Gig Harbor doctor visits Fiji on volunteer trip to provide auditory care
A Gig Harbor doctor is helping spread quality healthcare around the world and raise awareness for an aspect of medical care that’s often overlooked: hearing and auditory health.
Dr. Laura Moran, owner of Harbor Audiology & Hearing Services, joined a group of medical professionals on an October trip to Fiji with the Oticon Foundation to provide free care to locals without regular medical access.
“We did a lot of ear cleaning and a lot of testing,” Moran said. “Thankfully we saw a lot of kids with normal hearing.”
Over a three-day period, the volunteers worked with Project H.E.A.V.E.N. in Lomawai Village to conduct more than 400 hearing tests and fit almost 300 hearing aids, seeing a total of 500 patients free of charge.
“(Hearing) is hugely important on quality of life,” Moran explained. “We hear with our brains, not with our ears, so our hearing is what keeps us engaged with our relationships. It’s really what keeps our brains healthy and engaged.”
Auditory health is often overlooked, without the critical emphasis that vision or dental care is given, which can result in hearing loss and other problems going unnoticed, Moran said.
(Hearing) is hugely important on quality of life. We hear with our brains, not with our ears, so our hearing is what keeps us engaged with our relationships. It’s really what keeps our brains healthy and engaged.
Dr. Laura Moran
owner of Harbor Audiology & Hearing ServicesTo raise awareness for auditory health and give back to the local community, Harbor Audiology offers free baseline hearing screenings to anyone age 50 and older as part of their Hearing Wellness Program.
“It’s important to know where you are,” Moran said of the screenings. “Hearing degrades so slowly that a lot of the time we’re not even aware of it.”
The October trip to Fiji was not Moran’s first overseas trip, along with a previous trip to Argentina with the Oticon Foundation she has has volunteered with Healing the Children on seven different visits to Guatemala.
“I’ve done a number of hearing mission trips,” Moran said. “It’s kind of a passion of mine.”
Andrea Haffly: 253-358-4155, @gateway_andrea
Harbor Audiology & Hearing Services
Harbor Audiology has offices in both Gig Harbor and Tacoma and offers free baseline hearing screenings for ages 50 and older.
The Gig Harbor office can be reached at 253-203-6641. The Tacoma office can be reached at 253-617-7160
This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Gig Harbor doctor visits Fiji on volunteer trip to provide auditory care."