Having opened its doors back on Aug. 8, local audiologist Brenda Tullio has been getting out the message loud and clear: The Ear Clinic, Inc. is here to help everyone with their hearing needs.
“We’ve gotten a great response so far,” Tullio said during the grand opening last Wednesday morning at its location at 261 Scott St. (in the same building as Nirvana).
“We’ve been really busy,” she added.
Tullio offers “comprehensive, client-centered, seamless audiology and hearing aid service” to residents of Fort Frances and surrounding areas, and has high-tech equipment to do everything from testing hearing aids to the muscular reflexes in clients’ ears.
She prescribes and dispenses hearing aids as well as does repairs.
Each month, she also goes on the road—offering one clinic each in Rainy River and Atikokan at the Northwestern Health Unit offices there.
Tullio moved to Fort Frances with her husband, Michael, in 1997.
Having graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Master of Clinical Science (Communication Disorders) in July of that year, she practised as an audiologist with the Northwestern Health Unit here for nine years before deciding to set up a clinic of her own.
“Although my position at Northwestern Health Unit was very fulfilling, I always felt there was a significant gap in service that we were unable to bridge,” said Tullio.
“At the Northwestern Health Unit, I was fortunate to be able to provide a wide variety of diagnostic and consultative services to clients of all age groups.
“For clients who required hearing aid services, however, a seamless service delivery model was not available,” she noted. “Up to now, clients have been forced to seek service from two separate agencies in order to obtain their hearing aids.
“Knowing who to call, and where to go for which service, has been confusing for many clients. Not so any longer,” she added.
“The Ear Clinic, Inc. offers a client-oriented, seamless model of service delivery that will see clients through all of their audiological and hearing aid needs.”
As the sole clinical audiologist at the health unit during those years, Tullio has provided audiological services to clients ranging from newborns to seniors.
She also has provided consultative and supportive services to schools in both the Rainy River and Kenora districts, and has given presentations to teachers and support personnel regarding audiological issues as they pertain to school-aged child.
In the past five years, Tullio also has received ongoing, specialty training in the assessment and fitting of amplification in infants from birth to age two.
The clinic is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Walk-in appointments are welcomed.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
