Community Hearing Program
We have cared for Peninsula patients for 33 years from two independent offices, in San Mateo and San Carlos. This page is written for the activity, wellness, and executive directors who arrange programming for residents, and for the families of someone living in a senior community. If you are a director, the short version is at the bottom: send us two or three dates and we will take it from there.
At a glance
- We serve Peninsula senior living communities two ways: an on-site visit at your community, or a dedicated group clinic day when your bus brings residents to us.
- Both are free to the community and to residents, we work on any brand from any provider, and we do not sell anything on site.
- To arrange a visit, use the request form linked above, call 650-342-9449, or email infochc@hearing-care.org with two or three dates that fit your activities calendar.
Why hearing deserves attention on your floor
In most senior communities a meaningful share of residents own hearing aids that no longer work. Blocked with wax, out of battery, or never fitted properly in the first place. The aids end up in a drawer. The resident stops joining conversations, stops coming to activities, and starts being described as withdrawn or confused. It is rarely reported to staff, because residents do not experience it as a medical problem; they experience it as everyone else mumbling. The research points the same direction. A 2012 study by Lin and Ferrucci in Archives of Internal Medicine associated every 10 decibels of hearing loss with roughly 1.4 times the odds of falling, with a mild loss carrying close to three times the odds. The ACHIEVE randomized trial, published in The Lancet in 2023, found 48% less cognitive decline over three years among participants already at higher risk who were treated for hearing loss. That is a result from one group within the trial rather than the trial as a whole, so a signal worth acting on rather than a settled conclusion.
Option one: we come to you
An on-site visit runs 45 to 60 minutes in your activity room or common space. It usually opens with a short talk residents genuinely enjoy, on why hearing aids stop working and what to do about it, and then becomes a working clinic: cleaning, wax removal from the device, dome, tube, and filter changes, and function checks. We troubleshoot aids a resident has given up on. We work on any brand from any provider, including devices that were never purchased from us. We do not sell anything on site, which is the part most directors ask about first.
Option two: your residents come to us
The second model is a group clinic day at our San Mateo or San Carlos office. Your community bus brings a group; we block dedicated time so nobody sits in a waiting room. Because it happens in the clinic rather than a community room, we can do the things a portable kit cannot: full diagnostic testing in a sound booth, real-ear verification, repairs, and reprogramming. Everyone is seen by a clinician rather than a technician, either an audiologist or our Director of Hearing Aid Services. It doubles as an outing on your activities calendar, and it solves the transportation barrier that is the most common reason a resident quietly stops getting hearing care at all.
The visit finds the problem, the clinic day fixes it
The two options are not really a menu. On site we can triage. We can tell you which residents have a device that is simply dirty, which have one that needs real service, and which have never been tested. What we cannot do in a community room is a proper diagnostic or a verified fitting. That is what the clinic day is for, and the community bus is what makes it possible. Most communities start with a single on-site visit and add clinic days once they see how many residents turn out to have a fixable problem.
What it costs, and what we need from you
There is no fee, no contract, no minimum number of residents, and no obligation to continue after a first visit. What we need is a common room, roughly 45 minutes on your calendar, and a line in your resident newsletter so people know to bring their devices. We provide a print-ready flyer and a newsletter blurb, our certificate of insurance and vendor credentials on request, and one named contact for scheduling rather than a general phone tree.
Training for your care staff
We also run short in-service sessions for care staff and aides: how to tell a dead hearing aid from a wax-blocked one, how to change a dome, how to charge and store devices overnight, and what it may mean when a resident stops joining activities. Hearing problems are usually noticed by the people doing daily care rather than reported by the resident, so a half hour with your team often does more good than an hour with the residents.
If a parent of yours lives in a senior community
Families find this page too, and the practical advice is short. Bring the hearing aids, even if they have not been worn in months, and even if you do not know where they came from. A device that has been written off as broken is very often just blocked with wax or holding no charge. Bring whatever paperwork exists, but do not delay the visit hunting for it. And come along to the appointment if you can. Families remember instructions the patient does not, and they are the ones who notice whether the aids are actually being worn afterwards. If your parent cannot travel easily, ask their community whether they would like us to visit; a great many are glad to have the programming, and the request often lands better coming from a resident's family than from us.
Communities we already serve
We care for residents and families from senior communities throughout San Mateo and the wider Peninsula, including Atria Park of San Mateo, Sunrise of San Mateo, The Peninsula Regent, and The Stratford, among others across San Mateo County. If your community is not on that list, that is not a reason to hesitate. Most of the communities we visit reached out to us first.
Frequently asked questions
Questions patients ask us
What does the program cost our community?
Nothing. There is no fee, no contract, no minimum number of residents, and no obligation to continue after a first visit. We ask for a common room, about 45 minutes on your calendar, and a mention in your resident newsletter.
Will you be selling hearing aids to our residents?
No. We do not sell anything during an on-site visit. The visit is cleaning, checks, troubleshooting, and education. If a resident turns out to need a diagnostic test or a repair we cannot do in your building, we explain that and they decide what they want to do next.
Do you help residents whose hearing aids came from somewhere else?
Yes, and this is most of the work. We clean, check, and troubleshoot any brand from any provider, including devices bought from a big-box retailer, ordered online, or fitted by a practice the resident has since moved away from.
How does a group clinic day work?
Your community brings a group of residents by bus to our San Mateo or San Carlos office, and we hold dedicated appointment time so nobody waits. In the clinic we can do the things a portable kit cannot: sound-booth testing, real-ear verification, repairs, and reprogramming. Communities usually schedule these monthly or quarterly.
What do we need to do to get started?
Call 650-342-9449 or email infochc@hearing-care.org with two or three dates that work for your activities calendar. We confirm one, send you a print-ready flyer and a blurb for your newsletter, and handle the rest. Certificate of insurance and vendor credentials are available on request.
Can you train our care staff as well as see residents?
Yes. We run short in-service sessions for aides and care staff covering how to spot a hearing problem, how to tell a dead device from a wax-blocked one, dome changes, and overnight charging. It can be added to a resident visit or scheduled on its own.