Jaime Vernon: Bringing Music to Life with Songs for Sounds

Join me in an inspiring and influential conversation with Jaime Vernon.  We all face trials and tribulations in our life, and Jaime shares how her own personal trial led her to imagine, invent, invent, and inspire Songs for Sounds.  Jaime shares her story of finding out that her daughter, Lexi, was diagnosed with profound bilateral hearing loss.  Through her own parenting journey as well as her professional background; she uses music as an inspiration to make a profound difference.  Take a listen and hear how Songs For Sound was founded on a heartwarming story leading to a passionate objective: to bridge the gap between “I think I have hearing loss” and quality hearing healthcare while increasing inclusion opportunities for those with hearing loss and deafness.    

For more information about Songs For Sounds and how to make a difference, visit the website at https://songsforsound.com/

For more information about Dr. Carrie Spangler- check out her Linktree at https://linktr.ee/carrie.spangler.

For transcripts of this episode- visit the podcast website at: https://empowearaudiology.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to Episode 24 of empowEAR Audiology with Dr. Carrie Spangler.
[00:00:15] Carrie: Welcome to the empowEAR Audiology Podcast, which is part of the 3C Digital Media Network. My name is Dr. Carrie Spangler and I am your host. I am a passionate audiologist with a lifelong journey of living with hearing challenges in this vibrant hearing world. This podcast is for professionals, parents, individuals, with your own challenges and those who want to be inspired.
[00:00:44] Thank you for listening, and I hope you will subscribe, invite others to listen and leave me a positive review. I also wanted to invite all of you to visit and engage in the conversation on the empowEAR Audiology Facebook group. Transcripts for each episode can be found at www. 3, the number three, C digital media network dot com under the empowEAR Podcast tab.
[00:01:18] Now let's get started with today's episode. Hi everyone. Welcome to the empowEAR Audiology Podcast and thanks for being here today. I am really excited to have my guest today, Jaime Vernon. She is the founder and executive director of a nonprofit Songs as Sounds and just a little backstory about Jaime.
[00:01:40] Jaime turned basically something that might've been a devastating discovery. That, that her young daughter, Lexie was deaf into something very beneficial. And she has used the music as inspiration and a source of outreach through her nonprofit Songs as Sounds and strives to protect and restore hearing, and improve the lives of those suffering from very varying degrees of deafness.
[00:02:09] And Jaime is the executive director of this organization. And I'm going to just let her share a little bit about her role with Songs as Sounds as we get started today. So, Jaime, thank you for joining me and welcome to the podcast.
[00:02:24] Jaime: Oh, thank you. I'm so excited. And I really wanted to say thanks for having me and letting us tell our story and, um, help hopefully so many people.
[00:02:35] Carrie: Yeah. So do you want to start with just, what is your role with Songs as Sounds.
[00:02:39] Jaime: Yes, of course. So I'm the founder of the charity as well as I'm the executive director and probably 50 other titles as most charity directors. Um, the hats that we wear, but, um, you know, most importantly, I'm a mom of two amazing kids.
[00:02:57] Um, my son, Jacob, who is, uh, 16, and I always liked to include the siblings because of siblings of children with cochlear implants or hearing aids are very important. And I think we, I don't think we talk enough about that. And it's something we're going to talk more about that at our charity, but, um, also, uh, obviously Lexi who the charity was, uh, formed at her whole story, you know, is really what we tell almost every single day in the work that we do.
[00:03:22] Um, and so she is now 13 going on 30 and she is a bilateral cochlear implant recipient. So.
[00:03:32] Carrie: Well, do you want to share with the audience just a little bit about your story as a mom and Lexi and how you got to Song for Sounds
[00:03:41] Jaime: a hundred percent. So, um, so let's see was born, uh, seemingly typical with, um, you know, no delays, et cetera.
[00:03:51] However, at 10 weeks we were told by the pediatrician that she had never been given a hearing test, her newborn hearing screening. So, um, at the time the hospital here in Nashville routinely did them. It was before Claire's law passed, um, the, for your family who, who had helped pass that legislation. Uh, and however, it was just six months before the law passed.
[00:04:11] So they were routinely doing them. And they just skipped her, the deaf kid basically that day. Um, if I'm just saying it bluntly and plainly. Um, and so at 10 weeks when they, uh, they identified that that didn't happen, the pediatrician's office, we were scheduled to go get a test. Well, um, at that test, we were advised that she didn't pass because she was fussy was likely the, the, uh, that was the information we were given.
[00:04:37] So we didn't know she didn't pass. And then we were told to come back in six to nine months, and now I know the standard of care should have been two to four weeks. Um, so we left the point is, is we left feeling great little hearing loss in our family. Uh noise-induced you know, my, my papa, all my grandfather had you worked in a coal mine.
[00:04:55] And so he had noise induced hearing loss, but there were, there was no genetic hearing loss that we knew of. So fast forward, uh, around 10 months of age, Um, of course babies fool you because they still look and they're very aware visually. And, um, you know, they're playing in there, you know, it's just very difficult to diagnose.
[00:05:12] Uh, and at 10 months, her father. Uh, had, had brought it to my attention that he thought something was definitely going on and he clapped very, he's a farmer and he clapped behind her head and she never flinched, she was looking out a window sitting on the floor and she didn't flinch. So mom, internet straight to the internet, you know, there's this, oh my gosh, 12 years ago, um, straight to the internet.
[00:05:36] And I told myself that it was going to be fluid or possibly amount of hearing loss, where she needs hearing aids, um, back to pediatrician, by the time we got through all of that and doing the research and getting the appointment set, which takes a minute for you to process and do all of this. And then we get you in.
[00:05:55] I walked in and the pediatrician that the office was in Green Hills here in Nashville, which is a very wealthy zip code. That's where their office is. So I say that because we should get good service there. They, the doctor said, some kids don't talk until 18 months of age because I said, she's not saying first words.
[00:06:17] And I'm like, well, that doesn't seem right. She has a sibling. Um, and I said, well, what about our hearing? And he said, she heard the noise in the hallway. And I said, okay. So I know that this isn't an inexpensive test for my insurance company. So what's the reluctance, what are we doing? Cause I'm not leaving without you sending me back to, um, to get that follow-up hearing test, which they said, even though the timeline was off, they did say we needed to do.
[00:06:41] And I said, this makes no sense to me. So fast forward, I finally get the referral. It was a lot of like tug of war, which is ridiculous. Um, and so we go to Vanderbilt and we get a full evaluation with, um, our favorite person, Dr. Cathy Hayes, who is like my hearing angel, if you don't know her, everyone should.
[00:07:01] And she, so I sat there and I watched the test and I knew obviously something was going on, no idea what they were about to tell me. And she comes out and she does tell us that they, that Lexie is profoundly deaf. They're going to do the ABR the next day. And I'm just like, I mean, my world went, you couldn't have received the news from anyone more, more kind or more soft-spoken than her.
