AudBlog

with Alison Grimes
President, American Academy of Audiology

June 30, 2008
My LAST day of being president! The year has gone so fast, and the year has seemed like a loooonnnnnngg time!

Without a doubt, one of the most fun, exciting, at times exhausting, but mostly exhilarating time of my life. The amazing people I’ve had the privilege of meeting and working with, the places I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to (yes, gotta admit, Puerto Rico was probably #1!), and the challenges of problem-solving, thinking outside the box, looking at different angles and perspectives – all priceless and once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Gail Whitelaw warned me that this would be an experience that would change my life, and I would have to agree.

Thanks are in order – to so many people! HUGE thanks to past presidents Gail Whitelaw and Paul Pessis. You two brought me in, two days after being elected in April 2006, and began my orientation. For the last “popularly elected” president, to come in from the cold to assume the role of president-elect – all I can say is thank you that you gave me two months lead time to get ready! From my experience, I understand 110% why we need to elect the president from the sitting, or recently sitting, board. Having had a gap in service, from January 2002 when I went off the board to July 2006 when I came back on – well, a lot of things changed in the interim! Paul and Gail – you are wonderful mentors and friends.

Thank you, thank you, Cheryl Kreider Carey – and how glad I am that you are the “real” executive director! The search process ended with the right choice. Your teamwork, your intelligence, your sense of humor, and your hedgehodge-thinking have been invaluable to me this past year. And to the entire national office staff – we couldn’t do the important work of the Academy without you!

Thanks also to our board – including outgoing members Carmen, Therese, Erin, and Paul. I will miss you all so much! I really “get it” now – the president is the president – but it’s the intelligence, foresight, thoughtful deliberation, and sense of humor that really makes things happen. What a remarkable group of people you are, and what a privilege I have had to work with you all (including former board members Craig, Helena, Deb, and Gail). Erin, your tenure on the board was too short, and I am so pleased that you will continue on as chair of Government Relations Committee. Great move!

To my staff/colleagues/friends at UCLA – enormous thanks for letting me be absent – and even when I am present at work, being absent from UCLA as I sit on conference calls or spend endless hours at my computer. One of the things I look forward to most is seeing more patients!

And to my husband, Dennis – huge thanks for putting up with it all! Now maybe I’ll stay home and do laundry and cook dinner – if I remember how to do those things! Of course, I still have a pretty full schedule as past president, so I’ll revisit that thought in June 2009, if I remember!

Favorite moment? AudiologyNOW!® Charlotte! But a close second was flying to New York to do a live interview with WNBC at Lincoln Center for Turn It to the Left.Worst moment? Can’t really come up with any! Maybe the waking up at 2:00am in a panic thinking, “oh my gosh – did I forget to do {fill in the blank}???”

As I look ahead to my year as past president – I see a calendar that is still full of travel, conference calls, important initiatives to continue to work on (the Student Academy of Audiology (SAA), the Education Summit, and the Future Leaders of Audiology conference, just to name a few), and, I’m sure, a continually full e-mail box. But it will be a pleasure to turn to president Pat Feeney and say – “this one’s for you!” Pat will be a wonderful president – and Kris English after him as well. I believe the board, in conjunction with the Nominations Committee, has made excellent choices in the leadership. As we go forward, remember that each time you vote for a board member, you are voting for a potential president as well.

I encourage you all to volunteer for YOUR Academy – serve on committees and task forces. Volunteer at the state level – all politics are local as they say, and as you become familiar and advocate for issues on the state level, the connections with the national level flow. Attend your state licensing board meetings (as an aside – I have served on the state licensing board in California for eight-plus years. I am always amazed and disappointed at the very FEW number of audiologists who attend these public board meetings!).

Finally – thank you members, for electing me, supporting me and the Academy, and for the important work you do – clinical, educational, research, advocacy – every day.

June 19, 2008
With the best of intentions, I had intended to blog about three weeks ago, and time just got away from me! Now, with 11 short days left in my presidency, I’m trying to tie up loose ends.

Finally feels like summer! Los Angeles, believe it or not, is a beautiful place to live, especially when it’s sunny and the mountains are green (yes, mountains - we live just outside the Santa Monica Mountains - they are a National Recreation Area Park spanning from the beach along Mulholland Highway/Mulholland Drive, to West Hollywood). Yesterday I took a nice hike/run in the San Vicente Mountain Park area, just above the Getty Museum. Beautiful. Recently we planted just a few more tomatoes (we go to the Farmers’ Market on the weekends, and seeing all the locally grown tomatoes got me in the mood to plant more of my own!).

Home from my latest two trips - Oregon Academy of Audiology in Portland, and our last state licensing board meeting in California before we “sunset” and become an “Advisory Committee” under the Department of Consumer Affairs. Don’t ask. Our sunset extension somehow didn’t get signed into law in time to save us, so this is a temporary (it says here) hiatus into being an Advisory Committee before we get re-constituted as a board in January 2009. At which time, I’m theoretically off the licensing board, after nine years!

Oregon Academy was a great meeting - I thoroughly enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting some new ones! Turns out that convention organizer Gail Swanstrom and I went to the same university many years ago, and we got to catch up and talk about good old Humboldt State in the 1970s! My brother and sister-in-law drove down from Seattle to spend the weekend with us, and with my son, Ben, as well as our old friend, Jill.

Being in Portland (what a great city!) also allowed me and Dennis to visit Dr. Billy Martin at OHSU, and also Dr. Stephen Fausti and his research group at the Portland VA. What an amazing research facility, and what a top-notch group of researchers!

Probably the highlight was watching Dennis fit my brother with a hearing aid - Chuck (he’s actually Carl, our father’s name, but my brother will always be “Chuck” to me!) has had a unilateral conductive hearing loss for years, and finally I convinced him that looking left when someone called him from the right didn’t add to his overall attractiveness!

Plenty of work for the Academy to be done from the comfort of my office and home in Los Angeles - conference calls, e-mails to answer, documents to write/review. Never-ending activity!

One of my upcoming activities as past president is to chair the Nominations Committee. I’ve come to appreciate just how very important this committee is - we (representatives from the board of directors as well as members at large) are tasked with coming up with a slate of candidates for the incoming board (July 2009) as well as the slate of candidates for president-elect, following Kris English. No small task, and a most important task. I look forward to working with the committee, which has yet to be fully seated, to solicit the next year of leadership! Stay tuned…

The Academy is full of activity, as always! “Hot” topics include planning for the Summit 2009: Gold Standard in Audiology Education (thank you, program chair Therese Walden), planning for AudiologyNOW! Dallas, and Web site improvements including the new Web content editor, Doug Beck, AuD. We are engaging in an update to the strategic plan at the July board meeting (where I will be past president, and Pat Feeney will be in the driver’s seat). Also upcoming in September is the Future Leaders of Audiology conference, which I have particular interest in and excitement about.

The Student Academy of Audiology Task Force is in full swing, thanks to co-chairs Carmen Brewer and Gary Jacobson - we’ve agreed on the official name “SAA” (that’s pronounced S-A-A, not “saaaaa”!). We’re working on a student survey, and an FAQ and information sheet to be sent to all AuD program faculty prior to the start of the academic year in August.

Next year (that is, in 11 short days), I will be liaison to the American Board of Audiology (ABA), which will be a whole new and fun activity - they are a great board and exciting things are happening at ABA. I’m honored to be able to be the Academy liaison to the ABA!

Now it’s time to pack my bags, again! I’m off to Chicago to attend the Joint Commission meeting with the Academy director of reimbursement (and friend) Deb Abel. Chicago, by way of Denver, because even though my daughter is no longer living in Denver (too cold, missed Mommy, no - make that missed the boyfriend in California!), I always like to take advantage of a chance to visit my friends Pauline and Carol in Denver.

Always great to hear from members - contact me at agrimes@mednet.ucla.edu and let me know what’s on your mind for the Academy!

May 9, 2008
Time flies! Yikes -it's been a month since I wrote this blog. Remarkable how my life has changed since Charlotte! I’m actually at work regularly, getting caught up on projects that I’ve neglected over the past many months. And, I’m actually at home, reacquainting myself with my dog, garden, husband, and friends! Since I got home, other than a fun weekend get-away to Las Vegas with my sister and sister-in-law, I’ve been unwinding and catching up from all of the exciting developments that occurred in Charlotte.

Front and center in the new exciting developments has been the establishment of the task force for the new student organization. We had our first conference call this week, and we’re off and running with assignments. The task force chairs are Gary Jacobson, Carmen Brewer, and myself. The task force also includes students Denise Nicholson, Jacki Baudhuin, Jessica Barrett, Erin Coomes (current/outgoing NAFDA President), and Erin Gililkin; “young-ish” audiologists (meaning people in their early years of practice) Caroline Roberts and Tish Gaffney; Doctoral Program faculty Christie Yoshinaga-Itano, Jacque Georgeson, Jack Roush (Tish Gaffney also falls into this category), Student Sub-Committee Chair Carol Cokely, Past-President Gail Whitelaw, President-Elect Kris English, ABA representative Jim Beauchamp, and Academy Staff Ed Sullivan and Victoria Keetay. Quite the list of smart people! Plenty of work to do—it’s great to be getting started.

