The Impact of Your Support: A Local Implementation Partner in Action!

As you may be aware, BBF has been collaborating with the Eye & Ear Foundation (EEF), University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) along with students from the Pitt School of Medicine, and the Allegheny Health Network (AHN), to help address the needs of underserved community members in the Pittsburgh area. To date, we’ve provided vision and audiology vans to EEF, purchased equipment such as retinal cameras to support their work, donated a primary care van to AHN which has visited schools and elderly homes, and are in preliminary discussions with the Center for Inclusion Health to see how a mobile clinic can support their work.

Given the readily apparent ongoing needs, our goal is to continue working with these partners and support impactful programs that help address the needs of members of our underserved communities. As I read a report from Dr. Catherine Palmer’s group which is running the audiology (Communications) van, my immediate thought was to share the following excerpt (edited for clarity) with you – for without your support this would not be possible.

The mission of the Communication Van is to bring hearing, speech, language, and voice clinical and research outreach to underserved communities in the Pittsburgh area. Many individuals face significant barriers to hearing and communication care, including transportation and financial challenges, and a lack of guidance for care. By eliminating the need to travel to a traditional clinic and by offering no cost services, the program seeks to eliminate current barriers to care.

This was our first quarter deploying the van and it was primarily used as a clinical outreach initiative for hearing care. There were 6 sites visited and a total of 261 patients were provided with audiology screenings and testing, along with hearing aid fitting and follow up. These included pediatric and adult patients from primarily lower socio-economic status who were either not insured or under-insured for hearing services.

The quote below summarizes how many patients felt about these services.

“These hearing aids will change my life. I’ve struggled to hear for years. I worked hard my whole life, but I had a long string of bad luck and ran through my savings. I don’t have hearing aid coverage through my insurance and would have never been able to afford hearing aids otherwise.”

One main goal of the communication van is to continue to create community partnerships so that the van regularly returns to sites to provide hearing care. Research has shown that it’s not just about getting the devices, it’s about having access to quality follow up care that improves outcomes with hearing aid use. To ensure continuity of care, patients are also provided with a list of local, brick and mortar sites managed by the same team that operates the Communication Van.

Our goals for 2026 are to implement research components and expand our community partnerships with organizations such as the Rainbow Kitchen and Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh. We are currently working with a group that supports individuals with intellectual disabilities and are exploring teaming up with trusted independent pharmacists in rural communities to provide mobile services at their locations.

I hope this report highlights first-hand, the impact that you are helping make in our underserved communities. Be they near or far, your support could not be more appreciated as we continue to expand these critical partnerships. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!