The last several months have felt like a far-fetched Hollywood plot as our world has completely changed.
Who would have thought we’d all be wearing face masks, watching our church services on Facebook or YouTube, celebrating family milestones by Zoom, and avoiding handshakes and hugs?
Coronavirus also presented some challenges for us at Alabama Hearing Associates.
Our business was built on face-to-face conversations with patients, being hands-on and personally helping people to achieve better hearing. Coronavirus has forced us to change the way we operate.
As hearing care clinics across the country shut their doors this Spring, we quickly decided that the most important thing we needed to do was be there for our patients. While our doors were temporarily closed, our team worked every day to stay connected and helpful to our patients.
In order to keep our staff safe, half of them worked from home. These caring ladies made over 800 phone calls, just to check on our patients and make sure they were doing alright.
Tele Audiology allowed us to support patients remotely using advanced online technology. During April and May, we scheduled 50 telehealth appointments, including 26 remote programming adjustments, where we offered support to patients without them having to travel to the office. We even fit 28 hearing aids remotely to some of our long-time patients who were ready to upgrade to new technology.
Even though our doors were closed, our small in-office team stayed very busy supporting our patients every day and sometimes on the weekends too. We mailed over 720 batteries, at no charge. We repaired 170 hearing aids, delivering them back to patients using our safe curb side pick-up.
The final challenge was juggling a full schedule. Alabama Hearing Associates celebrated its 19th anniversary in January, and we typically see our patients twice a year for scheduled maintenance. Between new and existing patients, we had to reschedule over 332 appointments. Our staff has done a wonderful job arranging our schedule for ongoing patient support and safety for the remainder of 2020.
It’s certainly been a crazy time, but we feel incredibly grateful to have so many understanding and loyal patients. We’re also thankful for our staff and look forward to serving alongside them for many years to come!
Warm Regards,
Your Alabama Hearing Associates Team