[00:07:25] I would never pick anyone, but her and my world went to, honestly, this place where I saw these, this school often it was a sketch of black and white sketch. And there were these trees with no leaves on the, on the trees. And I remember later thinking about that image I had, and it was isolation for her. So I immediately say, sign language, special schools.
[00:07:50] What do we, you know, what, what do we do? Just give me my list because I had her, her dad walked out. He didn't, he had a hard time with it, which I can understand. Um, just their relationship now. It's, it's a different connection and a deeper protection for me though. I, um, it was, it was just moms have to, we gotta go.
[00:08:09] It's go time. Okay. So I had like five seconds to get myself together and, you know, tears rolling down my eyes and I'm like, okay, now we got this, I got this. So, um, then she tells me that there's some miracle device called a cochlear implant that I never heard of. And again, it was 12 years ago and I'd like to think our charity has helped with a big, a big portion of the awareness, but there's so many great groups getting the word out, but I'm like, uh, what, so then I'm assuming like you can do what you can, you can restore sound in deaf and I've never heard about this is like a biblical proportion.
[00:08:41] It's like miraculous. And so there's hope, right. She gives us hope. And so Lexi goes through the ABR, confirmed what we already knew. Um, immediate, fast track into, um, mama you're hearing school, even though she still was in hearing aids and it was giving her maybe no access, but it was amazing. And four months later in that time, obviously we met Dr.
[00:09:03] Dr. David Haynes. Who's the director of the program and his team. And, um, you know, he's like family to us, probably one of the coolest people I know. Um, and we're immediately reassured that this is good for her. Fast forward. Um, she's implanted, you know, three weeks later she's activated and she heard a bird chirping the first day and pointed to it and it was just like, boom.
[00:09:26] It was, we were on, we were on the track for speech. So the, the songs in songs for sound now I want to make this very clear is, um, my mother, um, actually passed away one month or I'm sorry. One year before Lexi was born, she died of breast cancer. She was a single mom, incredible woman, like the pillar of the church.
[00:09:49] She was just amazing. Her heart was pure. I, I hope to be as good as she was. And she is every good part in me is because of her and her faith and she died of breast cancer. And so I'm, I'm rocking Lexi her whole first year of her life. And I'm singing her lullabies. My mom saying. Everything in our house was oldies music and gospel music and just the, the love and appreciation of what music can be in our lives and how up these, all these memories with her.
[00:10:21] Um, and so I'm singing to Lexi. And even when, like, I mean, just every, like I'm healing from losing this person, because it was so close to her passing. And I was told she was fine at this time. So I had no idea. She couldn't hear and I'm rocking her and rocking her every night. And every night she would squirm and cry while I'm trying to sing her lullaby.
[00:10:43] And I would hand her to her dad and I'd say, why? Like, what am I doing wrong? I cannot connect with my little girl and I would go and I would cry. And so the moment they said that it didn't hit me right away, but, um, that night I was processing it the day she was diagnosed. And I remember I still get choked up and I remember thinking.
[00:11:03] Oh, my word. She never heard me and how I, like, I wasn't upset with her when she didn't hear me, but I didn't understand it. And so I'm sure I projected that onto her, just with what she felt. And so to think of, of life without a lullaby, without a wedding song, without a breakup song, which like sweet Lexi would probably be the yeah.
[00:11:28] Um, and, uh, you know, without a fun song, without a friend song without music, which really is such a huge, huge part of how we heal and enjoy life. Um, as she navigated through all of her next year of hearing where she literally made up two years of speech in one year, thanks to I alternated Mama Lere Hearing School and a preschool for both worlds.
[00:11:53] And thank you to the wonderful people at Mama Lere Hearing school at Vanderbilt. We, I mean, she made up two years in one year of speech. And so, and she never stopped talking since then, because he's still, um, way advanced for, uh, with her speech. But so I watched this little girl this whole, like, and she loves music like to this day, you know, she's not a singer or anything like that, but she's a tic talk like diehard.
[00:12:17] She, um, you know, she's very social. And so everything that we did that we'll talk about today at some point with about the charity, our tagline is so everyone can hear the music. So people might get confused by our name, but that is the story. And it opens up really good dialogue for us to help people all over the world.
[00:12:37] And, um, I can't imagine not doing this for the rest of my life because of the most profound miracle that happened in our family when she could hear.
[00:12:51] Carrie: Wow. You're bringing tears to my eyes. Just hearing your story. And I love it, but I love how you can take something that seemingly was so difficult and devastating and turn it into a ripple effect that impacts so many people around the U S and your own community and internationally too.
[00:13:11] So I'm really excited to hear more about songs the sounds and really how the different programs that are impacting, uh, lots of different people about the world. So you got to this point where you were in the mom zone, and you're like, okay, we were going to do something. Think about this, we got this. And how, at what point did you decide that I need to do something like a 501 C3 charity kind of.
[00:13:44] Jaime: That's such a great question. So ironically, I wouldn't say ironically by God's design, I was already work, so I, I have a marketing and sales background. And then when she was born, um, I soon took a position at Vanderbilt university because Vanderbilt has incredible benefits. And, um, it just seemed like the right next move while I was in the university eventually was hired in the development office, um, on the university side.
[00:14:13] So I was already starting to learn, like for when Lexi was diagnosed, I was working in fundraising. At Vanderbilt, thank God because it allowed me to go over and they were so great. Um, Laurie McPeak was my boss, um, then, and she was, they were just fantastic about letting me make sure that I, I took my lunches creatively to go and observe her speech when I needed to, you know, to have the two way mirrors.
[00:14:36] Um, and so that was really helpful because we, we, you know, if you told us if I'm, uh, you know, we're both athletes, Lexi's a big time athlete. We'll talk about that. Um, I was an athlete. So if you tell me, and I also coach for many, many years, so if you tell me to do something, we're going to do it like three times.
[00:14:51] If you're saying, if you do this and you get these results, I'm like, well, we must be able to get like triple the results we, so I could go observe all that speech therapy and then go home and we could basically train and, you know, and do the training at home every single night. And, and, um, So I am, I'm just, I look back at that and I'm like, not only was I learning how to fundraise.
[00:15:12] I mean, what, how amazing that this was the precursor and how this all played out, but I could be with my kid, you know, when she needed me there, I could be at the graduation ceremonies at Mama Lere, which are the most precious thing. Um, and so through that though, I was watching this child that was just taking off and I was so troubled.
[00:15:36] I was very, very troubled by. The lack of information that I had for her through her first year. Like why didn't we know that it was two to four weeks should have been the followup. Why didn't I know that, um, she needed a hearing test at birth. Why didn't that happen at the hospital? Why did the doctor, why was, was he reluctant to give me just a simple referral back?
[00:16:01] Like, what is wrong? Like, this seems very simple, um, in the grand scheme of things and something that should be done in all kids. So originally my focus, what were pediatrics was pediatrics and helping parents be informed. And I was, I mean, I was like on a mission. Like every mom needs to know that, you know, I was really passionate and it met the phase of life we were in.
