 And welcome. I want to again apologize for the lack of an interpreter and also let you know that we are trying hard to remediate that situation and trying to find a way of having captioning on these presentations as well so that it is more accessible. Kathy Harrison is the accessibility lead with deaf and hearing for Alberta. And she has agreed to speak about what the role is that deaf and hearing Alberta has in providing opportunities for persons who are deaf and hard of hearing and their families throughout the province. So I'm sorry, just got a message that distracted me. So I'm going to start and have Kathy start her presentation right away while we deal with the issue that an individual has. So Kathy, feel free to begin, grab a bite. Thank you, Sarah. So deaf and hearing Alberta is a province-wide organization. I'm just trying to get the next slide to go here. So thank you for the invitation to present today and so our organization is a charitable community-based organization that was started by a parent-centered group in 1961. We have additional office and admission at the Alberta School for the Deaf as well as our main office in Calgary. Our mission and vision for the organization is to be recognized for excellence in communication and deaf and hearing Alberta enhances the lives of deaf, deafened and hard of hearing persons and those with whom they interact. So a little bit about myself and about our organization. I have been working here at Deaf and Hearing Alberta since July of 2001 in multiple different roles with working with executive director, organizing community events. Then I started out helping in the accessibility services department with customers and eventually moved into the team full-time and enjoy helping customers one-on-one with consultations and support for their individual needs. I myself deal with conitis and family members also have some hearing loss issues. So I know a little bit about it personally, having to assist my family as well. I helped launch our online store in 2013 and it was pretty exciting to design and add items to our store per se. So now we have almost over 800 individual items for people to choose from. Our team has grown to having a coordinator's admission. So we're excited to have our services there and I have a coordinator here in Calgary with me as well. So we're really excited about finding the right products for our clients and we're always on the lookout for new assistive technology for those we serve. This is a little bit about our communities that we serve. We have different programs that are offered to Deaf Alberta and our deafalberta.ca website as well as interpreting services. And clients can book through our online portal and make requests for interpreting appointments. We also have a Hear Alberta banner of services through HearAlberta.ca website and our department with accessibility services falls under both those umbrellas of Hear Alberta and Deaf Alberta. So we help both communities. Our deaf services manager Cindy Pills is like a one woman show. She handles requests for support from referrals throughout the province and some of those include sensitivity training, student literacy, referrals for counseling or employment services. She also meets one-on-one with clients from the deaf community and they may need assistance with government forms and she's able to sign those to them so they better understand in the first language of ASL. And she does a lot of advocacy work on committees and government services. I wanted to elaborate a little bit on the sensitivity training that she does. She meets with organizations and goes out to workplaces to help people learn about what it is to be deaf and hard of hearing, what accommodations are required, how best to communicate with coworkers or clients that come to organizations for support, and then what not to do when communicating with them and then how to work with an ASL interpreter so whether that be when they come to meetings to support an employee or whether they have to make a presentation to the community how best to work with the interpreters. Deaf services shares a lot of information with the community that is relevant to their everyday lives such as text with 9-1-1. Now we're very fortunate that all of these communities listed here have access with text to 9-1-1 and as it rolled out across the province we were able to let the community members know that their community was accessible through this service. So for someone to register for the service they can go to the text with 9-1-1.ca website and choose their carrier, the cell phone provider on the list that they have on the website and just follow the instructions for registration. Some companies require you to text a certain special number to register and some may need you to log on to your cell phone account and set that up. If parents own a cell phone say that a child may be using, the parent would need to register the phone for the child. ASL users can also contact 9-1-1 emergency services with the new VRS service that's available in Canada. This has been available for Canadians for a year now. So users can contact the VRS service using any device with a camera and the internet and the deaf can directly communicate with other deaf ASL users through the VRS system. So it's great convenience for them to communicate this way or the deaf can also call a hearing customer with the help of the ASL interpreters who work with the VRS. And hearing customers can also contact the deaf person with the help of the