Haiti Happenings, Part 4 - HEARS for YEARS!

Sonya visiting with the kids

It was such a joy to visit St. Vincent’s last week. As soon as the kids saw us on campus, we savored hug after hug, kiss after kiss, and greetings in sign, Kreyol, English and French. After more than 2 years of work at St. Vincent’s, we can’t begin to express how wonderful it is that we now know these children so well that all of our faces light up when we see one another. We wouldn’t exchange those moments for the world! 

Danika and Sandee, 2 deaf students

Students donned new (to us) school uniforms, the latest trend in hair braids and proudly showed off their new digital hearing aids! Thanks to our partnership with Team Canada Healing Hands, many more students are reaping the benefits of better hearing. 

Little gifts of love

To date, The Red Thread Promise has purchased $21,000 worth of brand new digital hearing aids for hearing impaired students at St. Vincent’s. Team Canada purchases the aids at a deep discount and brings teams of audiologists to test the children in Haiti. Much like eye tests for prescription glasses, these specialized tests—performed in a sound-proof booth—help audiologists determine the exact type of hearing loss (i.e. high pitch vs. low pitch) for each individual child.

Kathy preparing for hearing testing in the sound-proof booth

Team Canada's Krystelle performing the testing

Learning about the inner ear

Following testing, if it has been determined that hearing aids will help the child, molds are made of their ear(s) for a custom fit. St. Vincent’s staff is working directly with the audiologists to learn the process of mold making, practicing every step of the way under the tutelage of Team Canada’s professionals. After the molds have set, the hearing aids are programmed specifically for each child’s individual hearing loss. The aids wrap around the ear and are fed through the mold directly into the ear. 

St. Vincent's staff taking a mold of a student's ear 

In the past, the children have received analog aids, which act simply as a volume amplifier, increasing all sounds like a remote control on a TV. Digital hearing aids will better serve the children’s individual needs. Each is customized to amplify only what needs to be amplified, maximizing the benefit of the hearing aid for each child. And, if treated with care, they should last 5 or more years!

Following hearing testing and fitting, ready to go back to class

Our goal is to ensure that EVERY hearing impaired student at St. Vincent’s receives aids as necessary. With new students coming through their gates on a regular basis, the need continues. Your support helps us realize this dream and for this we thank you! 

HAITI :: A Team United

Hearing impaired students at St. Vincent's (photo by Al Laus)

In April 2013, The Red Thread Promise will team up with Team Canada Healing Hands on the ground in Haiti for the first time! We are excited for this opportunity to work hands on—as one unified team—at St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children (Port-au-Prince).

Forty-two new children will be tested and fitted for digital hearing aids during this trip. This includes students who were too young to test in 2012 as well as any new hearing-impaired students enrolled at St. Vincent’s. While this is an increase in the number of students expected, we are up to the challenge of providing hearing aids for every one of them!

During the trip, Kathy (Red Thread President) will take a turn in the sound isolation chamber and go through the same testing a child would endure to better understand the process. We plan to videotape our auditory adventure and share it with you.

Following the testing, we need to purchase the digital hearing aids that will be customized for each child’s hearing loss. As an extended part of our team, we need your help to complete the process for the kids. The estimated cost of 50 hearing aids is $11,520 (US).

Your continued support is the difference between living in a world of silence and a world filled with laughter. Thank you!

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This report and many others from The Red Thread Promise can be found on GlobalGiving.org, a powerful crowd-funding website. We are blessed to have 5 active projects on this site. It's a great way to share our work with many we may never meet but feel a connection to our cause. Feel free to check them out and share the links with others! 

• Provide Medical Care to Haitian Orphans
• Nutritious Meals for 200 Disabled Haitian Children
• Provide All Terrain Wheelchairs in Haiti
• Give Hippotherapy to Children with Disabilities
• Fund Critical Surgery for 6 Chinese Orphans

HAITI :: Society of Young Black Professionals fundraises for The Red Thread!

Petera and Brandon, two of our counselors from the January session of Camp Jake, are both active members of The Society of Young Black Public Health Professionals in New Orleans. Following their work with our team in Haiti, they wanted to do more for the kids they met from St. Vincent's Center for Handicapped Children. 

Petera with Danika, a hearing impaired girl

 Brandon with the blind guys

Since so many of St. Vincent's students are hearing impaired, Petera and Brandon decided to support our efforts to provide 500 digital hearing aids for the hearing clinic. This would provide enough hearing aids for every child as well as stock the clinic to provide for others in the community where hearing aids are a priceless gift. 

If you are in the New Orleans area, please come out and support The Society of Young Black Public Health Professionals, The Red Thread Promise and the beautiful children of St. Vincent's.

An Evening In Haiti

Saturday, April 28th from 7 - 10pm

1834 Club • $5 cover • Cocktail attire suggested

Enjoy an evening of delectable hors d'oeuvres, door prizes, 50/50 raffle and the rhythmic sounds of the BRASS-A-HOLICS as they vibrate through the 1834 Club on the second floor of the Laven-Berick Center. 

All proceeds go directly to The Red Thread Promise and their efforts in Haiti. Please read below for more information about this amazing organization and their effort. 

The Red Thread Promise (TRTP) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to bringing hope and healing to needy and orphaned children. TRTP has taken on the challenge of raising funds and awareness for new digital hearing aids and establishment of distribution of hearing aids in a permanent hearing aid clinic for St. Vincent’s children. Previous to this venture, children at St. Vincent’s were tested and given refurbished analog hearing aids. 

The Society of Young Black Public Health Professionals, along with your support, would allow TRTP to provide the children of St. Vincent’s and the surrounding community to receive new digital hearing aids.  

Sponsored by The Society of Young Public Health Professionals.

For any questions or concerns please contact: Brandon Darrington bdarring@tulane.edu 

Digital Hearing Aids for Haiti

The Red Thread Promise has teamed with Team Canada Healing Hands to bring hope and healing to the hearing impaired children of St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.



While Team Canada has spearheaded the construction of two audiology booths, also called sound isolation chambers; in Port-au-Prince with one designated for St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children, TRTP has taken on the challenge of raising funds and awareness for 500 new digital hearing aids and establishment of distribution of hearing aids in a permanent hearing aid clinic for St. Vincent’s children.



We can only do this with your help. For a donation of $300 we can purchase and donate one digital hearing aid. Our goal is 500 digital hearing aids in 2012.

High schooler's passion for Haiti's hearing impaired really pays off

Remember Marigny, the high school senior from New Orleans who chose The Red Thread Promise for her senior project? She is living testimony of how one person can truly make a difference when they put their mind to it.

Through hard work, determination, and a successful fundraiser, this 17 year old not only completed all the requirements for her senior project, but also raised $5,719 which she donated to The Red Thread Promise. These funds allowed us to purchase 17 brand new digital hearing aids for deaf children at St. Vincent's in Port-au-Prince.

Approximately one half of the students at St. Vincent's are hearing impaired. Many have secondhand analog hearing aids that are only available for use during school hours. At the end of the day, they are required to turn them back in. Some children need two but only have access to one.

Our goal is to give EVERY student their own digital hearing aids, programmed for their specific needs; hearing aids that they can keep for the full life of the device; ones that don't have to be turned back in at the end of the day.

One girl with a vision helped us kick start a new campaign—Hearing for Haiti—to raise funds and awareness for Haiti's hearing impaired. We'd like to introduce you to some of the kids that will benefit from this program. Their voices resonate with ours when we say, "Thank you, Marigny!"