Lots of other fun stuff happening in my audiology world—I’m speaking at an “Aging and Technology” conference this Friday—the chair of the conference is Dr. Gary Small who is a very well-known researcher/lecturer on aging, and I was quite pleased when he contacted me to speak at his meeting! Should be fun, and it’s right around the corner from my house at the Skirball Cultural Center. And, today, I spent a few hours over at House Ear Institute with my friend and colleague at UCLA, Yvonne Sininger, and audiologists at House who are part of Yvonne’s research project on early amplification. It is a treat to be able to sit around and look at the data and talk about interesting things happening in the lives of early (and not-so-early) identified and amplified kids.

Cochlear implant (CI) meeting this morning at UCLA was also interesting—I must say, along with newborn hearing screening and early diagnosis, CI is one of the most interesting and amazing things happening in our profession. We have great CI meetings, in part because “our” otologist comes to the meetings and it’s always great to be able to discuss the medical aspects as we look at the audiological status of each patient.

And, I’ve gotta say, I have a great staff here at UCLA. Patients fill out customer service cards when they come into the clinic—called C-I-CARE (say it out loud—you’ll get it!). Today I reviewed last month’s C-I-CARE comments about the audiologists, and to a number they were so great! So—to the UCLA audiologists—Gina Gracia, Erin Maierle, Danielle Snodgrass, Denise Nicholson, Shannon White, Carey Williams, Carlen Kim, Anahita Moshfegh, and students Beth Ogren and Christina Sergi—you are the best!

So—that’s all that was new in April. After Charlotte, it’s been wonderful to have a bit of a lull in the action.

April 7, 2008
April 6, evening—sitting on a plane heading back (finally) to LA! (Sitting in first class—not at the Academy’s expense but because my unnamed airline messed up our reservations and made us fly stand-by!)

It’s over. Unbelievable. “My” convention…the one that I’ve been looking forward to for…how long? Two years!

But it wasn’t “my” convention after all. It was our AudiologyNOW! The members’ AudiologyNOW!, the staff’s AudiologyNOW!. What an amazing meeting. My head is still spinning with all of the wonderful events, celebrations, presentations, and 20th anniversary celebratory events. What a terrific PAC Luncheon speaker we had—Congressman Jim McGovern (Mass)—he was inspiring, and a reminder that the word “politician” is not a dirty word!

Yes, it rained but we still had fun at Whitewater, and the food and wine and back-massages were great! And it was wonderful, for me, to have a Celebrate Audiology event that was outdoors—sort of—and not a dark, noisy, hotel ballroom. Works for me! But since the good people of Charlotte were in a drought, it’s hard to deny them the joy I’m sure they felt in having some rain, finally!

I have such a to-do list as a result of AudiologyNOW! At the top—thank-you notes to write to my incredible program chair and friend, Therese Walden, and to the amazing party-girl, Helena Solodar, who really did throw the party of the decade(s)! Also on the list, a number of people who expressed interest in learning more about the Young Leaders Conference.

Wasn’t the Star Spangled Banner amazing?

And…believe it or not—we just had our Board meeting last Tuesday, April Fool’s Day, and already it’s time for our monthly Board conference call, Tuesday, April 8! No rest for the weary! So many things to follow up on from our Board meeting and from AudiologyNOW! that we need to re-convene already. Our Board meeting in Charlotte, though only one day long, was jam-packed with important issues—budget, ethics, government relations issues, the list goes on and on.

I met some amazing people at this meeting—students, people who I knew only as online names, and new colleagues. I re-acquainted with some people who I “knew” but hadn’t spent much time talking with in a long time—I would put Laura Wilber at the top of that list.

And I had an incredible, fun, President’s Reception (with Dennis in a tux, and surrounded by friends, I remarked more than once that I felt like I was at my wedding reception!).

I am grateful, and humbled, for the opportunity to serve as president of this Academy. What an honor, and what memories I will always have of this week in Charlotte.

Good to see all of you! And it will be good (if I ever get off this plane…) to get home, see my dog, go to my day job, and enjoy Los Angeles!

March 25, 2008
Yikes! Only one week until the Academy Board meeting in Charlotte! Am I ready? Not so much…

This may be the most hectic and crazy-making time of my entire presidential year—the week leading up to AudiologyNOW! So here it is, a beautiful Friday afternoon, and I’m at my desk, and planning to work Saturday. Thank heavens Sunday is a holiday so I’ll have an excuse to take mom to church, and cook and eat brunch with family, and maybe enjoy a little SoCal sunshine!

So many wonderful and exciting things happening with our profession! The US News and World Report naming audiology as a “best career for 2008.” The excitement of AudiologyNOW! preparations. Task Forces starting and working right and left, the initiation of the new Academy student academy, my last board meeting to prepare for (well, the last meeting that I am responsible for running!). It feels like it’s gone so quickly (though I’m still president until the end of June, the AudiologyNOW! meeting in Charlotte seems like the hump to me!); but it feels like it’s gone so slowly…

We attended the American Auditory Society meeting in Scottsdale, AZ, a couple of weeks ago, but other than that, March has been a slow travel month. Fine by me. I’ve made friends with my dog, remembered where the grocery store was, and even seen a patient or two! We did have a short weekend trip to the desert to see wildflowers that are spectacular this time of year—amazing that the words “desert” and “beautiful/color/wildflowers” all fit in the same sentence!

I know there’s been a lot of discussion about NAFDA, and many of you saw the letter that Erin Coomes and the NAFDA Board sent out. I will be the keynote speaker at the NAFDA meeting in Charlotte, so it’s not like we’re not talking! NAFDA has been an important group, and I wish them well. It’s just time, past time, that the Academy develop and support its own student group, as all other professional academies have. I’ll be talking more about this in my General Assembly presentation, so be sure to be there!

Crazy, hectic time. I should concentrate on getting my various presentations and speeches prepared, not to mention concentrate on packing. What a packing nightmare this trip will be—business suits to white-water rafting clothes. How does THAT work? And of course since Dennis is wearing a tux to my president’s party, I guess I’d better put on something more dressy than my usual jeans.

And my niece (a vocal music major at Chapman University, but she reads my blog anyway!) told me that my blog is overdue, so I’d better get this posted!

I hope to see you ALL in Charlotte—let me know that you read my blog, and I welcome your feedback.

March 1, 2008
Happy to be home from my latest multi-city adventure: Minneapolis (brrr!) for the MAA meeting; Denver (to sneak in a visit to see my daughter and go snow-shoeing with friends—brrr!); New Orleans for the EHDI (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention) Conference; and then to San Francisco for our California state licensing board meeting. Fun trip to pack for—from a business suit to hiking boots—coats, gloves, scarves, and sweaters!

It was wonderful to be at work for almost two full weeks before this last trip—even though each workday I am torn between doing my UCLA job and my Academy job, and doing my best to juggle the two. We’ve enjoyed wonderful weather, and I was able to sneak in a couple of nice short hikes and beach runs. Even a little gardening (of course, the dogs and deer are busily destroying the beets and lettuce I carefully planted. Fortunately they don’t like the daffodils and lavender!).

With AudiologyNOW! growing closer and closer, the pace of work, things to keep track of and prepare for, e-mail, conference calls, and the length of the to-do list grows exponentially. I feel very fortunate to have a strong, well-organized executive director in the person of Cheryl Kreider Carey to help keep balls in the air, and an incredible Board of Directors as well. Not to mention committee chairs and committee members. And countless other volunteers in a variety of positions.

One of the MANY fun things I get to do this year at AudiologyNOW! is present Presidential Awards. I won’t give away the secret here, but selecting the people who I want to particularly recognize was very fun—except it was very difficult to narrow down the list (can’t take two hours at the General Assembly to recognize each and every person who has been extraordinary in service to the Academy and the profession!).

MAA was a great state conference, though I was only there for a few short hours. Had the privilege of hearing the president, Emily Farmer, address the membership—amazing how the issues on the state level mirror the issues on the national level (advocacy, legislation, reimbursement, the list goes on and on. Truly, think globally, act locally works!). And I owe a big debt of thanks to Jocelyn Martin, past-president, for “volunteering” to give my talk to the MAA last year when this Californian chickened out on flying into a blizzard in Minnesota, and twisted Jocelyn’s arm to give my presentation for me!