ASL interpreters. The operator can communicate an ASL or LSQ and make contacts called anywhere in the world using the VRS system as long as the end user also uses an ASL or LSQ to communicate. The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week now, so that's really great. And any 9-1-1 calls that come in are all sent to priority top of the list to be handled right away by the operator interpreters. So any individual can call or register, sorry, any individual can register for the VRS service over the age of 14. So if a young person who's 14 years of age or older would like to register, they can with the help of their parents and assigned consent form receive their own unique hand digit phone number to make and receive phone calls. So this is a great way for those ASL users to use this service. In the Calgary area, I wanted to quickly mention this, that the Calgary Police Service allows the public to voluntarily register so that first responders have information if there's ever a call to their home or workplace. So if they have the first responders system, like for ambulance, police or fire, can know before they arrive at a scene that the person there requires special communications access, perhaps in this case, with depth or heart issue. We have contacted the Evidence Police Service and they do not have this type of program yet. However, we do encourage everyone to contact their local city or town and their emergency services people to let them know that they may have or a family member may have special communication needs and to plan ahead in case of an emergency. Now we have found out also that when you register with 9-1-1, as soon as you call or as long as you text, contact the service for support, they know in this region obviously that you have special communication needs as well. So under our Deaf Alberta services, we offer American Sign Language classes to individuals, groups and organizations in the city of Edmonton and Calgary. So one of our exclusive offerings is the Family Focused classes that provide unique learning environment for families and their members of their families who have a hearing loss or a deaf and professionals who work with children who would like to take classes as well. So we have that information on our Deaf Alberta website if anyone is interested on furthering their education with ASL classes. We have three members of our interpreting booking team that work with a roster of interpreters across the province. We have approximately 80 or so interpreters on our roster and they must meet strict criteria to be and remain on our DHA roster. Our booking requests are received in our office and then sent out to the interpreters if they are able to attend the booking. There are funding supports available if needed. So for the ASL interpreting booking, so anything from mental health, anything to the Alberta Health Services sites for medical or mental health, covered any client centered meetings with GDB. Human services helps with job interviews, career fairs and orientations for new employees. And then of course the students are going to post-secondary, there is some dread support available. If an interpreter is needed for your deaf children or parents, your school may be required to take the interpreters from the school or district budget. So if you need more information on the funding for interpreting, please contact our booking coordinators in either our Edmonton or Cowboy office and they'll be happy to assist with more information. We have several methods of communication available for the deaf community to contact us. Hearing services are available in Calgary only just because we have a funding in place here for the heart of hearing and we're currently searching for funding to be available to offer these similar programs in the Edmonton area. But until then they're only available in Calgary but I wanted to quickly mention them just so that you're aware in case you know of anyone who could use the services. We have classes around hearing matters, why it's important to protect our hearing, how to live with and love your hearing aids if you need assistive devices and then managing your hearing loss as well as that includes speech reading classes. So they are presented here at our offices and out in the community for information for different groups that require that. Peer to hear mentoring program has been a great success where we're able to match young adults and adults who have walked a similar path and want to offer their support to those people who are new to hearing loss. This program is for people 18 years and older and again it's just in the Calgary area for now but if you know anyone that can benefit from this program. So I work in accessibility department and we offer information, assistive technology and we provide clients with referrals to sources of government and private funding for both hearing aids and assistive equipment. We serve province-wide from our two offices as I mentioned earlier and if an in-person appointment is not possible we're happy to talk with people over the phone through email text or Skype so we can find the right technology devices to match their situation whether they wear hearing aids, coats that are implant or nothing at all. We are here to help find the solution. What we find a lot that happens is people do not know everything about their hearing aids or their cochlear implants. So they sometimes do not get the information or forget the information they were provided or the parents. It's a lot