[00:16:21] I was with, you know, a young child. Um, and so I looked around and I started doing some research also on, at the time there wasn't a ton, there were a couple, um, nonprofits out there, but I thought, okay, I was having these conversations with their surgeons and audiologists such as you. And they were like, we just don't have the support to get the word out.
[00:16:45] So originally songs for sound was a huge focus on an outreach tour that supported, um, hearing programs across the country. So I did, I think over 25, hear the music concerts at four and fundraisers for hearing programs like Vanderbilt, like at NYU Lurie children's hospital, all these big programs. And then we cut them a check that they could then do some Goodwill in their communities, right?
[00:17:13] So we would package Nashville and these awesome songwriters that we have, and we would take them to new cities and then we would raise money and give them a bit of Nashville. We would do this in the round fundraiser night and they were great. However, I was a one man team and. Every time I was at events, I kept being nudged by these families or people that would say, can you help my dad?
[00:17:37] Who's a veteran. Can you help my brother who just returned from overseas? Can you get my dad who worked in a factory or my mom or whomever? And I kept saying, well, no, this is pediatric. And it really bothered me. So I started looking into how can we, and let me say this, that tour, the music portion of fundraising.
[00:18:00] Um, plan. We do plan to launch that very soon. We've actually had meetings about it because it was very successful. And, and now that we're coming out of the COVID era, um, people are hungry for events again, and we want to support those programs again, but I really felt called and led to do something on a broader scale.
[00:18:20] And most people, if they know me, they'll laugh because they're like, yeah, you're global. Like that's how my mind thinks. Yeah. Like you're global. And so, um, and, and some people don't think that way, but for whatever reason, that's what was put inside of me. And I, I love new things. I love new challenges and.
[00:18:38] I started evaluating the larger problem of hearing health and hearing loss awareness. And I realized it was a much bigger problem than, than what this look, you know, just the pediatric sector, um, the public, which still exists. So I thought, why can your kids, and I can still do so why don't we just start going around and testing people?
[00:18:56] And like, what would that look like? So I started doing research, um, and in the field of experiential marketing and I realized that's where you deploy mobile experiences, um, Pepsi Gatorade, um, you know, um, Nike, all these big companies, they'll go out to big events, big existing community events, and they'll put on this big experience.
[00:19:21] Well, I'm like, well, that has to be extensive. So I've got to find a way to do it on a dime and it needs to, we need to test people which opens up the opportunity to have a conversation about hearing health. So I, so I started diving into the health experiential marketing sector. I picked up the phone, I did all this research on the best experiential marketing companies in the country.
[00:19:43] And one of the first phone calls I made was to a man named Kevin Joyce at a company. And they were the best. And he said, you know, we've been looking at the hearing health sector. And how it, how it's completely underserved and a huge opportunity from a business perspective. So fast forward, we start working together.
[00:20:01] He becomes more of a consultant. I find ways to do it in house cause that's really expensive when you go through companies like that. Um, and so I found ways to do it far less expensive, like a fraction of the cost. And basically we deployed, I'd put in 2015, my first outreach tour, which is a mobile clinic that, um, sets up this beautiful experience at large events
[00:20:27] On weekends and we test, I mean, tons of people every weekend we give out free hearing protection. We have conversations, we have videos, we have all this fun stuff going on. We do giveaways. Um, cochlear was our first sponsor and is sponsored every year. Phonak was a huge sponsor. Eargo has been a huge sponsor.
[00:20:46] Um, Sertoma has supported, like we've had amazing support through the years. Um, and. Then during the weekday, we do these smaller, more high risk locations when there aren't big community events. So like a YMCA with seniors or everyone, senior centers, veterans organizations, um, boys and girls clubs where the kids aren't getting the right healthcare, um, or access to healthcare.
[00:21:11] And so to date, um, just that particular tour, we've served over 27,000 people and we're just getting started. So that's, that's the gist of, you know, how we do our outreach and how, how we reach our people. That's just one part of the, the charity
[00:21:29] Carrie: So, but that too, uh, how many stops do you typically have on your
[00:21:35] Jaime: tour?
[00:21:36] Such a good question. So I like to give a comparison. So honestly, when we hire a tour manager, because it's a unicorn of a person to hire, because he asked to be able to drive and operate equipment, take care of it, follow all the laws that exist for drivers, um, and be very customer service oriented and be passionate about hearing health and, uh, like, and, and look the part, you know?
[00:21:58] And so it is a, a needle in a haystack when we look for that person. And so, and then we ask them to do like triple the work. Um, so typically these tours, I mean, honestly, they're like, whoa. And I'm like, but, but you get to do good in the world. You know, they, they typically do like 70 events a year while we do anywhere from 225 to 240 in a year.
[00:22:22] That's how many stops. We make. And so, um, we follow all the rules and we, you know, we, we do pay, that's a big part of our budget because you have to take care of them and there's per diems involved in everything. But, um, we do 225 to 240 a year. And to date, we've done over 850 events and we have over 650 unique partners.
[00:22:47] Some of those we've served on repetitively. So yeah. So 650 partners, community partners across the country now that we have is, um, I'm very proud of that because it's, it's a lot of time away from my family and, um, you know, for my kids, me and my kids and, um, and it's, every minute has been so worth it because of the people that we've helped.
[00:23:09] Carrie: That's awesome. So, one other question about the community events. So the experiential events. In that community, that then those are you. Like you have partners within that community. So if someone would say, i have difficulty or, or need some help within the you have connections within that community, then to link them up to
[00:23:29] Jaime: yes.
[00:23:29] So I will segue then into a couple of things. So originally we provide everyone with an electronic, so our software let, oh, I can, this can not go without being said, auto hub is the parent company, um, of auto kiosk, which is the software we use. And I say that because Antonio Cocci is he, he developed the software.
[00:23:52] He's the genius behind it. He has donated, um, since 2017 when we met. So for the past three years, he's donated all the software licenses. Before that we had a company called Ultimate kiosk. They did the same super awesome people. And Tony are the AutoKiosk. Is insane. Like the, the, the, the, um, customization that we can do for the brands that support us, but even like the test itself is super, super easy.
[00:24:19] Um, it is, it has all of, um, I'm not as versed well versed on these things, but all the, all the compliances that audiologists look for from the NOAH to, you know, I could name a bunch of them and I'd say, yes, it is that, um, it, it detects background noises. Um, and then factors that into the test as well.
[00:24:38] There's a hearing aid simulator that you can activate. We have not done that yet, just because we're at public events. Plan on doing that. And, um, we, so, so when they said the point of all that is, is when they finish that test, they have several options of how they want to be contacted, how we can get in touch with them.
[00:24:56] Can they make an appointment, et cetera, up until now up until this year, they've either said I want to be emailed. I don't want to be contacted or, um, just, uh, yes, please give me a call, et cetera. And then immediately though, when the test is done, they get some follow-up material on what to do next, if they just want to navigate it on their own.