The EHDI was a wonderful meeting, even though I only got to go to the first day. It is remarkable to see a group of professional audiologists, speech-language pathologists, teachers of the hearing impaired, physicians, and psychologists (and I’m sure other professional groups) alongside deaf and hard-of-hearing adults, parents of deaf/HOH children, advocates and others—all discussing (in various spoken and signed languages) best practices, clinical issues, and opportunities/obstacles, the state of EHDI programs around the country and the world. Met new friends, saw old friends, and heard some wonderful lectures (the most wonderful of which had to be Anu Sharma’s discussion of cortical plasticity—fascinating!). New Orleans seems to be bouncing back from Katrina, (it was exciting that a group from EHDI was planning to do a Habitat for Humanity project the day after the meeting ended—wish I could have stayed for that as well!), though the hotel still had some challenges (not the least of which was getting hot water to the top floor. Cold showers at 7:00am in the morning—brrrr!).

Speaking of brrr—I did complete my snowshoeing event (ok, it was only 5K, but on snowshoes it took a long time!) when I was in Denver. We drove to the Rockies—actually to a summer camp where both my kids went years ago—and trekked through beautiful snow to benefit a women’s sports organization. My daughter was convinced that I would be too cold and would chicken out—but once started, it was amazing to me how much heat I generated for myself, putting one snowshoe in front of the other!

Back to the EHDI meeting—we all discussed at length the challenges of an inadequate supply of pediatric audiologists, and how to increase the population, as well as improve reimbursement (which is one reason, undoubtedly, why there aren’t enough pediatric audiologists!). It will be wonderful when the ABA is ready to launch pediatric specialty certification—it is badly needed, and will help consumers and third-party payers identify those audiologists who have the interests, knowledge/skills/training, and equipment (not to mention time and patience!) to see infants and children. All things considered, it seems that newborn hearing screening, early diagnosis, and early intervention, are all alive and well, and growing/thriving, in the United States, and worldwide. It is truly exciting! Now…if we could just teach those infants to raise their hand when they hear the tone, instead of coaxing them to sleep to do an ABR!

The last stop on this whirlwind trip was the licensing board meeting (Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board, or SLPAB {though we say “SPLAB” because it’s really hard to say “Sul-pab”). The highlight of this meeting was the vote (and I DID recuse myself on this vote!) to recognize the Accreditation Commission on Audiology Education (ACAE), as an approved accreditation body for future AuD programs in California. An exciting moment. Kudos to ACAE Chair Ian Windmill for giving an awesome presentation to the board on accreditation.

Next week—Auditory Society. Second only to AudiologyNOW! it’s my favorite meeting. Dennis and I get to travel together, which is always fun, and see old friends as well as get updated on new information. And we’re going to take a golf lesson—that should be a hoot!

Be SURE and read my AT Extra column—you should get the e-mail and see it on the Web shortly.

Thank you all for reading—it’s always fun to hear that this column does get read—and give me your feedback any time at agrimes@mednet.ucla.edu. I always enjoy hearing comments/questions/observations, and yes, even complaints!

January 31, 2008
Always nice to be home and back to my “day job.” Though today, my little car (2002 Toyota Prius) decided that sitting in the cold rainy weather (yes, Los Angeles!) for a week, while I was gone was just more than it could take and it died on me as I drove the 4 miles to work. Fortunately, it died on a comparatively smaller road and not on Sunset Blvd (yes, the Sunset Blvd) where I would have been smashed by all the Hummers driving way too fast! What a way to start the day…

I have new respect for those of you who live in Chicago (well, for that matter, Boston, Buffalo, Minneapolis—all those cold places!). Illinois Academy of Audiology (ILAA) was an absolutely awesome state meeting—but the weather! Whew—how DO people live there in the winter?

Of course, a million years ago I started my PhD at Northwestern—one of the reasons I dropped out was the prospect of living through a winter…(other reasons included being terrified by the “greats” at Northwestern!).

Things have been busy since the BOD meeting—I still have a “to-do” list that I’ve barely scratched the surface of.We have new initiatives for our communications—after many, many years as editor of Audiology Today (AT), Jerry Northern is stepping down in July, and the hunt for a new editor is on! We’re also looking for a new editor of the Web site—Jerry had held both positions, but we’ve grown to the point where there is so much to be done with both AT and the Web that we need two audiologist-member-contractors for these important positions. If you’re interested, take a look at the ad on HearCareers!

Anyway—ILAA. Great meeting! Past Presidents galore (Glaser, Fabry, Flexer, Beck, Pessis)(almost wrote Stach but I saw him in Dallas—more on that in a minute). Great speakers (Bentler, Kasewurm, Liang {always a controversy!}, McCarthy, Sweetow, Fifer,and many many more…). Great “great debate”—this year on the ADA’s whitepaper on private practice. Lots of fun. Lots of food (always!).

Then I had the privilege of traveling to Dallas for two great meetings—one with the NAFDA Board, and the piece de resistance—dinner with Jim and Susan Jerger (as well as with Cheryl KC, Brad Stach, Singh and Angie of Plural Publishing, and Dennis).  We were celebrating “Founders’ Day”—Jim being the Founder—Singh and Angie generously underwrote the dedication of our Capitol Hill Conference Room as the “James Jerger Conference Room.” Jim had planned to travel to DC for the dedication of the room, however, a bout with ill health prevented that, so we took the celebration to Dallas. It was wonderful—being hosted by Jim and Susan in their lovely home, and celebrating the naming of the conference room. See our picture…



Cold in Dallas as well! That must be the “largest” city on earth—huge freeways, tall people, gigantic parking lots—everything so spread out. The airport must be the same size as a medium city…

Now, back to cold, rainy LA. It was great to be back in my office (after Dennis kindly turned around on the freeway to come back and swap out cars as mine was being towed away—sometimes it’s a good thing to be a 3-car family with only 2 people!). Had an interview with a potential 4th year student—it amazes me how smart and knowledgeable and saavy these 4th years are! Saw one patient, answered a ton of e-mail and voicemail, and generally enjoyed being back in my crowded pathetic little office at UCLA (at least I have a window…with a view of the Getty Center Museum…so I shouldn’t complain!). Actually the saddest thing about my office is that I have to share it…no, let me re-phrase that. The two 4th year students—Beth Ogren and Christina Sergi—have to share an office with me! So sad for them—my desk is not the neatest (to put it mildly), I’m on the phone constantly, and when I’m not on the phone, people are forever coming to the door to ask a question or sit and talk with me. Beth and Christina are good at blocking me out (I hope)!

Now I get to enjoy being here for a couple of weeks before taking off again. No shortage of work to do for the Academy—conference calls non-stop it seems like, preparing for AudiologyNOW!, buried by e-mail. It’s all fun, and such a privilege to be President…I love every minute. And that’s the truth!

January 12, 2008
The New Year is off and running! I’m just flying home from five days at the national office in Reston and our first board meeting of 2008, our 20th anniversary year!

It’s been quite awhile since I wrote this blog…over the holidays Academy responsibilities were, for me, a little slower, and though I traveled in December to Portland, it was a pleasure trip only!  We stayed in LA for Christmas (well, drove out to Yucaipa for New Year’s which is about 2 hours east, but that doesn’t really count as going out of town). It was a nice, relaxed time to enjoy my kids (both were in LA for Christmas) and my brother+sister-in-law and my sister+brother-in-law and their daughters.

Always nice to be in Reston; always nice to fly home to my “real” life (you know, husband, dog, day-job, normal routines!). I’ll be home for about 10 days before jumping on a plane again to Chicago and then to Dallas. Enough time to get some laundry done and catch up on my responsibilities at UCLA. Washington, DC, was uncommonly warm for this time of year—I dragged my winter coat (well, where else will I be using it?) and barely put it on. And this plane is so warm that I’m about to open a window.

This board meeting was the first board meeting where Cheryl Kreider Carey served as the executive director, not the “Interim” ED! It’s great to have her officially on board! It was also the first Board meeting for Erin Miller, who was named to the Board to replace Deb Abel, who stepped from the Board to the director of reimbursement staff position. It was great to have Erin’s enthusiastic participation and valuable contributions as a new board member (though new, she comes with great board experience, having served on the ABA Board as well as her state licensing board; she also served as committee chair for the State Leaders Network). Deb is fortunately still with us, though, as a “staffer”, sitting away from the Board table. I am happy that her knowledge (and wry, pointed sense of humor) are still with us!

Big topics of conversation at the board meeting?

Accreditation! Read my upcoming president’s column in the March/April AT for more information. Suffice it to say, we had a terrific presentation and discussion with Ian Windmill, president of the ACAE Board, and Doris Gordon, executive director of ACAE, regarding ACAE’s progress, the CAP (computerized application program), and future plans.
AudiologyNOW! 2008! This will be an exciting convention—I have the “first” schedule for all of the activities that the Board will be involved in in Charlotte, and it’s jam-packed. Our board meeting Tuesday, the Learning Labs Wednesday, the meeting Thursday through Saturday. One thing I DON’T see on my schedule is time to sleep…tough for someone who really DOES need seven hours a night to function (this is something that I always was in awe of when Gail Whitelaw was president—the girl never sleeps, is always smiling, and always full of energy. It ain’t me!).