to take in when you're going to your appointments with your hearing health care professional. So we want to make sure that they're utilizing their assistive technology and sometimes we want to make sure that for example that their telecoil program has been activated because if you look for this sign with the hearing loop installed in the public area it represents that the telecoil program can be activated in your device and the loop system whether it's a small neck loop or a counter loop similar to the one pictured on the right or an entire room can be looped. And so then the sound is transmitted directly to the hearing aid or the implant while inside the quote-unquote loop. So it's important to check with your hearing health practitioner to see if this peak coil is something that would benefit you and look for the sign when and where you're in the community. A great example of how a loop system is used is the Emerson Public Library system. The counter loops are available at their locations and anyone with an activated telecoil who is scanning within three to four feet of the counter loop box is able to hear the customer service person directly to their hearing device. So this is great for communication access when at the Emerson Public Library. It's also good for small group meetings, an employment situation or in school, working with aids perhaps or small group student activities. Most manufacturers have included Bluetooth in their hearing devices now and it's most likely that you've seen this symbol on cell phones or home phones, even audio devices such as headsets. Bluetooth allows a specific device to feed sound directly to the hearing aids or implants and great for using cell phones, listening to TV. So it might be built into your device. So again, check with your hearing health practitioner. A lot of you on the call may be aware of some of this technology. I just wanted to review so everyone was aware that it existed. Hearing aid apps are becoming more popular as well. Everyone these days seems to have a smartphone. So we can download apps that work with our technology. This particular one is from Unifron. And other apps are available from Cochlear Advanced Bionics, Phonak, Oticon. So it helps the user control their volume. They can watch training videos on how to use their hearing device. You can also adjust programs for the phone, music or the PV and the sensitivity of the microphone as well. So this type of app is helpful for those who are more tech savvy and use a smartphone. Other smartphone apps include the iLoves Smart Shaker and now these apps are usually free or under $5 for people to download from Google Play or the Apple Store. And the iLoves Smart Shaker alarm clock allows you to pair by Bluetooth to the alarm and then set the wake up alarm for yourself and put the alarm under the pillow and it will vibrate when the alarm goes off to wake. The student app so everybody gets to school on time. The red and white app there is the Sonic Bomb Bluetooth Super Shaker. It's a very powerful shaker and you pair it to your phone again for alarms, but you can also choose to be alerted to any emails, text messages or phone calls that come through on your phone. So it's great for being able to not miss any of those alerts that come through. One app we like to tell our clients about is the Alberta Emergency Response Alert. So it's another way to receive public safety warnings and critical information about immediate disasters and what to do, like what actions to take in that situation so you can be prepared. I know a lot of the alerts were coming out when the fires were on this fall so that's great to be able to know what's happening in your community. And then for those who suffer from tinnitus we like to recommend apps like this natural sound that distract the brain when people are trying to fall asleep or just stress they're able to relax and again helps them cope with their tinnitus issues. A lot of people we talk with don't know about the cell phone settings. So we're able to explain to those users that they can check in their settings programs so that they can activate the hearing aid mode on their phone or a simple thing like turning on their LED flashing lights. So when an alert comes through their cell phone, they may not hear the ringer but they can definitely see that LED flashing light on the back of their phone. So each phone model is different so check with your provider if you need assistance with any of that. A lot of people we see also don't know about cart captioning. I'm sure a lot of you on the call today do but a little bit about where it's used in school for assemblies or post secondary classes. Some people students prefer to have cart captioning as well as listening to their instructor or teacher. It can be broadcast onto a large screen in a room and an auditorium or it can be just sent to a student's laptop and they are the only ones that see the cart captioning. So it's very versatile and of course on things like our webinar today captioning is put up on the screen it's just more accessibility for communication. Great for city events, any meetings, graduation ceremonies, anywhere where the internet is available and you need access to communication. What we find a lot of is that it's useful for all ages and anyone who's learning English is the second language as well. So if anyone needs specific contact information for cart companies they can give us a call and we can share that information with you as well. So our department likes to not