[00:25:16] Uh, and then we also print that stuff. And what that looks like is a checklist that I created. Um, obviously females are often responsible for the care, the health care of the family. And so with a female mind, um, I know we like checklists. I know we like, okay, we've got 50 million things to do in the day.
[00:25:35] And I just need to know, tell me what to do. So it basically says call your insurance company and make sure that, you know, go to our website, check out the clinic finder, um, make sure that your then call your insurance company, make sure that they're approved under, under your plan. Um, if not find one that is give us a call, if you need help.
[00:25:53] Um, here's some things that we also recommend. So it's a really good guide of, um, what, what steps to take to get to that audiology appointment. However, What I've found through the past five, five years, past five years is what keeps me up at night is I'm leaving them with instructions. And, and they're probably still a little confused.
[00:26:16] We only have 10, 10 minutes or so with them sometimes longer. And I started looking at the data and, um, really doing a deep dive into some of the things that they tell us. Uh, and I realized that people, um, need more and, and just still the data that's out there about how much, how many people are still not being reached or still not making decisions for their hearing.
[00:26:41] So we started developing over the past year. Well, two years ago, I realized I actually found it in a business book that I study that two years ago, I wrote what's happening now, what we're working on now, which is kind of cool to see that it's happening. I wrote what if there was able what if I was able to build a team that could take every single one of those people that do not pass and walk them through for the rest of their life of their hearing journey and hold their hand and answer questions and prep them for appointments and match them to the right personality, audiologists that have their title.
[00:27:14] A vet friend and me might want two very different types of firsts of personalities and audiology. So that's what we've been working on. Um, for the past six months hard, it's called the care team and it will be a group of individuals who are passionate about helping others. Some people like me who have a hearing loss story, um, and we get to call every person that wants to be contacted and we are going to equip them for that appointment.
[00:27:40] Here's why about two years ago, I started doing, what's called a hearing health profile on people, which means when they take the hearing test, that's just one portion of what we, what information we gather. We actually also gather information on their affordability. How do they rate their hearing? Because we might tell them they have severe to severe, but they might still think there are two that tells me we're going to have a very different conversation than someone that says, no, I'm a five one out of five.
[00:28:08] I'm a five and I have severe hearing loss, like they're ready. And we ask them, do you believe in hearing devices that helps us build a better conversation? If they're a yes. And they also say I'm a five and they're severe to severe. I think we can move that along a little bit more quickly than someone who's like, no, I can hear I'm a one.
[00:28:28] And you know, no, I don't believe in hearing aids. And you know, we have to have a very different nurturing conversation. So, um, and then how, how much can you afford? I, I do struggle with when I hear story after story, after story on the tour where they've walked into an appointment and they've said, I, I can't afford that.
[00:28:49] And they feel like they paid for something. And they made it happen. And either they didn't report back to the audiologist, like they should with how to hear best with the hearing aids and get those adjustments made, whatever the case is, they didn't get the full benefit of that hearing aid and they put them in the drawer.
[00:29:08] So the care team is designed to empower the consumer to make good decisions about their hearing loss and be in the driver's seat. However, to be very, very supportive and very, very. Um, what's the word, um, be prepared to be in partnership with the audiology and be respectful for what their role is in their life.
[00:29:30] Moving forward to understand how much that audiologist means to them and what, how much they need them. And to help bridge that relationship by making good personality matches, and then equipping the audiologist with that information prior to the appointment. So that everybody is we're skipping past a lot of steps and they can say, okay, I've got this in front of me from songs for sound and their team.
[00:29:52] Um, I totally understand where you're at. Let's review this. Am I correct? Yes. Okay. Well, let's get to work and help you here. And so now we're not losing people and you know, on the business side and audiologist has a better chance of retention with that, with that patient. Um, and it may not be the premium that they wanted originally, but you're going to get it over a lifetime and, and keep that patient.
[00:30:15] So, um, this is coming from a professional perspective, as well as a parent, as well as honestly, the best friend to thousands of people across the country that I've personally spoken with. And the things that we hear over and over and over is there's not enough trust in this industry. So the care team is ready to build the trust again and create those matches.
[00:30:38] Wow,
[00:30:38] Carrie: that's amazing. Because then you, do you want patients to be empowered with their own information, as well as you know, what those next steps are. And sometimes you need to have somebody walking down that path with you or you won't like take that next step. So it sounds like that care team would definitely help with that.
[00:30:56] Jaime: Yes, I it's, it's, I'm very proud of this, this one. Uh, it's it's hard work. We're, we're trying, we're scraping together all the change and the funding to get it together. And we're really excited about some things happening, but, um, you know, it's so important. This is the part where I can sleep. It's funny.
[00:31:11] Like we are putting a lot of resources into this, so, you know, in charity world, sometimes you're just like, okay, okay. You know, I have to pay my people out. The, you know, it's gonna, it's gonna work out, but I actually sleep more at night now than I have in a long time, because I honestly like this is, I know this is a game changer, especially let's be real.
[00:31:31] Um, let's talk. I mean, we know OTC is it's going to happen, whatever it looks like it's going to happen and we need to have a consumer focused land. And I feel like, thank God. We've been well ahead of that for a while now. And so a lot of the hearing aid companies and, and device manufacturers are calling us saying, okay, how can we w what's next with songs for sound, because you have been talking to the consumers for so long, and it's less about us kind of being in this power position and more about the information that we have.
[00:32:01] Just this fear, like, uh, a bank of marketing information, um, to have better conversations with, with those consumers. We just know what we know, what they.
[00:32:12] Carrie: Yeah. So what are your, do you have like a launch date or you already have pilot program in place for all this
[00:32:18] Jaime: of this pilot program is in place and we're hiring right now, a couple of individuals.
[00:32:25] So if you, we actually need one more, if you know of anyone interested have them email me. Um, but pilot is in place and it'll go four weeks. And then, um, I have no doubts that it's, um, yeah, I mean, even the software that we, we landed on, like it like even worked in our little tiny budget and, um, it's just, it's so exciting.
[00:32:46] Cause it's fantastic software that we can incorporate a lot of those love pieces, you know, my heart for people like the, the, the hearing health profile and how we talk to them. And, um, I'm so excited. It's yeah, I'm so excited. So yes. So hopefully we go hard launch in two weeks. Um, You know, fingers crossed, whatever.
[00:33:07] So, um, yeah. Thank you for asking that we're really excited. And then after a four week trial, we plan to go like go full, full go. So right now we're focusing on everyone that we've served, obviously, um, over the past five years with a heavy focus on the most recent and then working our way back. Um, really excited.
[00:33:25] Yeah. Thank you for asking.
[00:33:27] Carrie: I can hear the enthusiasm and excitement in your voice as you talk. So that's
[00:33:31] Jaime: awesome. Very much. I mean, I'm sleeping when I do sleep, but hours are longer and you know, it's just the long days, but it's good stuff. It's going to be fun to see this. Yeah, it's going to be fun.