We were presented with the slate of candidates for president-elect: Kris English and Therese Walden.  As I’m guessing you all know, the president is elected by the sitting board (Pat Feeney was the first President elected in this fashion, meaning that I was the last popularly elected president. And if you ever wonder whether or not the new method is a better process, just talk to me!). This is a tough choice—we are lucky to have two incredibly intelligent, hard-working, perceptive and FUN people from which to select the next president of our Academy, but it won’t be an easy decision. Maybe we could have two presidents? There certainly is enough work!

We heard from president-elect and GRC chair Pat Feeney and staff director of government relations, Phil Bongiorno, about direct access. The number of co-sponsors is growing, and there are some possibly exciting developments on the federal level with upcoming Medicare legislation that just might make the road easier.

We also heard that getting local support (that is, from you, the rank-and-file Academy members) has been tough. It only takes a phone call. No money. Not a lot of time. Nothing scary. Just a phone call to a legislator’s staffer encouraging them to support direct access.

Well, of course, money, in the form of donations to the PAC, is always welcomed—don’t get me wrong! But a phone call is really small potatoes. Takes less time than watching a TV show, less energy than playing with your Wii, less thought than choosing which Starbucks to order. Please please please call your legislators. If you need help, go on our website for information and tips. Or e-mail Phil for pointers (sorry Phil!).

What else did we discuss? International/humanitarian and “global” audiology issues, reimbursement (of course), standards (huge issue), the new hearing assistance technology practice guideline (thank you Cheryl deConde Johnson and your awesome committee!), state licensure issues, naming the new Jerger Conference Room at the Capitol Hill Office, issues relating to Academy student members, getting consumer information and links posted on our website, using the collective knowledge and insights of our 10,600+ (!) members to write content for our Web site, the list goes on and on…as does my new “to-do” list!

I was reading recently (I get a daily feed from Medscape on new medical research and initiatives) that audiology has been recognized as critical in the diagnosis of autism. I was thrilled to read that the American Academy of Pediatrics has, as of October 2007, new guidelines in the diagnosis and management of children who are suspected of having Autism Spectrum Disorder: “All babies who screen positive for possible ASD should (receive):

• Immediate referral to autism diagnostic clinic
• Enrollment in EI program for ASD
• a referral to an audiologist to rule out hearing problems

Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Not that we should be surprised—we know that autistic kids can look like deaf kids and vice versa. But to have us named as the professional to do the assessment (not the generic “hearing healthcare provider”, nor the useless “talk to your physician about…) is awesome!

I’m taking Monday off to enjoy my daughter’s last day in LA before she flies back to graduate school in Denver. Though I will be doing Academy work (as always!)—I have a conference call with someone from the Department of Labor to discuss what an audiologist does. I’ve got my work cut out for me, as their description that I was e-mailed includes the “facts” that audiologists “test for speech and language impairments, design therapy programs” and a few other random ideas. It is interesting to me that the Dept of Labor also reports that audiologists examine ear canals and clean out earwax…hmmm, if one federal agency recognizes that, why doesn’t another federal agency (Medicare) pay us to do it?

Later in January, I’ll be attending the Illinois Academy of Audiology (always a great meeting!) as well as visiting Dr. James Jerger and his wife, Dr. Susan Jerger in Dallas, to celebrate the new James Jerger Conference Room dedication at the Capitol Hill Office! (events conspired to move this honor-celebration from Washington, DC, to Dallas as Dr. Jerger was not able to be in DC this past week).  I greatly look forward to this opportunity to spend time with our major Founder!

As my second half-year as president gets underway, I want to hear your thoughts about our Academy and the work that we all (members, Board, president ,and staff) do. Or, work that needs to be done that we’re not doing! Be in touch at agrimes@mednet.ucla.edu. Happy January!

December 12, 2007
A Happy Birthday weekend to me spent in Portland visiting my son and daughter-in-law. Complete with a conference call on Friday (our weekly presidents’ call was interrupted yesterday by an unexpectedly long conference call with the AARP—a good use of Cheryl’s and my time). And my president’s column for AT is overdue—sorry, Jerry Northern, I slipped up. Another task for my “vacation weekend”. And looking at my to-do list this morning, I realized that I had promised slides to the Illinois Academy of Audiology by…LAST FRIDAY! Whoops. So I’ll spend some vacation time on that as well.

In the past couple of weeks, as I enjoyed staying at home for Thanksgiving with friends and family (and not fighting snow, ice, rain, and airport crowds!) I spent time working with Board, staff and Academy volunteers on important Academy initiatives: the Academy’s relationship with ACAE, preparation for our Board meeting in January, public relations issues, conversations with AARP about how the Academy and AARP might work together for the benefit of the consumers we serve…the list goes on and on.

And, of course, this is the season where prospective 4th year students are contacting me for interviews to come to UCLA. I feel like I’ve barely gotten to know my own 4th year students (Beth Ogren from Western Michigan and Christina Sergi from Arizona State U), and already I’m thinking about next year!

Portland in winter—what was I thinking? It is a great city, but it was cold, windy, snow flurries, and wintry. But I got to see my kids, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Now, as the holidays are here (though in my family, the holidays seem to start with my husband’s birthday on Nov 8, and extend non-stop through Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas and New Years’—a nonstop eat and spend and funfest!), I’m really looking forward to a slower period of time at work where I can clean out my e-mail box (so sad that that is my idea of a good time!), finish up some projects at work, plan for the second six months of my presidency, and of course, enjoy my daughter’s arrival at home for winter break.
What are my goals for the second six months?

• Young Leadership initiative; student recruitment
• Humanitarian Audiology
• Exciting new growth and changes in the Web site, Audiology Today, and all of our communications
• Progress on Audiology Assistants
• Seeing ACAE make progress in accrediting additional programs
• Continued discussions with CMS about billing and reimbursement issues
• Continued growth in co-sponsorship of Direct Access
• Seeing new task forces begin their important work in hearing aid delivery systems, telehealth, and state licensure portability issues
• Seeing old task forces come to fruition (auditory processing, pediatric diagnosis, and otoacoustic emissions).

Lots of work—thank heavens for the Board, the committee chairs and committee/ subcommittee members, the staff, and members to carry out all of this work!

Tuesday night we had our monthly Board conference call. Two hours and 15 minutes later (ouch, my poor ear!) we finished lengthy and important discussions on a variety of Academy businesses—update on AudiologyNOW! Charlotte; conversations about sister organizations, ACAE and ABA; news from the Honors Committee…the list goes on and on. One of our Board members called in from India—thank you Bopanna Ballachanda—that is devotion! My to-do list runneth over.

That’s all till next year—Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chaunakah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Winter Solstice—whatever it is, hope it is merry! I look forward to time with my son and daughter, my husband, my mother, my sister and her family, my brother and his family, and a variety of friends—this is a great time of year! See you in 2008!

November 26, 2007
It’s almost nice to be back at work after four days of Thanksgiving! I appreciate having time and energy to catch up on my “day job” and re-connect with my co-workers.

I attended ASHA in Boston two weeks ago—the first time in several years. We, several members of JCIH, presented the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing 2007 Position Statement at ASHA in Boston. A pretty long trip to present five minutes’ worth of information as a panel member, but worth every minute! This is an exciting document, and I encourage you to take a look at it (even if you aren’t a pediatric audiologist). It highlights the professionalism of the audiologist, and illustrates how only audiologists can fill the roles of pediatric diagnosis and treatment.

Of course my trip included a stopover in Denver to see daughter Caitlin and my friend Pauline, who is a former speech-language pathologist and was executive director of the Colorado Speech and Hearing Association. She is now heavily involved in volunteer work related to hearing loss!  She is President of the Colorado HEAR Project, whose primary mission is to raise funds for children’s hearing aids. Let me know if you’d like to make a donation and I can facilitate that! If you are interested in setting up a similar project in your state, or if you have a similar project and want to let me know, send me a note. It is wonderful to see volunteer and humanitarian projects in this country as well as others. Speaking of which, stay tuned to learn more about the Humanitarian Sub-committee of the International Committee, and their increased efforts to reach our colleagues in other countries.

Colorado is doing a great job (thank you Colorado Academy of Audiology, and particularly audiologists D’Anne Rudden, Sandy Gabbard, and Bob Traynor) appealing to wanna-be Senator Udall, who, two days after signing on as a co-sponsor on our Direct Access bill, succumbed to pressure and propaganda from AAO and took himself off the bill. Behavior like this deserves to be rewarded, and I’m confident that our colleagues in Colorado will deliver the message and Udall will understand the error of his ways!

