Steve works in construction for a regional health authority at a local hospital. As a project supervisor, his work involves communicating with a large construction team, hospital staff, inspectors, consultants, and more.

He has no residual hearing in his left ear, and severe to profound hearing loss in his right. While he had hearing aids previously, they were getting old and the battery would die quickly, often in the middle of important meetings over Microsoft Teams.

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Mitra is currently looking for work, and she has hearing loss. Her WorkBC Centre referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help funding the hearing aids she needs for the job search process and in her future employment. She applied and was quickly approved.

“The Assistive Technology Services program helped me by providing funding for a hearing aid. This accommodation has improved my ability to communicate effectively,” she shares.

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Gloria works as a pharmacy assistant, handling everything from helping customers get their prescriptions to stocking the shelves. Recently, her hearing aids died, making it much more difficult to do her job.

Her hearing aid specialist referred her to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help funding a new set of hearing aids. Assistive Technology Services staff walked her through every step of the process, ensuring that she got the hearing aids she needs for work.

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Donna works in a busy pharmacy that prides itself on its customer service. She helps customers find items, discusses the benefits of different products, and tries to make them feel welcome and comfortable in the store. However, her hearing loss was making it more difficult to help customers.

“I had issues hearing their questions and comments over the sounds that occur in a public place,” she shares. “I was always asking them to repeat their question, which when someone was in a hurry could irritate them. I also had to ask my co-workers to repeat themselves for the same reasons. I have found that most people are quite considerate, but as the hearing loss progressed, it became more of an issue for me.”

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Perez works as a part-time manager at a fast-food restaurant. Working in a busy kitchen environment with a lot of noise, she found her hearing loss was affecting her ability to work.

“I was diagnosed with a bilateral, moderate-to-moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss, which has a big impact on my work,” she explains. “My self-confidence was affected as I can not work properly. I need to ask my colleagues what they were saying and sometimes I [would] just guess what they really want to say, which [would] lead to a wrong decision or wrong task.”

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At 71 years old, Ali still works as a manager and estimator for a construction company in Vancouver. However, his hearing loss was making it difficult to communicate on the job. Through WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, he received funding to help cover the cost of the hearing aids he needs to keep working.

“[The] Assistive Technology Services program assisted me to purchase suitable hearing aids to keep my job,” he shares.

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Ronald is an insurance estimator. His work requires a lot of communication, both in-person and over the phone.

“[I have] hearing loss, which resulted in missing information (sometimes critical) during calls or in-person meetings, [and I’m] always having to ask people to repeat themselves which slowed the workflow,” he shares.

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After a long career as a service tech working on cars, Robert now works full-time driving the customer shuttle at a car dealership in Kamloops.

“I was suffering hearing loss as a result of working in a shop for 50 years, and I was having trouble hearing directions from customers I was driving,” he shares.

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Lois works as an administrative assistant for a regional health authority. A large part of her job involves taking minutes for meetings and fielding many task requests. The meetings are held both in-person and virtually, and she found she was having trouble with her hearing loss in both contexts.

“My hearing has suffered and causes issues when taking minutes. Having to depend on reading a transcript, reading lips, [and] turning up the volume slows down production and to some extent [affects] accuracy,” she shares.

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Hazen works as a care aid in a long-term care facility. A young cancer survivor, she has hearing loss as a side effect of her treatment, which affects her confidence in communicating in the workplace.

Through WorkBC Assistive Technology Services, Hazen received funding for hearing aids for both ears.

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