[00:33:42] Carrie: So with all of that going on, are you still doing like you're here with the music kids camp or, and some of your other programs that you have going on for the songs The sounds?
[00:33:54] Jaime: so everything, as you know, was on hold for events. So hopefully the kids can launch. We have tossed around potentially the fall.
[00:34:05] We have to talk with our partner. I don't think that they're fully open quite yet. Um, and, but the latest would be next spring or next fall. So it would be hopefully this fall, if not next year. Um, and that's also depending on a sponsor to cover the year, the music kids camp. So that is by the way they hear the music kids.
[00:34:22] And amazing, amazing program that we offer. So we've served over 300 total people and, um, families to date, um, that we partner with the center for courageous kids who really host the camp. And they kind of look at us as like a sponsor, but it's heavily focused. It's a hearing loss camp and, um, they just take the heavy lifting off of us.
[00:34:43] So it's oh my gosh, I can't is it 400 acres that they have. There. And it's just amazing. They have horses and they have canoeing and they have fishing and they have bowling and they have all these amazing activities for the kids. Their living quarters are fascinating because you can, they design it because in the summer they have teens and kids, camps, no families.
[00:35:08] Um, but they have these big rooms where you could have anywhere from four beds to eight beds, if not more to 10 beds. So they put a whole family in one big room and it's super comfortable. These rooms are like these. They're like, it's kind of like college, but just bigger rooms with more beds, you have your bathroom and everything.
[00:35:27] So it's not like per se, like you're not roughing it per you know, but it is, um, an activity camp. And what happens is. As they hear the music. Um, you know, obviously we keep music at the center of all we all that we do and hearing it. And so there's a lot of programming of families just being able to be together and share.
[00:35:47] Um, but we also build in like this past camp, we did a teen panel where we had four teens with cochlear implants. Um, and here they were all CIs. No, no bilateral hearing aids. So CIs and hearing aids and do spoke. Phonak actually sponsored that as well. He's a Phonak kid. Um, he's a football player at Brentwood academy and he spoke and told his story of overcoming all of the obstacles and the parents were just blown away.
[00:36:16] The kids weren't even there at that point in time. Um, and so we do things like that, but it's a really great opportunity to just share and care and be together and have fun. And then at the last night that we're there, there's a big dance party. And for me to get to sit back and watch all these little, little ones just it's, uh, the age is five.
[00:36:39] to 14 is the average age, um, to watch them dance and have fun and see each other every year. Um, it's amazing. My favorite thing that happened there was the first and second year we brought in songwriters and we actually started to write our theme song. And it's pretty amazing. It's called Hear the Music.. It's gotta hear the music and like a country song.
[00:37:02] I mean, it's just very, I can, I promise you what we on the radio at one day, um, with all, all proceeds going back songs for sound, of course. But, um, anyway, it is, um, it's amazing and the kids helped write it. And so we did the, these sessions where the songwriters taught them, you know, all about songwriting and.
[00:37:19] music and words. And we would have them yell at words for, for, um, different verses in the songs. And so everybody participated in it over a couple years. It's amazing. So that's that. And so hopefully this year next, and then we do our mission work in Jamaica, which is our one model right now where we've been serving and we'll basically recreate the stuff we do here over there.
[00:37:44] Um, we did the whole bandaid approach where we did hearing tests for our partner. It's a deaf school. We started serving, um, and years ago, I'm sure everyone knows Dr. Fred Bess. Okay. So quick story years ago, Dr. Fred Bess and I were meeting about just when I was at Vanderbilt, you know, I just knew of him and I actually had already started songs for sound on the side.
[00:38:11] I wanted to gain more, um, Like, I just want him to be more immersed into the culture. So I went over and I worked for an otolaryngology department, um, actually in the voice center, but I was closer to all of that and just understanding that world and Dr. Bess and I met and I was like, I like loved him.
[00:38:29] Like, I'm like, I need to be I as any time I can just go chat. So I'm just go chat with him. And I said to him, one day, I said, Hey. So I feel like I'm supposed to, I feel like God's putting on my heart that I'm supposed to go somewhere internationally. Like, I don't know where it is. So he starts telling me, we start having these meetings about all of his work and overseas and Russia and everywhere.
[00:38:50] And he's amazing before, you know it, a woman named Kim who is incredible. She worked there, she came to me and she said, my church serves this deaf school in Jamaica. And no one's ever someone came and did hearing tests on a couple kids, but not everyone. And then they never came back. And she said, would you go?
[00:39:13] And I'm like, it's funny, you mentioned that. I feel like I'm supposed to. So Dr. Bess and Kim and myself went down for kind of a proof of concept mission. And six years later, we've been back, um, year over year, except for last year. And we've given two sets of hearing aids because they lose them and they don't know how to take care of which has led to, um, you know, us doing a deeper dive into hearing health as a whole for Jamaica.
[00:39:39] Um, the school is, the kids are amazing. I watched many, we actually, the identified that two kids had normal hearing. They had cognitive delays. Um, but we took, we've taken amazing, amazing, um, audiologists and, and, and parents and, um, nurses and all kinds of grad students. And we've done some incredible work.
[00:40:00] Um, basically though, right now we're trying to raise $5,000 for a demography report. I added an amazing board member. Who's from Jamaica. And she is also an audiologist for Cochlear. And so she's helping us be a liaison with, uh, she's, she's obviously a perfect champion for us. So we're working to work with the government on more awareness and then go in and do what we do here.
[00:40:23] So that's where we're at now. Um, but we can't go yet and hopefully soon we'll be back. I think in the fall, I'll go do another, I have another go at it and meet some of the, um, the, the, the, hopefully we'll be at the place where we have the demography report and we can have meetings with the government and start some, some thoughts on awareness and how we start with awareness.
[00:40:47] Carrie: Wow. The amazing big picture ideas. So that's awesome.
[00:40:52] Jaime: Yeah. Well, and really quickly, there's only one audiologist in the entire country of Jamaica. Wow. Well, a lot of your texts, you know, hearing texts, et cetera, but, and she Dr. Beavers and we're working with her, but she's about to retire. So, yeah, so like, it's like similar to like early intervention has to be, uh, uh, and we have to do that first, um, also outreach, like we do here.
[00:41:12] We have to find a way to recreate that outreach there and get testing there, but we have to have their support. Um, you know, we need to, we need to create incentives and, and understanding of how these people can actually function in society. If they can have help, um, as can be minimal for them, for what it probably costs them to, to take care of them if they're not treated.
[00:41:33] So, um, yeah, so that's it. And then we plan to re you know, hopefully eventually my son wants to one day, you know, um, he wants to run our international missions. And so whoever, if it's him, um, Jacob would be great at it. And he's great. Um, after he, you know, goes to college and all that fun stuff, but we do want to recreate that in other countries.
[00:41:52] Once we have that.
[00:41:53] Carrie: Wow. That's awesome. So obviously like all of these projects and visions and continued vision, take money as well, and fundraising.. So can you share a little bit about how you follow and what your top fundraiser?