only use the high tech devices but no tech and low tech work as well and outside of school setting what can we do to make communication easier for everyone. So we teach people how to advocate for themselves. They need to tell others what they need for each situation in a polite way so that no one's offended but that they're still advocating for themselves. Do they need ASL, cart services, they need to stick with their school, the teacher, the media organizer in advance so that things can be arranged so that they have access. They may need to ask for the class notes at a time so that they're prepared, they have time to review and can ask teachers questions during class. Do they need to sit at the front of the classroom or the front of the meeting room so that they are able to hear or see what is happening by the presenter or the teacher. They really need to make sure they know what situation they're in and what they would need for communication access. We find that large open concrete spaces can have a lot of sound reverberation. So if you're out, say even in your home, a room that has curtains and soft furnishings, carpets, the sound quality will be better for understanding than if you're out in a big auditorium or a gym. So try and make the space as sound friendly as possible and when students are studying, maybe some white noise might help them concentrate so they're not hearing all the background noise happening around the house while they're trying to do their homework. So we encourage people to think ahead and let the organizers know plenty of time and share with their family and friends and their teachers what works best for them and their hearing situation. The accessibility services department offers clients one-on-one consultations free of charge at either our Calgary or Edmonton office. We personalize the service so that we can assist clients with their unique situations because everyone has different communications needs. Home visits are available. We can do those for fee-for-service charge of $85 per visit and including the installation of any equipment that they may need. We also offer workplace assessments. So this is great for the employees, their managers, employers and those they work with. Also great for teens or young adults starting out in the workforce or anyone needing support in the workplace. Most employers and managers are happy to accommodate the employee and do not like to see them struggling in their job or interacting with their coworkers and customers. So we're able to offer in-person assessments and offer low-tech and high-tech suggestions for accommodations. Something as simple as moving their desk may be all that's needed so that they're included more with the other staff in an office, for instance. We can provide a written report, sensitivity training and hearing matters presentation as well if something the managers feel is necessary. Anything that we can do to make work easier. And for young adults, I think it's a great learning experience to see that their workplace will accommodate them. Our online store offers product information, pictures, videos, the pricing. Customers can come to our online store and purchase gifts for family and friends and have them shipped. Or they can pick them up at our Calgary or Edmonton office. We can help you pick out specific items. If there's certain hearing loss, we can try and help you match the correct item to that hearing loss. We always are having specials and sales on and we have a clearance section. So if you're like to shop for those sales, come and check it out. And some of the items we offer include alarm clocks, shaker alarm clocks, vibrating watches, textbooks to learn ASL. We also have cochlear and advanced Lyonic accessories available, replacement batteries. So lots of different items. You can check us out online. So the high-tech items are like I mentioned, the shaker alarm clock so that we get to school on time. We also offer amplified and Bluetooth phones. So the one pictured here, for example, connects to the home phone as well as cell phone. And then people connect their hearing devices to it so they can hear through their device directly for both cell phone and home phone if they want you to. We also have things for TV amplification or any audio amplification. So students are wanting to listen to music or a special learning video. We can help them with that as well as bone conduction headset. So the blue headset pictured here is an aftershock bone conduction headset for those people who would benefit from this type of audio transmission. And it connects with, again, any Bluetooth device or cell phone for easy listening. And we also have safety signaling devices for the home, which I'll give you a little bit more information about in the next few slides. But it'll alert you of a phone ringing or the doorbell if someone's at your home, smoke detector. So at night if you're sleeping, it'll wake you up with a shaker as well as a strobe light. We also offer the Phonak Roger Pen as a type of personal amplifier. Some people like this system because it's a little bit more inconstiguous. The Roger Pen can be used with a headset, a neck loop, or connects directly to someone's hearing device with a receiver jack, a receiver boot, I guess they call it. So great for home, school, or out in the community. Connects with other microphones so you can form a system of microphones. So very versatile. So these are the home signaling devices I'm speaking out of, and they flash. Also vibrate your bed