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Rotarians for Hearing Regeneration

History of the Rotarians for Hearing Regeneration

 

In April of 2001 Gene and Margaret Pankey were invited to a luncheon at the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center at the University of Washington.  Pankey, a member of the Clover Park Rotary Club in Lakewood, Washington, has severe hearing loss.

 

The Pankeys were seated at a table with Dr. George Gates, then Director of the VMBHRC, and Dr. Edwin Rubel, lead scientist at VMBHRC and co-discoverer that birds can recover their hearing after an incident causing them to suffer a loss.

 

After visiting with these two men and later hearing them speak of their project, Pankey asked if Rotary was doing anything to help them. Lions International was helping, they replied, but not Rotary.

 

Returning home, Pankey contacted PDG Dave Sclair, a friend and fellow member of the Clover Park Rotary Club, asking for his help in forming a committee to respond to the funding needs at VMBHRC. Pankey also asked then President Tom Faubion if he would appoint a club committee to help. Faubion agreed immediately.

 

Dr. David Cotant became Clover Park Club president in 2002 and continued the committee, consisting of Pankey, Sclair, Bill Imholt and Pete Yantorni.

 

The committee and VMBHRC staff met and ultimately determined that a video explaining hearing loss and the possibilities of regeneration would be the greatest help possible at the time.

 

A tour of the facility in the spring spring was attended by then RI Director Floyd and Sandra Olson, DG elect Bill and Karen McCarthy and several Clover Park Rotary Club leaders.  During the tour, President Cotant presented a $1,500 donation with a promise that the Rotary Club would raise additional funds for the VMBHRC in the future.

 

In June of 2003, Rotary International approved formation of a medical fellowship, the International Fellowship of Rotarians Affected by Hearing Loss (IFRAHL ­now known as Rotarians for Hearing Regeneration).  Supporting this was then Rotary District 5020 Governor J. Ross White and district governors from Taiwan and Australia.

 

Pankey became Chairman, Sclair served as Vice-Chairman and Dr. David Cotant agreed to be Secretary-Treasurer.  A board of directors consisted of Olson and PDG James Harris, later joined by John Manley of Tacoma Rotary North and Dr. Erin Wright of Victoria, B.C. Harbourside Rotary club.

 

A web site was developed and then updated and refined by the District webmaster, Don Bonner. a member of the Nanaimo, B.C. Rotary Club.

 

Since organizing the fellowship a lot of work has been done. Members have presented programs to over 40 Rotary clubs, obtained a grant to help finance the video project and produced the video - Hope for Hearing Loss. Programs have been presented at three District Conferences and exhibited at the 2005 RI Convention in Chicago where they passed out nearly 1,000 DVDs of Hope for Hearing Loss. 

 

A new board was formed in June of 2006 to assist Pankey, Sclair and Cotant who were re-elected to serve another three year term.

 

Future RfHR plans include updating Hope for Hearing Loss to reflect new scientific breakthroughs and attend the 2007 RI Conference in Salt Lake City.  RfHR also will continue to promote and support fundraisers to help the research department at VMBHRC.

 

Funding is extremely hard for research centers for hearing loss research, yet it has so much promise.  RfHR exists today to give as much assistance as possible to help raise the funds needed to find a cure for hearing loss. To achieve this goal the group will continue organizing a variety of fund-raising events.

 

Provided by Gene Pankey, Past President, Rotary Club of Clover Park, D 5020 (Washington State, USA)

 

 

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