[00:42:12] Jaime: Well, so there's that part that does keep me up at night, to be honest, when I wake up now, I'm like, oh, we need money.
[00:42:22] Um, and we do, you know, it's just been so hard on nonprofit. It's been hard on everyone. I'm not going to for-profit non-profit people who are out of work. Um, you know, first of all, shout out to all our first responders and all of our, our nurses and doctors who have been working so hard in the pandemic and, um, But I want to give a big shout out to the people who've been barely, you know, trying to figure this out in the charity sector, because it, it hurts our fundraising style.
[00:42:48] It was a, it was a stop. There was no, it was a cliff. If it wasn't for the government, you know, um, creating opportunities for us to continue to get support through the PPP. Um, I don't know. I can't even imagine. So, um, we were still able to pay the staff. We kept working, you know, we started looking forward to, we had time to plan.
[00:43:07] So, um, all these great programs, um, So we have several events throughout the year, um, that we do fundraising. And now I finally have some team members where I can actually start to make those really successful before it was like me and a part-time person. And I mean, I can put on a great event, like you've met me in person, so I'm going to put on an amazing event.
[00:43:32] And then, you know, like, we'll forget to ask people for money. So I'm, I'm glad I have a team now that, um, is, is going to help me make this more successful, all these events more successful. Um, and having said that we have our hear the music gala, which is what I explained earlier. And so we've done that here in Nashville almost every year, except for last year.
[00:43:53] Um, and that's our big annual fundraiser. We just had that as you know and attended it..
[00:43:57] Carrie: Yes. And I, that was my first time attending and I got to meet you and it was such an amazing event. I was, I loved hearing your daughter speak at the event. Yes. And that was just amazing to hear her side of the story. And then also to hear your side of the story and also, you know, Derrick Coleman and the other, um, gentlemen.
[00:44:22] Yes. Who interviewed, interviewed him. What kind of had that conversation with him was so inspiring. And of course the music was good, wonderful as
[00:44:31] Jaime: well. And it was a little different because it was outside. So I. I love you have to go back next year. So I love that event, my team. So I have to give my team a shout out Miranda Weidle
[00:44:41] Do you all know she's was, is an audiologist. And she, um, came on as co-director recently and she manages our partnerships and just amazing. And she oversaw all of that. And, um, you know, my, my team Joy and Gina, they're like, Gina's our master coordinator. I've been with for three years coming up. And she's my niece.
[00:45:01] And, um, actually my, my niece in law, um, she's married to my nephew who is a Sergeant in the army. So there's that veteran passion that she has for the vets with hearing loss. Um, and then Joy, who just came on Joy, Scarborough. She's amazing. She's like a little go get her. And she knows a lot of people and she's really helping us to expand our vision for what we could do with these events.
[00:45:20] So, um, all of that, they did such a fantastic job. So I want them to know that, but I can't wait for you to come next time indoors only because I've got that down to like, uh, like, uh it's uh, it was beautiful outside. I have it down to like a science, like it is. I know exactly like how did you four hours of constant entertainment.
[00:45:41] So, um, I'm excited to get back indoors, but I did love, it was so beautiful. Like it was whether
[00:45:47] Carrie: it was beautiful that the venue was perfect and
[00:45:52] Jaime: cool, really neat. And our musicians, I mean, they were amazing. Um, they were awesome. So, um, so we do that and then we actually just, this launched this year and it was so successful.
[00:46:02] It's just for veterans, we do Skeet shoot. Um, so shoot with, you know, I don't know, sorry, people, if you're on, like, if you're not passionate about guns, but this is really nothing like that. It is for our veterans. So it's a good tie to like, you know, it's obviously a lot of men that want to come out and support vets and we had some women as well, but we did a skeet shoot.
[00:46:23] So you basically have a team that you bring in, whether you sponsor it or. Just put together for, you know, three, three in yourself. And, um, there are four somes that come and it's very fun and it's a competition and it's at a place called Nashville gun club, which is amazing. And, um, they did a great job and then we had a reception with some music.
[00:46:42] It was awesome. A lot of fun for all our work with veterans. So that was great. This year. The second thing or that, I'm sorry, the third standing fundraiser, which we haven't talked about today, and I'll, I can wrap up with this Hardaways Hope is our third pillar. So we talked about the things that we do, um, outreach, the first one, which is all the big touring and testing and, and helping people learn more about hearing loss and giving them a benchmark test in a conversation.
[00:47:09] Then we move them into the Care team, which we've talked about today, where it's my team for life. They're your friend for a lifetime. And then the third part is Hardaway’s Hope. So now what I have my hearing device, I have my cochlear implant, my hearing aid. Um, I'm a child, I'm the mother of a child, or I'm an adult.
[00:47:25] Now, what Hardaways Hope is now what? Um, John Hardaway was on our board. He was a lifetime board member. He lost his hearing to cancer treatments. Um, the first time he had cancer and, um, it was his wife would tell you that. And he would tell you that, uh, cancer took his life, but the cochlear implant gave him his life back.
[00:47:45] He was, as you can relate to, he was in sales. He was the general sales manager for Brown-Forman Jack Daniels, all those big brown, like he was like salesman of the decade or something crazy. I don't know. He was very, very, very popular within their company. And he had, he had to communicate every single day for his job.
[00:48:02] We all do his livelihood, his communication board meetings, uh, phone calls face-to-face meetings in the car traveling, going out and seeing all of his clients. And suddenly he couldn't after meeting cancer the first time it was like another, just, just shot in below and. He was, I was introduced to him my first year for my first event.
[00:48:25] He actually brought, this is how great he was. So I'll tell you what happened and I'll go back this. He passed away two years ago, ultimately of cancer. Again, had a cochlear implant. I met him through Dr. David Haynes, CI surgeon who was his, um, he's been the breadth of this charity. He was my right hand, man.
[00:48:43] He was more than a board member. He was like a father to me. He was a friend. He was a confidant. He was my mentor. He was my peer. Um, we laughed, we cried. He was my, my bud. And I love his wife, his family. Well, um, the first event that he supported was our first hear the music, fundraiser in Nashville for Vanderbilt. And he actually brought.
[00:49:09] The man who had just shot some of inland that's how cool he was. He was at our first,
[00:49:19] um, oh, what is his name? It's it's skipping my mind Robin. Um, goodness. And so I found that out like way after, obviously we didn't know at the time nobody knew this, but he was there. He was home seeing someone and who came with John, like that's how cool John was. John would just do something like that.
[00:49:37] And I didn't even know it till years later. I'm like, you've gotta be kidding me. So was the Titans former head coach, um, um, who, uh, oh, Fisher coach Jeff Fisher was there like all kinds of people in the room because of John, like that's who he was. And, um, anyway, he left a legacy behind. He always said he picked up the tab when we ate and he always said it's for the kids.
