Betty Hansen
“I can hear when someone's knocking on my door, and I couldn't before.”
Photo: Nancee Lewis
When Betty Hansen began to lose her hearing, she was working, and getting hearing aids wasn’t a problem. But 10 years later, after retiring, her hearing had gotten worse and the old hearing aids no longer worked for her.
“I couldn’t hear the TV,” she told us, and it was hard communicating with her family. “My granddaughters talk way too fast!” she says with a laugh.
At 83, Betty is still active in her community as a chaplain with the local Elks Lodge, but it was frustrating when she went to meetings and couldn’t hear what was going on.
“They’d vote on something, and I’d just vote,” she admits, not knowing exactly what she was voting for.
“Over 10 years,” she says, “I couldn’t hear properly. It sneaks up on you – I don’t think you realize how bad it is.”
Finally a friend of Betty’s directed her to LSH through the El Cajon-Singing Hills Lions Club. “He sent me an application,” she told us, and she sent it in.
“They got back to me within five or six days. I couldn’t believe it happened that fast.”
Now she talks happily on the phone with her grandchildren. “I can hear the refrigerator when it comes on. I can hear when someone’s knocking on my door, and I couldn’t before. When I’m driving, I can hear when someone is coming up beside me.”
Best of all: “I’m so happy that I can hear now when I go to meetings.” Now Betty knows what she’s voting for.
