Miracle Workers
Published: March 1, 2007
Imagine never hearing music, laughter, or even the sound of your own voice. Children in many third world countries loose their hearing unnecessarily as babies, due to poor medical conditions.
A local couple is trying to change that, by providing their skills and time to help children in the Dominican Republic.
Andrew Morabito with Advance Hearing Centers says, “If you can’t communicate with other people and loved ones it’s a lonely world.”
Andrew and Carrie Morabito are newlyweds. They share a new life, a business, and a passion for helping others.
Carrie says “Hearing aids are good, hearing loss is bad and this is a way we can help.”
Andrew adds, “Hearing loss has been swept under the rug.”
For Carrie and Andrew, giving people back the ability to hear is more than just a nine to five job. In January they traveled to the Dominican Republic where they fitted 900 people, adults and children with 1,800 hearing aids.
The Moribioto’s made the trip as part of the Starky Foundation. The mission provides hearing aids to people in under served countries. The foundation donates the equipment, and people like the Moriboto’s give of themselves for one week.
For these children, sound is foreign and most don’t understand what they are suddenly able to hear.
Andrew says, “It’s a major sense you just gave back to someone.”
Sadly most of the kids were not born deaf. Their hearing loss could have been prevented with proper healthcare.
Carrie says, “They still use Gentimicine to treat infections they use it as an ear drop then it goes to the hearing mechanism and damages it even more.”
The Dominican only has two audiologist to treat the thousands of adults and children with hearing loss. A hearing aid would cost most families here three months wages.
But the reality is, even with hearing aids, these children wont get the needed verbal skills or follow up care they need.
But that doesn’t dim the drive for this ambitious couple.
Andrew adds, “If you fit 900 and 50 wear them you still have impacted 50 people..at least for a short period they will be wearing hearing aids.”
Detachment, anxiety, hypertension can all be traced back to hearing loss. Carrie and Andrew say this is their small effort to change the lives of these children forever.
Carrie says, “We have to take care of our children because they are our future..if we don’t take care of them we won’t have a future.”
The Starkey Foundation provides hearing aids for dozens of these missions. The Morabito’s say they hope to go on another on this year.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: