Duane Hicks
Jackie McCormick wants to help area residents, no matter their age, to experience the world of sound to its fullest.
The audiologist opened her doors at the Fort Frances Enhanced Hearing Centre in the Senic River Mall here Monday.
“I am very excited to start something new,” said McCormick (nee Bonot), who was born and raised in Stratton and still lives there.
“It’s very rewarding to be able to help people hear and communicate effectively with everyone, and essentially increase their quality of life,” she enthused.
The Fort Frances Enhanced Hearing Centre offers free hearing tests for all ages, as well as hearing aid prescriptions, fittings, and maintenance, explained McCormick, noting that helping people with hearing aids is “part of audiology I really enjoy.”
“We do all kinds of third parties, like Workers’ Compensation, Veteran’s Affairs, any third party out there,” she added.
“We will deal with them, as well.”
McCormick said “noise exposure” is major issue these days, and it seems more and more people may need hearing services.
“With noise exposure affecting everyone now, not just people who work in noisy situations, but all ages, that’s a growing concern, and people have to be very aware of their hearing health,” she stressed.
“There’s going to be a larger market as the young people are aging,” McCormick said. “We’re living in a very noisy world.
There’s sound everywhere, and there’s the increase of things like iPods or any kind of personal stereos that influencing young people,” she noted.
“Even toys are noisier than they used to be and that can affect young children,” she warned.
McCormick got her Bachelor’s degree in Science at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay more than nine years ago, then went on to grad school at the University of Western Ontario in London, where she got her Masters in audiology.
She then practised in Winnipeg for three years, working with Mark Nitychoruk, director of the Winnipeg-based Enhanced Hearing Centres.
McCormick returned to the area in 2007 when she got a job with the Northwestern Health Unit.
At the same time, via distance education, McCormick spent the past two-and-a-half years obtaining her doctorate of audiology from Salus University in Pennsylvania, receiving her degree in December.
During her maternity leave this past year, McCormick was contacted by Nitychoruk, who asked if she would be interested in going back to a private practice.
“I said, ‘Absolutely,’ and so here we are,” she remarked.
Nitychoruk explained the Fort Frances Enhanced Hearing Centre is one of a growing group of Enhanced Hearing Centres, which also includes two clinics in Winnipeg, ones in Steinbach, Thomspon, and Flin Flon, and (as of this May) in Dryden, with plans to expand further down the road.
“What we have been tending to specialize in are communities that have just been short on services or without services completely,” said Nitychoruk.
“For 50 years, Thompson was the third-largest centre in Manitoba, and they didn’t have a hearing clinic because nobody wanted to go up north,” he noted. “So being able to work with Jackie and being able to provide world-class service in a community, no matter the size or the location, is phenomenal.
“It’s a very feel good thing.”
Nitychoruk added Enhanced Hearing also has a division that goes to job sites, and has been working with bigger agencies like Manitoba Hydro.
McCormick said there was no special reason she became an audiologist other than she wanted to help people.
“I always wanted to be in health care, and when I was doing my Bachelor’s degree, really wasn’t sure which direction to go, did some research, found the program at Western, and applied to go,” she recalled.
“There’s no emergencies, straight days . . . I don’t have that kind of stress,” smiled McCormick, referring to the benefits of being an audiologist compared to a doctor.
McCormick is joined by co-worker Lauralee Both, who is handling administrative duties at the Fort Frances Enhanced Hearing Centre.
Its hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., and appointments can be made by calling 274-4533 or toll-free 1-877-374-4533.