Alison Grimes with ASHA President Noma Anderson at the ASHA Convention in Boston.

ASHA was interesting. Always fun to see a (very) few old faces! Enjoyed the ASHA president’s (Noma Anderson) reception, bumping into some folks I haven’t seen for a year or two or more, and making some new acquaintances. Enjoyed, in an odd sort of way, walking around the exhibition and seeing a remarkable panoply of speech pathology exhibits, booths, and information centers…found very little on audiology…emphasis on “little.”

The JCIH presentation was terrific—wish we had more folks in the room but the audience was interested and enthusiastic. Chair Betty Vohr, pediatrician from Rhode Island, gets huge kudos for coordinating, writing, editing, and being our primary presenter. She handed the gavel to Steve Epstein, otolaryngologist, who will be the chair going forward. Steve told his wonderful story about being the three-pound baby who survived, with congenital hearing loss. A reminder of just why we “do” newborn screening and diagnosis!

Just before the JCIH presentation, I participated in our weekly “presidents’ calls”—Pat, Paul, and I, along with Cheryl, get together weekly for an hour or two on the phone to go over current happenings and make sure nothing falls off the radar screen. 

I spent some time with “old” friends (well, really a lot younger than I am!) Wendy Parkinson and Bobbi Redinger, both now with Cochlear Americas, but at one time, both “CFY’s” of mine at the same time in San Francisco. And, I had a good laugh when Wendy reminded me that, when she had asked how to do probe microphone measurements on a CROS hearing aid, I apparently (I don’t remember this…) gave her a withering look that said, “figure it out!” Hopefully I’ve mellowed a little. It’s one of the wonderful things about being an audiologist—we are still a small enough field that you never really lose track of former employers/employees and co-workers—we just all move around!

Our monthly BOD conference call this past week was an interesting one, as always. Among other things—a couple of new task forces—(1) one to look at how to facilitate state licensure portability and reciprocity, and (2) another to look at models of hearing aid delivery, including issues as unbundling, the audiologist’s contribution in the overall rehabilitation process, and internet hearing aid sale. Speaking of which—kudos to Oticon for recently stepping up and acknowledging that hearing aid fitting takes a face-to-face encounter with a provider! The Academy recognizes and applauds the efforts of Oticon, Starkey, Widex, and other who have also released guidelines to this effect.

We welcomed to the Board Erin Miller, University of Akron as the replacement for Deb Abel, who left the Board to join the Academy staff! Erin was selected as she was the next-highest vote getter in the last election for member-at-large (plus she’s a great person and will be a wonderful addition to the Board!). I will miss Deb on the Board—what a smart woman, with an amazing sense of humor!

Other topics we discussed included the Foundation, the ABA, the ACAE, CMS (what a pile of acronyms!) as well as the upcoming AudiologyNOW! in Charlotte. BOD conference calls are great for getting a status update, and adding to the to-do list!

I was having an interesting conversation with my daughter (OK, you are wondering, what does this have to do with Audiology…read on). She’s in a grad program for school psychology (and was clever enough to only apply to accredited programs—she is ahead of the curve! I’m sure accreditation was not on my radar screen when I applied to grad school a million years ago when I got my MA…in Denver, of course!). In our discussions of the professional education and training for school psychs, she commented:

“You mean in audiology you have to get a license before you graduate? That’s nuts!”

“School districts sometimes pay students during their second year internships, and the largest percentage of states pay for the 3d year ($10-15K). Some states pay full-time salaries ($30-50K per year) particularly in rural areas. Most schools are more than willing to hire a second or third year on a temporary license; most self-respecting educational programs do not permit students to accept these offers and view them as unethical.”

“States recognize certification for licensure—you just wave your certification and the licensing board says ‘ok you’re in!’”

Interesting to see how many of the issues she is learning about are similar to those in our field. Interesting also (not in a good way) to see the amount of student debt she is running up to get her degree…my sympathies for AuD students!

I had the pleasure in the past three weeks of presenting an Academy e-audiology Web-based learning seminar on the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing 2007 statement. It was in two parts, two hours each. It’s weird to be talking into a phone for two hours and not to have the visual and auditory feedback from the participants (I mean, when I tell a joke, I like to hear the laughter…or the groans…). It was successful, I think, up until the point 10 minutes before I was scheduled to finish part two when the fire alarm at UCLA went off. What to do? Didn’t want to be a crispy critter so I apologized and hastily hung up. Of course, a false alarm! The Academy’s on-line program is a winner (no, I’m not just saying that because I taught a class—it’s true!). Check it out if you haven’t—you don’t have to show up at the date/time a class is scheduled because you can buy the play-back to enjoy at a time that works in your schedule.

It was great to be home after ASHA…except no sooner did I get home than Dennis and I took off for a long weekend in the Paso Robles wine country in Central California—this is an annual birthday trek for him. We traveled with five other couples, and spent the weekend sampling the best (and sometimes not the best) California wines in one of the most beautiful parts of the state. Of course I had a conference call Sunday night, and the computer traveled with me. Can’t miss an e-mail!

Nice to be back at work after Thanksgiving—the travel schedule is pretty light until January (our next Board meeting in Reston), except for a pleasure trip upcoming to Portland to visit my son and friends.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving—thanks for reading, and keep in touch! I always enjoy getting notes from folks who have read my blog…

November 5, 2007
It’s always a treat to hear from people that they’ve (you’ve) actually read my blog!  I appreciate the e-mail that I get, though I feel guilty that I don’t always respond to it quickly. Life will be so slow in two years when I’m no longer doing all of this!

Almost two weeks at home between trips—a luxury to go to work, get caught up, see my dog…last week I traveled to Sacramento for our licensing board meeting (and in so doing, missed the reception for Dr. Marion Downs as she was honored by the Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of Disabilities. Wish I could have been in two places at one time!). We followed Sacramento with a brief trip into the Napa Valley Wine Country—beautiful at this time of year! We Southern Californians need to see some fall color to make sure that the seasons really ARE changing! 

The licensing board is always a fun activity! We are dealing with (as all states are) issues related to licensing reciprocity and how to welcome audiologists who have been licensed in other states when they move to California. It ain’t easy. Apparently this is a challenge in many, if not all, states, judging from the e-mail responses posted on the state licensing board list serv. We are also discussing audiology assistants—how to use them, train them, regulate them, and make sure they don’t become a licensed paraprofessional separate from licensed audiologists. The Academy has a position statement on audiology assistants, and I’m planning a mini-conference call with Gyl Kasewurm and Carmen Brewer this week to discuss how/whether to update and/or expand that paper. Serving on the licensing board has been a great experience—even if you are not on the board, I would encourage you to attend the meetings in your state.

This week, in addition to actually doing UCLA work, I had the fun of doing my first e-audiology online seminar on pediatric diagnosis and treatment as discussed in the new JCIH 2007 statement. Talking for two hours straight…and it’s hard not having audience feedback in the form of eye contact and laughter (or people sleeping through my presentation, as has happened in my life!). I’ll do the second half next week, and then take off for Boston for the ASHA meeting, where we (JCIH) are presenting the statement, as well as a president’s reception for ASHA President Noma Anderson. 

Disappointing news from CMS about not re-valuing our codes. See the magnet mail that went out on November 1, or click here, to you all. I’m particularly grieved because I was one of the two Academy representatives on the conference call with CMS, along with Kadyn Williams, and I felt like I talked a good game. Oh well, not good enough, I guess! But we will continue the fight when the next opportunity comes up.

My idea of a good time this weekend? Coming to work on Saturday when there are no patients, no audiologists, no phones ringing, no anyone, to clean up my office (I’m getting new carpet tonight—now that IS a thrill!) and particularly, answer ALL of the e-mail that has piled up in my in-box. Even though I’m not traveling, for the moment, the business of the Academy is running at full tilt! Committee chairs and members to appoint, task forces to formulate and set charges for (including a task force to take the comments on the 4th-year draft statement in this past issue of Audiology Today and create an Academy position statement—if you have not commented yet, please do so soon!), and the list goes on and on. 

I am always amazed at the number of people in our Academy who volunteer in a variety of ways. The number of e-mails on fairly weighty subjects that I receive on a weekend, at night, is remarkable. People are working on accreditation, coding and reimbursement, international and humanitarian efforts, research…the list goes on and on.

So, after reading and responding to all of these e-mails on Saturday and Sunday morning (and now, of course, on Monday my in-box is full again!), Sunday we did some fun stuff—gardening, cooking, driving up the coast to Santa Barabara. It makes coming back to work on Monday morning easier when the office gets cleaned up on Saturday!

Happy November and end of daylight savings time!

