We want people to know that we're there, says hearing and sight loss charity
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A far north charity for people with hearing or sight loss is keen to ensure that no-one misses out on the support that is available.
Hearing and Sight Care has drop-in centres in Wick and Thurso offering practical help, while rural clinics are held in six communities across Caithness and north Sutherland.
However, manager Deirdre Aitken and her team are conscious that some people who would benefit from the service may not realise that it is fully up and running again following the pandemic.
"We're really busy, which is great," Deirdre said. “But just because we're busy doesn't mean to say the people that need the service are all aware of it.
"Our aim is to help our service users maintain their independence and confidence in the home and when they're out and about. We encourage people to make the best use of the sight and hearing that they have, rather than focusing on what they don’t have."
Reflecting on the disruption caused by Covid, Deirdre explained: “When we were allowed to, we did provide a doorstep service to some people that used to get a home visit. It was better than nothing – but it's brilliant being back open.
“It's now about raising awareness again.”
Hearing and Sight Care supports people with varying degrees of hearing and/or sight loss. Deirdre is one of three members of staff, all part-time, the others being Pauline Gibson (sensory support worker) and Karen Paul (admin worker).
There are four active volunteers, while Roy Mackenzie chairs the voluntary board of directors.
The drop-in centres, both open part-time, are at 23 Telford Street, Wick (open on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10am-2pm), and 9 Riverside Place, Thurso (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10am-2pm).
"We offer home visits to those who can't come to us and we visit the local nursing homes, hospitals and daycare centres," Deirdre explained.
"Our staff and volunteers are on hand to give practical help with hearing-aid upkeep, pairing and issue of NHS batteries. We offer tubing exchange and can help people with the new Phonak hearing aids to pair them to their phones or other devices via Bluetooth to make the most out of their aids and their technology.
"We work with our partners Sight Action and NHS Deaf Services to offer home visits to assess the need for environmental aids and equipment as well as working with the NHS occupational health department to look at grab rails, lighting and steps being painted.
"We can also refer people back to audiology for appointments once they have a hearing aid. Hearing screening is offered to anyone who is unsure if they need a hearing aid and this can be done by a member of our staff.
"It's not a hearing test, as the staff are not trained audiologists – but we send the results to the audiologist who advises if a GP referral is needed into the audiology service."
Barriers to effective use of hearing aids can be wax or blockage in the ear, hearing-aid moulds not being put in properly or tubing not being changed often enough and becoming hard and brittle, causing feedback and not conducting the sound as effectively as it could be.
"If you have wax you should treat this with olive oil or an over-the-counter recommended product," Deirdre said. "Once this has been done for approximately two weeks you should see your GP for an appointment to have this removed.
"If your GP practice does not offer wax removal you should ask them for a referral to ENT [ear, nose and throat] for this procedure to be done. Private hearing aid providers also offer this service for a fee.
"Not hearing the door, phone or television can be frustrating. We demonstrate flashing doorbells and pager systems.
"Amplified telephones and television or personal listeners can be trialled. We ask people to consider whether they would hear their smoke alarms at night without their hearing aids in. If not, a vibrating pillow pad can be installed following an assessment by our staff.
"For people with visual impairment, within their homes we look at improving their daily living skills, enabling them to make a cup of tea for themselves, marking up cookers, microwaves and washing machines with 'bumpons' that can be seen more clearly or felt during use.
"Magnification and lighting can be hugely beneficial for reading and doing any hobbies such as sewing or painting and we can look at this with the person. Large-print crosswords, writing pads, diaries or address books are all available as well."
Hearing and Sight Care also signposts people to the two sight-impaired support groups in Wick and Thurso.
The Caithness Macular Society Support Group meets in the Pulteney Centre on the third Thursday every month at 11am. Caithness Sight Impairment Group meets in Thurso's United Reformed Church the first Wednesday of the month at 2pm.
Everyone is welcome at both groups.
Rural clinics are held quarterly in Canisbay, Watten, Lybster, Dunbeath, Halkirk and Tongue where people can drop in for hearing-aid upkeep and battery issue as well as general advice on hearing and/or sight loss.
For those with hearing loss, Hearing and Sight Care offers classes in Lipreading and Managing Hearing Loss at Thurso, Brora and Armadale. These sessions teach people to lipread as well as giving them coping strategies for different situations and social events.
Speakers cover issues relating to hearing loss and Deirdre says the group is "a great source of friendship and learning". Tutor Debbie Miller is qualified with the Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults and has many years' experience.
The classes are free to attend and are funded by the Highland Third Sector Interface and Strathy North wind farm.
Hearing and Sight Care relies on funding from NHS Highland through a service level agreement. This has been in existence since the charity was established in 1994. Recently, funding has also come from SSE Renewables' Beatrice offshore wind farm as well as onshore wind farms at Bad á Cheò, Halkirk, Camster and Stroupster.
"We recently had a very successful fundraising sponsored walk with 12 people walking from Staxigoe round the North Head and harbour past the Trinkie and back into Wick, and we are currently selling Christmas cards in our centres," Deirdre said.
"The new year will see us delivering a six-week Introduction to BSL [British Sign Language] course that will be repeated again throughout the year. If anyone is interested in this or our lipreading classes, or just wants to speak to us in general, then please get in touch and we will be delighted to help."
Deirdre added: “We want to let people know we're open, we're back with full services in our centres and in the community. Also if there are any groups that want us to come and talk about our services and show some of the equipment that's available, that is always quite useful.
“We just want to make sure the people that need the service are getting it. We want them to know that we're there.”
Hearing and Sight Care can be found on Facebook. Its website is www.sensorycentre.org.uk or email hsc@sensorycentre.org.uk (phone 01955 606170 or 01847 895636).
