian-based facility run by a Swiss organization. It provides medical care in Moldova to people in need who cannot afford to see a doctor. At the same time, he contacted the AcustMed Hearing Center, also based in Moldova. He proposed a joint social project to both organizations. He also brought his employer, auric—a hearing center with more than 80 locations in Germany—on board. Together with a hearing aid manufacturer, 80 hearing aids were donated, many of them brand-new. The used hearing aids were fully refurbished and received a software update. His employer also granted the hearing care professional time off for his volunteer work.

Peter Reinhard traveled to Moldova—with hearing aids in his luggage—to help people with hearing loss there. The Emanuel Day Clinic had selected individuals in advance who were eligible to receive hearing aids. Among them were residents of a home for people with disabilities, a nursing home, and low-income individuals from Chişinău and the surrounding area. Andrei was also among those selected.

AcustMed provides the technical infrastructure on site. “The goal was to enable as many people as possible to participate in daily life again,” says Peter Reinhard. So he fitted and programmed the hearing aids, while his assistants explained to the patients how to operate and care for the devices and what maintenance is required.

When Peter Reinhard fitted Andrei with the hearing aid, Andrei was at first very quiet and then visibly moved by his newfound ability to hear. “A grown man crying with joy—that was a very moving moment,” the hearing care professional recounts. “The people’s immense gratitude was the greatest reward for me for all the hard work leading up to this.” Impressed by his experiences, Peter Reinhard is already planning the next aid mission in Moldova.

Audiologist Daniela Schafmeier from Rahden and her colleagues Nicole Kühling, Nazan Yakar, and Paula Hunstein, as well as early childhood educator Kerstin Janssen and technician Gunnar Janssen, had a similar experience to Peter Reinhard. They are involved in the “Hearing WithoutBorders” initiative and traveled to Luszk, Ukraine, in March of this year to help people with hearing loss. There, hearing aids are usually unaffordable for people, and hearing care for children in particular is a true luxury. This year, they first visited the kindergarten in Luszk and provided children with appropriate hearing aids. Their second stop was a school for the hearing impaired in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, which is attended by 186 children with severe hearing loss. “The people are so grateful and give so much in return. That’s something money can’t replace,” says Daniela Schafmeier.

The aid missions to this Eastern European country have been a tradition at “Hören ohne Grenzen” for 20 years now. Through these efforts, many children, teenagers, and adults have already received help. For many children, the aid organization is the only way to a world of sounds and language. But many older people, too, are given the opportunity to hear better only through this initiative. “It’s always moving to see the children’s eyes when they hear something for the first time, start playing with their voices, or hear other voices for the first time,” explains Nicole Kühling. And Nazan Yakar adds: “It’s hard to describe just how much joy this work brings when you witness a child hearing for the first time in their life.”

Since 1999, volunteers have been traveling to Ukraine regularly for a week to adjust old hearing aids, repair them—if necessary—or provide people with new batteries for their hearing aids. Ear molds—small earpieces that block out external noise for the hearing aid—are also made on site. Over time, genuine friendships have developed between the local people and the volunteers.

The mission is sponsored by “Humanitarian Aid for the East.” This organization provides a local contact person and covers the cost of vehicle insurance. All other costs are covered by the respective hearing aid specialists and ENT doctors themselves, who are always happy to sacrifice their vacation time for these trips. For their missions, the hearing aid specialists ask for old hearing aids. “Whether they work or not doesn’t matter,” says Daniela Schafmeier. Monetary donations are also always welcome.

For more information, please visit the Hören ohne Grenzen website.

Read here to learn how hearing aids improve the quality of life for people with hearing loss.