October 15, 2007
Just coming off a long trip—we must be flying over Kansas from the looks of the ground down there.  This trip was a packing challenge—first Charlotte North Carolina for our Board of Directors meeting; then a quick trip to Denver; finishing up with the ADA meeting in Orlando. It’s hard to pack enough shoes and varied clothes (so of course I had to shop in Denver!). Nice thing about 2 trips with different groups of people (for the most part)—one set of 4 days’ worth of business clothes can do double duty (shhh don’t tell!)—fortunately I didn’t spill my Starbucks on anything rendering it useless for the second meeting!

My second board meeting now behind me, I have only two more before turning the reins over to Pat Feeney! But that’s still 8-1/2 months away, and there’s so much to be done!

I’m excited about Charlotte. We (the Board) stayed at the Westin, which is one of the 19 convention hotels in our AudiologyNOW block, and enjoyed a couple of outings: US National Whitewater Center and the Duke Mansion. Whitewater will be the venue for the Academy opening party, and this will be without a doubt the most unique party ever in the history of our profession!  I’m packing my shorts and Tevas for AudiologyNOW!  We had the pleasure of a dinner at the Duke Mansion—an absolutely beautiful estate in a gorgeous neighborhood of trees, gardens, and stately houses. It’s a bed and breakfast— I’m planning NOW to get a reservation for Dennis and me for a couple of nights after AudiologyNOW! to unwind and give us an opportunity to enjoy North Carolina.

The Board meeting, as always, was great--seeing friends on the Board, having challenging and thoughtful deliberations and discussions, laughing a lot, eating too much (always a problem when traveling, though this time I did make it to the gym 3 mornings out of 4 before meetings started!). It was warm and humid, green and lovely. 

We got through the agenda in record time, leaving plenty of time for our “Dialog then Deliberation” where we have unstructured, in-depth considerations of important strategic issues. Like, how to maximize our communications with members and solicit their feedback, ACAE, the role of students in our Academy, initial thoughts about the budget for next year, international, humanitarian and multi-cultural audiology, governance restructuring, AuD program issues, ethics issues, CMS…the list goes on and on.

In the middle of the meeting on the first day, I had the opportunity, with Chair of Coding and Reimbursement Kadyn Williams, to participate in a conference call with CMS about the valuation of two of our codes: 92557 and 92579.  This was the biggest stress of the trip (other than hauling around my 2 jam-packed heavy suitcases).  We were given 20 minutes to provide information regarding what an audiologist does when doing a 92557 and a 92579, and the amount of time that this typically takes. I had 10 minutes to describe, from start to finish, how an audiologist does a comprehensive audiologic evaluation on an adult, and how an audiologist does Visual Reinforcement Audiometry with a 2-year old. I’ve never talked so fast for such a concentrated period of time in my life! Kadyn followed with 10 minutes of technical discussion of the valuation of these two codes in the new Medicare fee schedule and how the current valuation was flawed. Thank heavens she understands and can articulate so well the complicated process (at least to my naïve eye) that CMS has designed to determine reimbursement, and that she was able to point out the flaws in the logic. We’ll hear the outcome of our efforts in a few weeks—stay tuned!

Joining us at the Board meeting was the newly hired Director of Communications, Amy Miedema. She replaces Sydney Davis who moved to Delaware last month. Amy has great experience, a lot of enthusiasm, and she brings terrific skills to this position. It was great getting to know her and hear her visions for how communications can be expanded and upgraded.

Thinking of communications—it was great fun reading the survey monkey comments about what’s good and what’s desired in AT (SM is always fun to read because you all {and me!} know we can make all kinds of comments that will appear anonymously!).  Some of my favorites (I’ve abridged some of the comments for space), with my responses (not that I’m queen of the world!)

• "more surveys of current scientific exploration”—good idea!
• “pairing clinical protocols with practical tips like coding and reimbursement”—good idea!
• “how/what AAA is planning for the future—it feels like a PhD driven organization”—actually our membership is about 2/3 MA Audiologists! (and believe me when I say that the vast majority of the mental energy spent at a board meeting is on this topic—now just what we’re doing now but where we’re going!)
• “summary of research being done at AuD/PhD University programs”—great idea!

I know this information will be useful to Amy as she begins to work with AT—we want to be responsive to your needs!

One of the most exciting (fun) things we accomplished at the meeting was to select the new Executive Director! Cheryl Kreider Carey, who has been interim ED since last November, was elected by the Board to become permanent. Having worked with Cheryl closely in the past year and a half, I am very pleased that she was chosen to be ED. She’s a great staff leader, a great partner in the CSO-CEO (that’s Chief Staff and Chief Elected Officer) duo, and a genuinely nice person!  Other than not getting her passion for sports (maybe that’s my shortcoming!) she and I have much in common, and I look forward to continuing to work with her.

Board meetings are always amazing—I come away in awe of my colleagues and their thinking (and humor).  And come away slightly exhausted, with a jam-packed to-do list.

I deserved a couple of days of R&R in Denver—it was a great opportunity to see my kids (though my son lives in Portland, it was his 28th birthday so I flew him to Denver to be with his sister—soon to turn 25—and me. It was a treat for all of us!). There’s no more beautiful place than Colorado in the early fall. Once the snow starts to fall, however, I’m just fine being in LA!

The last leg of the trip was Orlando for the ADA meeting. The primary purpose, other than having fun and seeing my husband after a week of separation, was for Cheryl and me to meet with the ADA Executive Board (outgoing President Larry Engelmann, President Elect Charlie Stone, and incoming President Dave Berkey). We discussed the relationship between the two organizations and how to maintain good communication. And I went to some good classes—hybrid cochlear implants, ethics and designing a contemporary audiology office, among others. Ed Sullivan, Assistant Executive Director did a great job, as always, of manning the AAA booth and talking to members and nonmembers alike.

I missed the Duck Parade, sadly—the Peabody Hotel where the ADA meeting was held, is known for a twice-daily duck parade apparently through the main lobby. Somehow I was never around when they went quacking by!

I’ve gotta say that I’m looking forward to being home after almost 2 weeks—doing some laundry, seeing how my beets and lettuce are growing (if the deer haven’t mowed them down), and most importantly, catching up at work. Hope they remember who I am! I give UCLA—my coworkers and my boss—a lot of credit for putting up with my travel. Thank heavens for cell phones and Blackberries to keep in touch.

I’ll actually be home for a week and a half before the next trip—this one to Sacramento for the California Licensing Board (technically, the SLPAB or Speech Pathology and Audiology Board) meeting. We have an amazing agenda for this meeting—audiology assistants, 4th year licensure and a discussion of licensing reciprocity. I do enjoy being on this board—one more year and my 8-year term will be up. If you live in CA and are looking for an important, fun, and intellectually challenging activity, consider applying for our current vacancy on the board.

I was just thinking how long this blog entry is (a 5-hour flight—plenty of time to write!) but then I decided “hey, it’s my blog!”. Hope you readers found some interesting information—as always, feel free to e-mail me at agrimes@mednet.ucla.edu with your thoughts!

September 19, 2007

HEAR TO STAY at 312 Mass Ave!

Last night we had our ribbon cutting, fun, FUN party to celebrate our new home! Thanks to all of you who came (some from considerable distance [yea Helena Solodar and Johnny Foster, NAFDA student rep on GRC] and some from around the corner (yea Lu Beck, Terri Wilson-Bridges and all the fun students from Gallaudet). We had 75+ people, and the party went on well past the advertised 7:30 end.

4 Members of Congress!!!! Rep. Mike Ross from AK, who is the original cosponsor of our bill, came to our party! It was wonderful to meet him and share the microphone with him.  He expressed great optimism over its passage (now with 56 cosponsors—a record!). Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), who took the microphone and talked candidly about having a hearing loss himself; Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA) were also guests at the party.

Additionally, two staffers from Senator Tim Johnson’s office also came (he was unable to get away from the Senate)—Jacqueline Lampert was the senior staffer and Megan DesCamps accompanied her.  We hear that the introduction of the senate companion Direct Access bill is just around the corner. Exciting!

I only made one major gaffe in my speech—calling one of the congressmen a senator! He was kind enough to thank me for the promotion!

We were joined by Dr. Richard Miyamoto, President of the AAO.  The AAO Convention was going on in DC at the same time. He paid Past President Paul a major compliment by stating that they modeled their General Assembly after our Denver General Assembly to make it a little livelier for the otolaryngologists.  The new digs have been relandscaped and remodeling is well underway—the place looks terrific! And the weather was gorgeous—a sunny, warm, crisp day. Just perfect for a party. The ribbon was cut; the new sign at the doorway was unveiled; and everyone seemed to have a great time. I certainly did!

A good 3 days in DC.  We finished the second round of interviews for the Executive Director and will, hopefully, have a final decision at the Board meeting in Charlotte in 2 weeks.

