Today, at the 2014 Starkey Hearing Expo , I had the opportunity to hear President Bill Clinton speak. He came to speak about the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and to encourage others to take action to make a difference. The CGI was established in 2005 and convenes heads of state, foundations, leading CEOs, philanthropists, and others each year to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Many great accomplishments have come from these meetings, including driving down the cost of AIDS drugs. President Clinton works tirelessly and to hear him speak is an inspiration to us all to reach out and make a difference.
President Clinton has joined Bill and Tani Austin and the Starkey Hearing Foundation on a mission trip to provide hearing aids and better hearing to people with no resources. A couple of years ago he asked Bill Austin how many hearing aids they fit that year and Bill answered 50,000. President Clinton said that was wonderful and then challenged him to double that to 100,000 the next year and for the next decade. Starkey Hearing Foundation did exactly that. In fact, last year they provided almost 160,000 hearing aids!
I am happy to participate in one of those programs, Hear Now. The audiologists at Gardner Audiology provide our fitting services at no charge and Starkey Hearing Foundation provides the hearing aid to people who apply and qualify financially. We take great pride and pleasure working with Starkey in this program and are grateful we are able to participate.