at night if you need to be notified of sound around the house, oven timer, the dryer cycle, especially important for smoke and carbon monoxide. The receiver is quite bright and the shaker is very strong to make people up at night. So you can stay hearing aid stickers. It's become quite a hit with our teenagers because the double-sided stickers are a way to keep the hearing instrument behind the ear during sports or out in the boat. Maybe on a field trip they don't want to have to worry about their devices falling off. So the stickers contour to the aid or implant and then adhere to the skin behind the ear. The double-sided stickiness allows you to remove it and reattach it sometimes without leaving any residue. And they're really convenient if you have a sports enthusiast, volleyball player, hockey player in your life. So there's 30 pairs of stickers in each box and we have them available to our organization, but they're manufactured by FONAP. So some examples of funding supports for children. They differ throughout the province, but these are some of the main ones available. We have the Hype Fund for assisting children who are newborn to 20 years of age. All of these funders require applications be completed and some require the parent's financial information be submitted with them as well. The President's Twice Children's Charity helps those with disabilities. So hearing aids or assistive devices for the home may also be covered. Elks and Royal Purple specifically help those with hearing and speech issues. Children's Ability Fund is available in admission only. If children in that area, I don't know if it's regarded just the city limits, but you can check with each organization to see. I think it's the Edmonton area. Coalcular Implant Assistance Fund, again, is just the Calgary. It's a fund put together by the Canadian Heart Appearing Association branch in Calgary. And then the Disability Related Employment Support for those in post-secondary and employment. So each one has different criteria, so please check with them through their websites. If you contact our office, we can also recommend some other funders depending on each person's situation. There's that different criteria, so we'll be happy to help you navigate the system if you want to contact our office. It's important to realize that hearing loss is a loss like any other in someone's life and people react differently in different situations. So some are keen to research information about hearing loss while others feel vulnerable and worried, even angry. It's important that we know that each person's reaction may be very similar or dissimilar in how they react to its basic degree. So whether hearing loss came on gradually or happened overnight or a child was born deaf, it is still a loss. And the parents of a deaf child or a hard-of-hearing child may feel that loss as well. So we need to recognize that and we provide referrals to some counseling services for all types of situations for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. So it could be personal, family, trauma, addiction. So these service providers, British Support Services and Hope Counseling can help in those situations. We have a lot of community partners that we work with. So one example is the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association. And they work closely with the Government of Canada to help formulate the Canadian Disabilities Act. They have branches across the country. We have one in Emerson and in Calgary. And they are formed by and for a hard-of-hearing Canadian. And they include a youth or young Canadian component as well. So you can find more information about the Calgary Emerson branches on Facebook or the child website. And they hold monthly meetings, provide information to their members on various topics and issues related to hearing loss. So young adults specifically would probably benefit from contacting the child group. Another family focus group is the Alberta Hands and Voices that support families and children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing without a bias around communication modes or methodology. And more information can be found about this group on their website and Facebook. They have some events happening this weekend at the Calgary Coffee Chat on Sunday, November 19th. And Edmonton will be hosting a Christmas open house on December 5th. So great supports there for younger children active with parents and professionals to focus on assisting children. Parents, teachers and children of all ages can utilize the online resources available through the internet. So there's chat groups, social media mentors can be found online. And some of our implants companies have specifically designed some information on their website such as Advanced Bionics Listening Room. So it's resourceful of activities and ideas to support listening and language for all ages. And Cochlear Wire is available to have conversations and discussions around hearing loss. So you might want to check those out if you haven't heard of them before. Great resources for kids there. In Calgary we have the Calgary Cochlear Implants Support Group. They're a group of people that just meet on a monthly basis, provide information and support specific to those with cochlear implants or considering having an implant. Lots of great mentoring to this group. They are meeting on Saturday in our building here at 1-3. So if anyone's interested, you can contact on your read to Facebook and let them know you're coming and they'll