It has been a terrific experience working with the search committee (Chair President-Elect Pat Feeney, Board member Carmen Brewer, Past President Dave Fabry, Past President and Foundation Chair Brad Stach, member Terri Wilson-Bridges, and staff representative Phil Bongiorno).  We have met some terrific people, and heard lots of interesting ideas about the Academy.

Being at the National Office is always fun—it’s great to see staff in person rather than just by e-mail or over the phone.  And always great to be in DC to spend time with “old” friends (this time, dinner with Carmen, Margaret McCabe and Sandy Gordon-Salant—of course, all of us audiologists talking about work, family, friends, getting grayer…).

I flew into NYC on Saturday prior to coming to DC. Now, my idea of a good time was NOT to be in NYC, by myself (I’ve always been a little intimidated by that city), but I had a blast. What a great city!  I was in New York to film a spot on WABC Sunday morning news. Live TV—no opportunity to mess up and go back! It was very fun—the interviewer provided a great story of being on the subway and being able to hear “every word” of the music emanating out of the earphones of a fellow passenger’s MP3-player iPod. I managed to get in a few key words—“audiologist” being one, and a reference to Turnittotheleft.com. The interview was over before I knew it—now having watched the recording a couple of times I’m thinking of all the things I could have said better/differently. Sigh…).

New York is just an awesome city—I enjoyed walking in Central Park; walking from my hotel to Lincoln Center where the interview was taped; and, well, of course, shopping! I hadn’t been in NY since Dennis and I took our daughters there in 1998 for a theater weekend. We will definitely go back there for a vacation soon (but not in winter!).

The most bizarre event of the weekend occurred when I got to LaGuardia to fly down to DC.  The fire alarm went off just as I was going through security (no, no causal relationship!), and it was simply ear-splitting! I’m not a great estimate of intensity, but it was well over the threshold of my acoustic reflex, and honestly painful. And the alarm lasted, throughout the entire concourse, for 1-1/2 hours.  Without stopping. No exaggeration. It was hell. I sat for that time (and of course my flight was delayed, adding time to the pain of being exposed to the alarm) with my fingers stuck firmly into my ears. Fun time. Some people, lucky enough to have earphones for their iPods or MP3 players, had ready hearing protection. Very strange, and painful, experience. I just kept thinking “here I am in NYC to bring a message of hearing loss prevention, and all of us are going to experience hearing loss as a result of this malfunctioning alarm!”.

Now I look forward to a couple of weeks at home—getting a haircut, doing some yoga, hanging out with Dennis and our dog Shaggy, planting some beets and lettuce in the garden now that fall has arrived (yes, LA DOES have seasons!), seeing friends and family, and actually going to work and enjoying my friends/coworkers at UCLA!  And not eating in restaurants for a while so I can lose the latest 3 pounds I’ve put on while traveling!

September 11, 2007
Time to get this running blog posted! The time just slips away. We have our monthly Board of Directors conference call this evening -on the agenda lots of things to talk about - a new endeavor to support humanitarian audiology and audiology education in other countries; the 2008 Medicare Fee Schedule (see the Academy response to the proposed fee schedule. AudiologyNOW! 2008; Turn it to the Left update )guess who gets to go to New York on Saturday to tape another news interview??); ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday 9-18 at the new Capitol Hill Office; Audiometric Symbols Task Force; ACAE Working Group; DiscovEARy Zone Task Force...the list goes on and on! I am continually amazed at the effort put forth by the staff and volunteers to further our Academy and our profession.

September 7, 2007
Before I post this, I've just got to add two things:  what a great time I had at the California Academy of Audiology (CAA) meeting, and how unhappy I, and all of us, are over the recent CMS communication in which the denied us Direct Access, stating that they cannot determine that they have the legal authority to grant Direct Access through regulation. CMS REPORT

On the positive side, CAA was a terrific meeting - lots of great presentations, legislative and advocacy updates, Gail Whitelaw doing a "mythbusters" for Audiologists, and so on. State meetings are fun, particularly when it's in my own state!

On the negative side, CMS spent 2 -1/2 year coming up with their response to a direct request from Congress to determine if they can grant audiologists Direct Access through a regulatory change in the CMS policies. Dismissing reams of evidence that has been presented to them by Academy BOD and committee members, as well as volunteers like Dr. Alan Freint, otolaryngologist, over the years since we began the effort to gain Direct Access.

You should have received an e-mail blast alerting you to this latest development. Our challenge now is to how to counter the misinformation promulgated in this report, and advocate with our legislators to encourage them to support our bill, HR 1665.

September 2, 2007
35,000 feet somewhere over Arkansas, flying from Tampa to Denver. Tampa was the site of the Florida Academy of Audiology, and what a privilege for me not only to give the Academy Update, but to be part of the “white coat ceremony” for the AuD students enrolled in the 3 Florida programs! It is exciting to see this next generation of audiologists (well, since I’m 55 and a generation is typically defined as 25 years, maybe this is the next generation and a quarter!). The oath that the students recited along with me was new to me, and I loved it!

(Going to Denver, of course, to see my daughter. She kids that she will never be able to have a social life because her mother keeps on coming to Denver to visit!).

One of the ongoing challenges of leadership is that fine balance between “playing well with others” (as Past President Gail Whitelaw likes to say) and being run over by a truck by others. Events of the past couple of weeks have challenged me to be nice, but not be run over.

First, the CCC-A. Hey, I used to have one, and I was proud of it! And there’s nothing wrong with having a CCC-A. As long as it’s a free choice. Where I have some difficulty is when it’s presented as a credential that implies greater competence than, say for instance, my AuD, my state license, or 30 years in practice. I have to laugh when one of the 4^th year AuD students needs to have her University forms signed off by one of my very competent (but younger, and less “seasoned”) staff audiologists, because I am not “competent” any longer since dropping my C’s. I laugh, but it makes me nuts, and is more than a little annoying.

SoundOFF has been loaded with discussions of this question over the past couple of years, and articles in Audiology Today (like the one written by Jerry Northern and my husband Dennis van Vliet in 2006) have addressed the issue of the value of the C’s.

I recently received this unsolicited e-mail from a member (I’ve edited it only to reduce length, not content), and my response (also edited for brevity) follows:

Hello Ms. Grimes,

The information you provided on the work toward restructuring the certification process brings to mind the SoundOFF discussion we had a few months ago

I accept that they have an interest in communication disorders and this includes hearing. However, it is my opinion that the American Academy of Audiology has become established and accepted as the voice of Audiology. I think it is time for ASHA to step back into a supportive role when it comes to Audiology. I don't think they should be out of the picture. Our professions do overlap and they certainly have the political clout to lobby for issues that effect various aspects of communication disorders. It is just that too often ASHA seems to put their own interests first and also seem to look upon the audiologist as a stepchild of ASHA.

I understand that AAA is the largest organization of Audiologists in the country. Shouldn't that mean that AAA has become the recognized national organization for Audiologists? I know that many members of AAA are also members of ASHA (I wonder how many of these see themselves locked into ASHA membership just because of the CCC-A issue) and there is nothing wrong with that always being the case. But, I think it is time AAA becomes recognized as THE controlling body for the profession of Audiology.  ASHA and other organizations (such as ADA) should always consult on matters that effect our profession but AAA should be seen at the voice of the profession.

It is curious to me, if AAA has the vast majority of audiologists, why ASHA should continue to claim themselves as a major controller of the profession?

Bill Hudson

And my response--

Couldn't agree with you more!

At least two areas in which we are stymied--accreditation (ASHA has the Council on Academic Accreditation, and you may be aware that they recently rebuffed an attempt to redefine the CAA such that speech pathologists (ASHA/CAA) would accredit speech path programs, and audiologists (AAA/ACAE) would accredit audiology programs.

So--why do so many audiologists continue to belong to ASHA? Fear, apathy, ignorance, who knows? I would love to see audiologists understand how much it harms the Academy when they continue to belong to ASHA and get "counted" as part of ASHA's audiology membership.

Thanks for your thoughts--Alison

So, what do we do now? Let’s continue to hear from you—on SoundOFF (it’s been a busy week, hasn’t it??), or in an e-mail to me. I’ll post some of the more interesting answers on SoundOFF or in a future blog.

August 23, 2007
San Francisco is one of my favorite cities, however, this morning (2 am!) I’m here for about 18 hours just to barely eat dinner, sleep for 4 hours, and get to a studio to do 13 TV interviews starting at 3:30 am!  Not my most sparkling time of the day! The TV interviews are the next exciting chapter in Turn It To The Left! Ben Jackson and I will do interviews to be aired on the East Coast live this morning. Hope I can stifle the yawns.  Then Monday a TV crew will come to UCLA to film one of my favorite pediatric patients, 7-year old Noah, who wears cool blue hearing aids and is an almost-second grader. All part of the PR effort to emphasize hearing loss prevention, and the role of the audiologist in diagnosis and treatment of hearing impairment. The opportunity to be involved in radio and TV interviews is an important step in making “audiology” a household word. WE know we do awesome things in our daily clinical and research lives, and the Hearing Loss Prevention Campaign and Turn It To The Left are important vehicles in getting the message out.  If you hear or see any of the TV and radio spots, let me know!