[00:49:59] Number one. And number two, all you wanted was for people to hear. He just like me. He just wanted people to have the life back that he was given. And so Haraday’s hope is everything after. So we'll, we'll hopefully build our building. Hopefully have a place where we can call home where we will have virtual services, in-person services, meetings, parties, fun, trainings, everything, corporate training, helping companies be equipped for people with hearing loss, going out and do an education at like what we experienced on Sunday at an airport where the security guard was not going to let Lexi go through the metal detector versus the scanner.
[00:50:35] And she called a supervisor and it was very embarrassing for her. Like just better awareness, um, things like that, like all sorts of programming, all sorts of training, academic support. That's a whole other thing, girl. Um, but, um, we need to do better by our kids and understanding them better and their unique needs.
[00:50:53] So Hardaways Hope is all the after. And it's just a seed right now. So we need a lot of funding so that we do the golf tournament. And the fall, and that's the Hardaway’s Hope. And that's an October this year. So, um, all of this will be up on our website soon, but just so you know, like those are our three main fundraisers.
[00:51:12] Um, and we hope to launch the, here, the music concert, national tour, again for fundraising, um, and go across the country. But, um, mostly we get sponsorships for our tour. That's a huge part of our funding, some grants, um, and then annual dinners. So we're always needing cash.
[00:51:32] Carrie: I try. That's a huge part of what you guys do is the fundraising.
[00:51:37] So you can do all these amazing programs that you have. Um, I already launched and, and about to launch. So it just. Totally blown away and amazed by everything that you guys do. And, um, I, I'm glad to have been a small part of that with your last fundraiser, but what people, our listeners today, um, are hearing this and they're thinking to themselves, how do I get in touch with you?
[00:52:04] How do I donate? How do I serve? What would you say?
[00:52:08] Jaime: Oh my goodness. So we love donations. We would take any. And I really do like, I don't, I don't think people understand that. We're truly, honestly, I see my background at Vanderbilt in fundraising was annual giving and we would always say every dollar counts and it really it's true all these little dollars.
[00:52:24] If we have, you know, a thousand people give up $50 or a hundred dollars that adds up. Um, and so. Anytime that you can give, we have opportunities to even do a monthly gift. If that's easier on you. Um, I cannot stress the importance of supporting something that is meaningful to you and that you connect with.
[00:52:44] And then the second part to your point is once we launched this tour, come out when we come into your city or we're near you and come serve with us, we believe it or not. We have a hard time finding people to come out on a Saturday and just talk to people about hearing health. Um, it's, it's Cochlear has been a great partner there.
[00:53:01] Um, and Phonak where they would have a Cochlear has a whole volunteer. Like, I mean, their network is insane. Um, and so they did a great, they've done a great job about helping us have some folks on site at the big events. Um, and I know people are busy, but I promise you every time these volunteers leave.
[00:53:18] They're like, oh my gosh, this has been so awesome. Like this has been so healing for me, you know, I just got to, I'm not just at work. We're telling my story, the same person again. Um, I'm, I'm literally helping change someone's perspective because believe it or not, if you knew how many times we had the wife twisting her husband's arm, like, okay, it's here now.
[00:53:40] You're taking the test. We're good. We're doing this. We're doing this. Um, or, or in honesty. The mom who says my, my child really they've diagnosed him with ADHD, um, all these things, and we haven't been given a hearing test yet. You think that could be something that could be an and there you go, they've got a moderate and one ear and a mild in the other.
[00:54:04] And they're being given, you know, ADHD medications when it could potentially literally be the child needs hearing aids. Um, and so I, I do have to say this because Christine Church, who used to work at Cochlear, um, remembers this story in, um, Chicago, our first event ever. And this woman brought this little boy on who I think the family had little means and he had no speech.
[00:54:31] He was three and a half years old. He failed. He ended up, um, I believe in the Luri hospital system, um, for further services, but he, and, and he was with, uh, his, his parents were deaf. And nobody like, even, even with deaf parents, they truly, honestly didn't understand that this child had hearing loss. It was, it was the craziest thing.
[00:54:54] I was satisfied. I have his picture with me and him. Like, I know I can still see this child. And, um, the grandma was like, I'm here, we're getting this figured out. They're not with me today. So they can't say anything about it, you know? And it was in this child was as happy as can be, but had no communication whatsoever.
[00:55:11] None, no sign language, no nothing. So because no one would simply diagnose. So I get all the time we get that dramatic versus mild hearing loss or unilateral hearing loss and kids, um, which is very, um, underdiagnosed. And so, um, and the adults, I can't even imagine. I can't even tell you, we do the American Legion national convention with veterans who have access to VA benefits and they don't even know.
[00:55:37] And they fail their hearing tests and we walk them literally to the VA and we help walk them through and they come back the next year and they're like, look at me. I got my hearing aids. So anyway, so just getting involved money is super important. We need support financially. If you're a sponsor out there, if you're hearing company in any kind of audio, anything, and you want to get involved, reach me.
[00:55:57] Um, but being onsite with us and watching our events and watching our event page and come in and be with us, it'd be a lot of fun.
[00:56:05] Carrie: Oh, good. Well, I will definitely link your website to the show notes today. So people can just link on to that after they hear the podcast. And I guess just to wrap up, is there anything that I didn't ask you that you want to share?
[00:56:21] Huh?
[00:56:21] Jaime: Well, um, if you don't mind from a mother, I would like, I actually would like to give a shout out to Dr. Emily Lund, who is a PhD from Vanderbilt. They let her keep Lexi as our only, only patient when she was doing her PhD. Thank, thank goodness. Um, oh my gosh. Um, because she was she's amazing and Ginger Jones was actually
[00:56:43] Ginger Jones. She's an audiologist as well, or no, I'm sorry. Speech pathologist. And she was at Vanderbilt too. And she started in practice and it was doing great things with tons of clinics, but we were then handed to Dr. London. Um, she is now at Texas Christian university leading the department and we still go see her and Dr.
[00:57:01] Berger out there. And he's the audiologist. And here's the thing. I learned a lot with this process, and this is something that I want, whether you're in speech or audiology, because they worked together on Lexi's case per se. And this is a part of the Hardaway’s hope that I'm super passionate about when it comes to academic support.
[00:57:18] So we, uh, in about third grade, we started seeing that that's when you go from learning to read, to reading, to learn, obviously, and we started seeing the teachers were coming to us saying, um, we think she has maybe focus issues or ADHD or whatever long story short, I call Emily. And I'm like, I mean, I mean, I don't know what's going on there.
[00:57:43] Should I have this evaluation? And she's like, no, come out and see me and let's start doing, I want to do some, some different things to flag. So she started with a non-verbal IQ test to see where would Lexi be if she was just, um, if she'd been born hearing, like what's her natural intelligence, which was, I was like, I was just, like devastated is a good word.
[00:58:06] I was fascinated. By this thought process, because this is brilliant. Like we want our kids to, like, I think every kid should have this, first of all, because it's like my, like if I know that my child has a natural intelligence within reason, like I want to push them and help them and nurture them, but I need to know where they need support.
