Compassion

I work in the hearing aid industry (for 29 more days at least!), and although I do not see patients or fit hearing aids myself, I do aim to understand our audience and the basics of an in-office hearing evaluation. As you can imagine, the majority of people who need our products are well into their senior years. Although hearing loss can happen at any age, and for a variety of reasons, it typically accompanies the greying of hair and bifocal lenses.



As I scanned the titles of my Google Alerts on "hearing loss" today, "Senior living staff members get a taste of aging" caught my eye. It is the story of a senior living facility in Thousand Oaks, CA that simulated various ailments of aging so their staff could experience what many of their residents encounter each day. They spread Vaseline on eyeglasses, put cotton balls in their ears, filled their shoes with corn kernels all to give them a glimpse of  the physical challenges that come with aging and affect their clients.

It made me think about compassion and how often people we encounter may be burdened with a physical ailment we can't see, and can't understand, but do we try? Or do we get frustrated and lose our cool? Mutter something ill-hearted under our breath. I embrace the idea of taking a similar approach to the group in Thousand Oaks and attempt to understand. Instead of becoming agitated and short-tempered we should all react with a heart full of compassion. The world would be a happier place, don't you agree?

You can read the article here, http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/20/senior-living-staff-members-get-a-taste-of-aging/.