January 8, 2010

Today was a light day at Dr. Hersh’s office.  I believe I performed a total of 4 hearing tests when I typically perform about 6.  He has hours from 9am-12pm.  Afterwards I went to Avalon Gardens Nursing Home in Smithtown to deliver two hearing aids.  The first was to Maureen; her story has a happy ending but the entire process took 6 weeks to complete.  6 weeks ago on one of my previous visits, her hearing aid had a broken battery door.  I took it with me to Dr. Hersh’s office, since there were extra battery doors there from several different types of hearing aids.  Unfortunately, none of them fit.  The same thing happened at my office.  So I called Starkey to order battery doors for her specific ITE.  A follow up call a week later by my secretary revealed that nobody had acted on my request.  So I placed a call myself to Starkey and explained that I had already ordered these doors and nobody acted upon the request.  The representative stated that since I didn’t hold an account with Starkey, the request could not be fulfilled because the computer system they use does not allow them to place an order without an account number.  I stated my growing frustration with the situation and that if I needed to, I would have my colleague order the doors for me since he held an account.  The rep sympathized with my situation and somehow got the doors shipped out to me.  Unfortunately, after I got the door replaced, the hearing aid was completely non-functional.  It took me 2 weeks to get in contact with my local repair guy, as he was alternating being sick with his wife and kids.  I got the hearing aid out to him and asked him to ship it directly to Avalon Gardens after it was fixed.  He was able to comply with my request, however it was lost at Avalon upon delivery (note to self, no more shipping hearing aids to Avalon) on December 10!  I was there on December 16 and the situation was not good, as this patient has a severe to profound hearing loss and cannot function without a hearing aid.  I took a new earmold impression, raced back to the office, got a DVS approval from Medicaid for a new digital ITE, completed an order form for a Phonak Certena Power ITE and JUST made the 5pm FedEx pickup.  I got a call from the Ombudsman from Avalon Gardens on December 17, who informed me that Maureen called the State to complain about the situation.  I informed him of my extraordinary efforts and that if the hearing aid arrives before I go on vacation on December 23, it will be programmed and dropped off at the facility by my secretary while I was on vacation.  I was thrilled when I stopped at the office on December 22 and the hearing aid had arrived already.  I was crushed when I discovered the volume wheel popped out of the faceplate and I couldn’t program it.  So, it was sent right back to Phonak to be fixed.  It came back while I was on vacation and my secretary informed me that there were a number of problems with the hearing aid that was sent in to be serviced; Phonak made a brand new aid and put the same serial number on it.  I installed the latest version of their software and this solved the problem of programming.  I programmed it in the morning on January 8 at Dr. Hersh’s office and dispensed it that afternoon.  Marueen was thrilled with the quality of sound and very grateful to receive a new hearing aid.  The other patient was Barbara who received a replacement hearing aid (her previous one was lost).