I’m past due getting this blog posted…I always enjoy getting e-mail from colleagues around the country, so let me know how I’m doing!  It was great this past week to hear from a 4th year AuD student, Abigail Poyser from Indiana University, who is doing her externship in Washington DC and wrote to me to volunteer to help out with our new Washington DC office! Thanks to you, Abigail, and to all Academy volunteers for keeping our profession moving ahead.

August 16, 2007
What better place to write today than sitting on a plane heading to AAA Headquarters? I seem to be doing a lot of that lately.  On the agenda for this trip are continuing interviews for the new Executive Director, as well as participation in a conference call with the RUC over valuations of audiology codes for Medicare (CMS). (Oh, and a stop in Denver to visit daughter Caitlin who has just moved to Denver to begin graduate school. No, not Audiology.  School psychology!).

This has been an exciting first 6 weeks of my Presidency! From Turn It ToThe Left to Direct Access to purchasing an office in Washington DC to responding to the 2008 Proposed Medicare Fee Schedule to interviewing for a new Executive Director—there’s a lot going on Constant communication--surveys, publications, journals, conference calls, and plenty of e-mail.  We’ve engaged a professional ethicist to review our policies and procedures and to give us an outside, expert view of how we conduct ourselves. We’ve appointed new committee chairs, reviewed and modified the charges to the committees, appointed new Task Forces, and pursued legislative agendas in a number of areas (not the least of which is our Direct Access endeavor). The 2008 AudiologyNOW! Planning committee is continuing to formulate the best ever meeting—our 20th Anniversary.

Probably my biggest personal challenge is keeping tabs on all of this activity! We have monthly Board conference calls, and “my” first call was 2 days ago. Out of this call, I personally have about 5 assignments added to my ever-expanding to-do list, and everyone else on the board probably has an equal number.  Thank heavens for our excellent staff support—Cheryl, Phil, Ed, Sydney and all the rest of the team, for helping to keep all of these balls in the air.   And thank heavens for UCLA coworkers who are willing to put up with my intermittent absences as well as the ever-present telephone to the ear!

One of the great things about flying coast to coast from LA to DC is the 5 hour, uninterrupted (almost) time to read, write, and…sleep! I look forward to the day when wireless will extend to 35,000 feet! But even without being connected, it’s great to empty my “read this now!” file. Today this file contains the latest issue of AT, JAAA, International Audiology, Seminars (not to mention the LA Times, Fitness Magazine and a pleasure reading book—Jared Diamond’s ---).  AT is always a treat—the most recent issue, containing Walter Nance’s lecture on Newborn Hearing Screening that was presented as the Marion Downs lecture at AudiologyNOW! In Denver, was a stimulating look at how NBHS could be improved.  And I love the fact that he disdains the term “refer” and prefers the good old “fail”. Robert Margolis’ article on Conflict of Interest was a good read (though I had seen the preprint)—the fact that I think like he does on this important topic heightens my appreciation of his writing. And of course, the pictures are always fun!

JAAA was also sitting in my read file--let’s see—yep, I’m old enough to be in the demographic discussed in the Blue Mountains Hearing Study report of tympanometric and acoustic reflex findings in “older” adults! Nevertheless, I’m over it, and I appreciate having good data about normal vs. abnormal findings in this population (or should I say “my” population?!) to refer to in decisions about referrals based on acoustic immittance findings. The Auditory Processing paper by Gail Chermak and her colleagues was intriguing from a number of viewpoints, not the least of which was that only 95 out of 370 AAA members who were invited to respond (and repeatedly invited, I might add!) actually completed Survey Monkey.  I have to tell you—Survey Monkey is majorly important in getting the pulse of the membership on a wide variety of critically important issues—please be part of the solution and fill out those e-surveys! The membership survey is coming out shortly, and it will include some important questions that will help us guide policies and projects.  Don’t miss it!

July 31, 2007
The Academy’s Campaign on education to prevent NIHL, Turn it to the Left, presented the opportunity for radio interviews with Ben Jackson and me. The only negative (well, only a negative for me!) was that the interviews were scheduled for morning—EASTERN time!  So, I needed to be awake, coffee fueled, and ready to be intelligent and verbally adept, by 4:30 am!   For those of you who have talked with me on the phone, you know that my voice is never very high-pitched, and I have frequently been addressed as “Mr. Grimes” when I’ve had to make early-morning phone calls!  Nonetheless, I managed to get out of bed at 4, gulp down the coffee, sing a few scales from my old voice training days, and at 4:30 start the first interview with Ben.  It was really quite fun—we completed about 15 interviews (some were with Ben alone, some with me alone, and several with the 2 of us). I hope some of you have had the opportunity to hear one or more on the radio.

Hope you enjoyed the picture of the new Academy office in Washington DC on the homepage! Having visited it when we were meeting earlier this month, I can’t tell you how exciting it is to know that we now own this beautiful old building, so close to the Capitol! Now the fun work begins—refinishing the interior to make the space work for us.  While this building has been used for business previously, it needs minor work to make it optimal. For staff, volunteers, and legislators, this convenient and attractive space will make all manner of meetings more accessible, timely and easy.  I am particularly pleased that this is an investment, through purchase, as opposed to a lease or rental. A good use of my membership dollars, IMO. In the photo on the homepage you can just barely see the yellow umbrellas to one side—it’s the Mexican restaurant next door, and yes, they have great chips and salsa (and margaritas)!

Every month I submit my calendar to my boss and coworkers so they can see when I will be (or more to the point, when I won’t be!) at work. August promises to be busy as we continue our search for the new Executive Director (with a meeting and interviews in Reston midmonth), possible meetings with CMS in DC, and a trip to Florida for their Academy of Audiology meeting at the end of the month. And I continue to serve on the California State Licensing Board (“SLPAB” or Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board); we meet in August in Pasadena, which is just a short drive on the freeway for me (well, depending on traffic, it could still take an hour or two!). One of the subjects on the agenda for that meeting is Audiology Assistants—I look forward to working with Academy members who have agreed to be subject matter experts for California on this important topic—thanks to Academy Members Gyl Kasewurm, Teri Hammill, Chuck Martinez, Marcia Raggio, Andrea Bourne, Angelina Valencia, Dave Magit, and Dick Danielson, as well as SLPAB Board members Becky Bingea and Naomi Smith, for participating in this important initiative.

There is never a day when Audiology isn’t interesting! Just take a look at this morning’s postings on SoundOFF (my husband Dennis posting about management of a deaf child of culturally deaf parents, and the press on OAE newborn hearing screening as a predictor of heightened risk for SIDS)—interesting stuff!  And there’s almost never a day when Audiology isn’t FUN! Last week I had the opportunity to address a group of about 50 high-school students through the National Youth Leadership Forum (thank you to AAA Member Kathy Landau-Goodman for connecting me with this group)—it was great fun to talk with them about Audiology as a profession, and to be able to say, in all honesty, that after 31 years of being an Audiologist, I still enjoy it!

July 14, 2007
One of the greatest things about our Academy is its members, of course, and I had the privilege of spending several days with several amazing members this past week -- Academy Board members and Board members of the Academy's Foundation (AAAF).   We met in Reston, VA and Washington, DC, conducting the members' business and having a great time as well.

One new member I met is a student, Blythe Holmes, who is the NAFDA representative to the Foundation Board. She is doing the volunteer work that I hope many, many new and younger members will want to do-donate time, energy and brainpower to serving the Academy.  It was great meeting you, Blythe, and Rush University is lucky to have you as a student!  And, of course, the Foundation is lucky to have you as a volunteer.

I came in a day early to meet with Academy staff in the morning and with new Board members in the afternoon on Wednesday, the day before the full Board meeting began. Staff and I spent a couple of hours talking about their jobs, and it was a wonderful opportunity to become acquainted and reacquainted with the many women and men who spend 40+ hours a week doing the work at the national office.

Washington, DC was, fortunately for us, absolutely beautiful on Thursday, the day the Board started its meeting on Capitol Hill.  I say fortunately because we (the Academy Board) spent the afternoon walking everywhere, visiting our legislators in their Capitol Hill offices.  I went to see my Congressional Representative, Rep. Henry Waxman, and my two senators, Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Dianne Feinstein (who actually was leaving as we arrived, and who smiled and greeted us on her way out-making the visit even more exciting).  Of course I didn't actually MEET with the Congressman nor the Senators, but with their staffers. The staffers were all young women--smart,