be happy to see any new members. So if you'd like to stay connected with Deaf and Hear Alberta, you can check out our website at deafandhearalberta.ca, sign up for our newsletter. We send it out quarterly and you're welcome to sign up or follow us to Twitter and Facebook. We have lots of great information we share and events. You can ask us questions and we'll be happy to respond to you as soon as possible. We have, again, our office at the Alberta School for the Deaf upstairs in Edmonton. We have an interpreting coordinator there as well as our disability services office. And our calorie office also has those same services. So please contact us by any of these methods and we'll be happy to answer your questions or help you find information for each child individually. So thank you everyone for joining us today and I hope Deaf and Hear Alberta can assist you and your students and their families. Thank you Kathy. Can you stick around for a couple of minutes and see if there's any questions from the audience? Absolutely. Okay. I know I have one quick question. The Calgary Comprehensive Support Group, what ages are they looking for? What age group? Are we looking at teenagers as well as adults or is it primarily adults? No, I think they're open to any age. It's good to know as a teenager what it's like in adulthood to have an impact as well and so they welcome anyone of any age. Great. I'm going to open the mic up to anybody who raises their hand. Anybody having questions for Kathy? I think it was a great overview of some of the services that you're providing and I appreciate it. Bryn. We have a few questions. This is Bryn. Hi there. Just wondering about the workplace consultations. Are those specific to Calgary and Edmonton or are those available across the province? They are available across the province. We do charge a mileage fee outside of those two cities, but absolutely anywhere in the province. Okay. Great. Thank you. And Carmel. I'll just see if you can hear me. Hear me now? Yes. Okay. Hi, Kathy. Thank you so much for the overview. It was excellent. I actually have three questions. Would you like me to pose them all at once or one at a time? Let's do one at a time. Okay. So you had a slide that was when you were talking about death Alberta, you have a slide that was titled services provided included some services like sensitivity to training advocacy and other things like that. I'm wondering if those services are available through your Edmonton office as well as your Calgary office. Yes, we don't have a full time deaf services manager in Edmonton, but she was definitely willing to communicate with people through Skype or VRS. And occasionally she does come to Edmonton for appointments so she can arrange like she can stack her day with appointments to see everyone at the same like on the same day when she's up there. Okay. The second question has to do with the apps that you were talking about. One of them had a capability of connecting to auxiliary sources, I'm thinking specifically of a TV and adjusting the volume. Did I hear that correctly? So that would be specifically for a hearing device brand. So sometimes, for instance, if it's Bluetooth with the device to the TV that you can connect that way. Okay. So it's a Bluetooth. Yeah. Okay. And the third question has to do with the combination of funding sources and specifically Bridges support because I'm in Edmonton and I am familiar with Bridges support. I'm wondering, are there any funding, is there any funding available for the kinds of counseling that is provided through Bridges support? It's quite possible. I don't know specific so it's best to contact our booking coordinators and they would have some more specific information for you. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Go ahead Joanne. Hi. My question is about the family focused ASL. Do you go into the family's home because I have some families, for example, that don't have transportation? And the second one is their funding for families that can't pay for it? Yes. There is tutoring, private tutoring available with ASL. Cindy kills our deaf services manager would be able to help you with that. And I know specifically in Tagway we have funding for low income families or those cannot afford classes. So Cindy would have that information if it's available in Edmonton as well. So. Thank you. I can't answer specific to that is it's not my department, but I'm sure Cindy would have that information. Okay, thanks. And I'm going to do a follow up questions to the ASL question. I'm looking at students who are remote and we are always looking for resources for learning ASL and sign language in remote areas. And I'm just wondering if it's a possibility to do webinars or web access or something like that with these students in communities that do not have access to ASL instructors. Yes, I believe Cindy has instructors that use Skype for FaceTime or other online methods to do one on one tutoring. I'm not sure if they've ever done a whole class that way though. Okay, it's possible. Yep. Fantastic. Thank you Kathy. This has been really informative and I appreciate the time and effort. I will send out the PowerPoint to everyone and I'll also include it in our Google, our Google team drive. And I'm just a reminder that there will be another PLC in December and that will be about the still shops and the Nebraska experience doing it, doing them for the past 20 years. So again, Kathy, thank you and I'm going to say have a great rest of the week everyone. Bye.