[00:58:24] And also I need to know where it's okay, where they don't have to be like everyone else. My son is he's like, he wants to, he loves cars and he can tell you every single part on a car. He can. I mean, he's just, and he's emotionally intelligent. He understands people he's he feels for people, but he works really hard at academics.
[00:58:42] So he's still gets good grades, pretty good grades. But, you know, I don't have me telling him he has to be a 4.2 GPA student at a, at a private school may not be the best thing using my time. Right. So, anyway, so with Lex, so she did this thing and she did say, Lex is naturally pretty, you know, she is an academic.
[00:58:59] And, um, so if we see she naturally, she probably get all A's. She was on the high side of a higher set of average on her, her IQ tests. So then we looked at, so where are the dips? So she started, she didn't just do, like, we're going to do this test, this test, this test, this test, like four tests. And that's what, that's it.
[00:59:17] She started here and if she didn't see any moved on to this next, it was kind of like an if then scenario everything. And then if we've saw a little gap here, she'd say she, she went deeper and she went a lot deeper with that issue. Everything went back to the gap of language and mental fatigue. So I don't the, the Hardaway’s hope is super important to me because our kids, like, I know for a fact what I'm doing with her, with her school grant, when academy and her, she went to a different school for K through five at CPA.
[00:59:47] It's totally different than what's happening and especially public school systems and the attention these kids are getting. And it's frustrating to me because I know that they could be performing much at a much higher rate than I think that because of the support just isn't there. Um, what we identified was basically a personalized plan for her, um, with a set of guidelines for what she needs.
[01:00:10] And again, it went back to language. So we know if she gets an, a grade, she gets a, B, we need to take a little look like, is it her? Cause like Lexi and she likes to take, talk and study, um, and she's has a busy schedule. Um, and then, or is it. You know, is it something more? And then usually, almost always, if it gets to that B to C range, it goes back to language.
[01:00:34] And let me tell you where we've noticed it, the most test taking questions. So with that language gap, number one, my point is, is please. When you guys see these families, there's never a stopping point. Learning language has to be like, you have to pound. I felt like it fifth, it's it? Kindergarten. We graduated, you know, like we're off now, we're off to school and she mainstreamed all this stuff.
[01:00:58] No, please just tell your families, this is a lifelong journey because you'll never, she'll never get those two years back. She don't, you know, by the time she was really processing language and really like going, it was almost two years, let's be honest. And so she'll never get that back. So. Number two, putting on a cochlear implant.
[01:01:17] Isn't like putting on glasses. It's not at schools need to know this. And number three, we need a better individualized plan for these kids based on what their natural intelligence is. And we've noticed Lexi needs most support on the test questions and preparing for tests and things like that. Um, decoding those questions cause she usually knows the answer, but she can't get to it because it's a difficult question.
[01:01:37] So just, um, just continue. Like the kids, I think is still, you know, such a big passion of mine. And I don't know if everyone knows this, but you know, Lexi is, I'm so proud of her. She is the, you know, she was just recently. Number seven in the country, um, in her grad class for pitching and she's on this major travel team.
[01:01:55] And I just received her first questionnaire from a D one school. And she's 13 today. Um, it's super cool. Um, a couple came out a couple of big D1 coaches came out to see her play this weekend she's hurt. So sadly she couldn't perform, but, um, but anyway, these kids should not have a limit. They should have a limit list.
[01:02:17] And, um, I think that if you want to, if you're an audiologist or speech pathologist and you want to get more involved in this Hardaway’s Hope thing, um, contact me. Uh, I hopefully Dr. Len will. Um, I know she, she's so busy and amazing, and I'm going to try to hopefully help this, you know, her roll this out one day across the country, this whole approach.
[01:02:37] Um, she's very busy doing great work there. Um, but I want to say thank you to her and thank you to all our team and you for having us today. Um, if anybody needs me, I love, I love helping people one on one too.
[01:02:51] Carrie: Well, thank you Jaime so much for everything. I love your personal story and your passion and purpose that you have because it really shines through.
[01:03:02] And it's a ripple effect for so many different people, whether they just need to hear more about hearing and hearing challenges or they're a family or a veteran or another individual who does have hearing loss. So thank you for everything that you do. And boy, yeahe 501C3 songs. The sounds. And when you come to Ohio, I'm going to jump on board and be one of your volunteers.
[01:03:29] Jaime: Yeah. We have to give them a shot at, so the Ohio state university, you didn't remind, like we haven't talked about that. My, my I'm a Buckeye and raised 31 years before I moved to south to Nashville, which is where I'm at now. Um, yeah. Shout out to their department. So Dr. Gail whitelaws, we both, oh my gosh.
[01:03:46] Love her. And we just, um, helped a woman. Um, we, we purchased her hearing aids and moved her through. She actually screened on clinic at Easton town center, went on her own, trying to, you know, this again, the care team. If we had made that call, you know, we would have kept her, you know, with us for a while, but she tried some things on her own did not pan out, left frustrated, came back to me.
[01:04:09] She is absolutely loving. She's got the Phonak. Um, oh, the paradise, the latest, like, uh, Cadillacs appear. Anyway, Dr. Gail Whitelaw and her team. Um, they, I asked them to help because I wanted her to be like, I want an eyes on this. She does her hearing loss is a little like. It needed some extra attention.
[01:04:30] And so I called them and Jodi Baxter is very familiar with Phonak system. And so she took care of it and she had a sub like a sublime experience. They were amazing. We actually set our clinic up, um, at a football game each year in the fanfare area and do your hearing screenings and the student audiology department, um, or the audiology, the students in audiology are there and they support it.
[01:04:52] So we love go bucks.
[01:04:56] Carrie: Yeah. And I loved the Gail Whitelaw too. We had colleagues and we actually have a camp tonight that we're doing virtually through Ohio state university, for teens with, um,
[01:05:12] has the parents and I have the kids. So it's going to be a good evening.
[01:05:16] Jaime: Well, next time I want to kind of
[01:05:18] Carrie: camp. Yeah. Well, next year we have to be in person and then you can come to the Ohio state university and we live experience.
[01:05:28] Jaime: So that's Lexi’sdream school actually. So one of, one of her top five, so she's
[01:05:34] Carrie: come to the camp.
[01:05:35] Jaime: Oh my gosh. She has,
[01:05:36] Carrie: she would, we're just going to sign her right now. And 2022, she'd come to Ohio, state by camp and that'd be a great experience.
[01:05:47] Jaime: It's actually, the softball camp is next week, but she can't go because she's still on. She's going to be out on the injured, but they have to do that. So the coaches can see them, you know?
[01:05:57] Um, so yeah, so anyway, so, um, but if it's around the same time, that would be amazing. We'll just stay. There you go anywhere now, the world is our oyster.
[01:06:10] Carrie: Well, thanks again for being on the podcast. And I just want to thank all of our listeners for listening. And if you, um, share this podcast with others, then the others will be able to learn as well.
[01:06:20] So thank you again,
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