If you go to http://www.hlaawi.org You will find a link on the home page for the state newsletter. On page 4 you will find a list of board and off board members. I am an off board member. (Newsletter Editor) My e-mail address is there. It's also under chapters on the national site, but it's hard to find there. If you e-mail me, please put 'hearing loss question' or 'Mayo Clinic Connect Participant' in the subject header so it doesn't go to spam.

Among the most frustrating comments people can make to people who don't hear well are "Never mind, it wasn't important" or "Forget it". It makes us feel as if we are not important. We do have to realize that we frustrate them and it's a two way street. Best advice I can give a person who is around me a lot is "Get my attention before you talk to me." That's not always easy, but it is exactly what we need. We have to see the speaker to understand them.

We learn that one on one conversations always work best. Sitting at a table is perfect because we can see each other. I'm not sure if you're asking about talking to your sister in person or on the phone. Have you tried ZOOM or Skype on the cell phone? You probably should look into an app called Innocaption that allows regular cell phone calls to be captioned as they take place. Also, are you aware of captioned telephones? (CapTel and CaptionCall are the two big ones.) Those make a big difference for some people too as the entire conversation comes to you captioned, but you speak. There is so much helpful technology out there. If your sister is willing to work with you to learn about these things you are fortunate. You sound like a person who is willing to learn new things. That is definitely a key to living well with hearing loss.

@bigmqama I noticed you live in Elysburg - home of Knoebels amusement Park. Fun little place. It looks like you are in between a couple of our chapters. If you go to our HLAA PA State website (hlaa-pa.org) there is a pull down menu for Chapters. The Capital Region chapter is a good one in Harrisburg. Not sure how far that is for you. But their President Augusta Spandler is very active and would be happy to talk to you. And if it is too far to travel for a meeting, ask if they are going to start using Zoom or some other remote conferencing app for their meetings. Several Chapters have started using this because of the virus but I see it continuing in certain regions because of the remoteness of where people live, like Central and Western PA. We are going to use Zoom for our next State meeting in May/June.

Other Chapters that might work for you are Central in State College and Lebanon. I know very little about either of these. But there is an email contact for the president of each chapter if these are closer to you. I am a member of the State Advisory Council and my local Chapter is Chester County which meets in West Chester but also might go virtual in order to attract more elderly members who don't like to drive. I also am on the committee that runs the PA Walk4Hearing in Philadelphia in October each year.

If you ever want to contact me go to the State webpage mentioned above and hit the Contact Us button. It will take you to a page with different people to contact. Go to the bottom under Chapter Coordinator and send me (Mike Miles) an email then I can respond with my personal email address. They don't allow us to put email addresses on this blog.

There are a lot of handouts Julie or I can send you on best practices to communicate with people with hearing loss. There are also a lot of apps. Keep in touch. Mike