- Janelle's story, to view her video CLICK HERE
- to view the Powerpoint presentation of the information below CLICK HERE
Introduction
On July 14th, 2018 we will hold the 35th annual Rotary Club of Vancouver Bike-A-Thon. An inspiration of Ed Fisk and Wilf Wassersleben in 1987, the ride has raised over $3.3 million in support of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in British Columbia.
Mission
Our Mission is to “Bring Back the Sounds of Life” to millions of Canadians suffering from total or partial hearing loss.
Deafness & Hearing Loss
Try to imagine the absolute absence of sound. No wind, no traffic noise, no fans in the background, nothing. Try to imagine living that way 24/7. Not being able to hear your favourite music, the sounds of birds, the crash of ocean waves, or your grandchildren playing.
In BC over 50,000 people live that way. Another 400,000 have severe hearing loss.
Over 1 million people in BC have some hearing loss; that’s 1 in every 4 adults.
Hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic condition in older adults and the most widespread disability. 46% of people aged 45 to 87 have hearing loss. The number of adults aged 65 and over in BC is estimated to be 1.4 million, or 23% of our population, by 2036.
It gets worse; approximately 4 in 1,000 Canadian babies are born with some degree of hearing loss or will develop early progressive childhood hearing loss.
And then there’s Noise: Over the last 10 years, the percentage of 2nd graders with hearing loss has increased 2.8 times; hearing loss in 8th graders has increased over 4 times. Today, 8% of children aged 6 to19 have hearing loss.
How We Help
Research - $673,163
- We have donated over $673,000 to support hearing loss research
- Our Foundation supported the research work of Dr. Dieter Schwartz at UBC into Cochlear Implant surgery.
- Provided funding for a Hearing and Balance Study at St. Paul’s
- Supported the Acoustic Neuroma Project at BC Cancer Foundation
- Funded a professorship in Otolaryngology Research for Drs. Patrick Doyle and Quentin Jacks at St.Paul’s Hospital
- Funded a study into the role of stem cell therapy in enhancing cochlear implant function
- Supported research into treatments for Vestibular Schwannoma
- Provided funds for Dr Nunez’s study of SenSoriNeural Hearing Loss
- Supported the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) to test hearing at UBC/VGH
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Equipment - $746,471
- We have provided $746,000 in funding for 42 projects providing equipment from new speech processors for Cochlear Implant recipients to BC Children’s Hospital Otology/Cochlear Implant Program
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Teaching - $151, 765
- $152,000 was donated to support programs to teach young Cochlear Implant recipients to listen and to speak
- Programs to teach children and adults sign language
- Even programs to teach parents how to deal with children with severe hearing loss
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Prevention - $58,000
- We have donated $58,000 to the Hearing Foundation of Canada in support of their Sound Sense program which they delivered to school age children across BC teaching them the harmful effects of extended exposure to loud noise
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Facilities & Expansion - $729,700
- $730,000 has been donated to establish and/or expand the
- UBC Hearing Centre
- The BC Rotary Hearing and Balance Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital
- The Clinical Speech Laboratory at UBC School of Audiology
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In addition, we have donated $85,000 for training of hearing specialists and $66,00 for outreach programs to ensure proper care for patients in remote areas of BC.
Who We Support
26 agencies have received our support. Here are a few:
- St. Paul’s Hospital. The St. Paul’s Rotary Hearing Clinic is the referral centre for patients in BC with complex ear and hearing-related disorders. The clinic offers advanced diagnostic and management services for patients with hearing, balance and tinnitus disorders. The Rotary Hearing Clinic at St. Paul’s Hospital provides full cochlear implant services to over 400 adults from across British Columbia and the Yukon. We are currently working with St. Paul’s to define our role in creating the new Rotary Centre at their new Hospital.
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BC Children’s Hospital. BC Children’s Hospital is the province’s foremost teaching and research facility for child health. The Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology provides care for children with disorders of the ears such as ear infections and hearing loss and can perform cochlear implant surgery if a child has a severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss.
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Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The Institute’s three Hearing Aid Clinics are the only non-profit hearing clinics in all of British Columbia. They provide hearing tests, sales of new hearing aids with the latest digital technology, and other hearing services. Income earned from these services goes towards supporting the Institute’s free community programs such as their:
- Hearing Aid Drop-In Services for cleaning and inspection
- "Lend an Ear" program - which refurbishes donated hearing aids and provides them on a permanent loan basis for those who cannot afford new aids.
- Deaf and Hard of Hearing Seniors Outreach program - which provides volunteer outreach services for isolated seniors.
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Children’s Hearing and Speech Centre. Children’s Hearing & Speech Centre of BC (Est. 1963) has taught hundreds of children who are deaf and hard of hearing to listen and speak, and to fully participate in the hearing world. They are the first and only independent school in Western Canada to offer listening and spoken language education.
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BC Family Hearing Resource Society. The BC Family Hearing Resource Centre offers support and resources throughout British Columbia to deaf and hard-of-hearing children, their families and community service providers.
- The Surrey Early Speech and Language Program offers services to families with children who have speech and language learning challenges.
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Hearing Foundation of Canada. The Hearing Foundation of Canada is a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting prevention, early diagnosis, leading edge medical research and successful intervention. They believe that:
- Hearing loss can hinder language development, education, employment and personal safety.
- In the short-term, medical research will lead to new or improved diagnostic and intervention techniques and treatments.
- In the long-term, medical research will lead to restoration or reversal of some forms of hearing loss.
- They foster safe listening habits and hearing loss detection, from an early age
- They educate the public, particularly young people, on how to detect and prevent hearing loss.
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UBC School of Audiology. Offers the only program in British Columbia to educate audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Offer Masters and PhD degrees. The academic component is enhanced by externships: real-life experience in the field, where students learn and work alongside practitioners.
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Vancouver Community College. VCC offers a variety of courses for Deaf and hard of hearing students. These consist of basic English language skills including grammar, reading, vocabulary and writing. They teach American Sign Language (ASL) to both deaf and non-deaf adults who wish to study the language more intensely with an aim to develop fluency. During the program, they also learn about Deaf culture and the Deaf community, develop public speaking skills, and examine the possible career development opportunities.
How Do We Do It
As most of you are aware we hold our Annual Bike-A-Thon the second Sunday of July.
Riders gather at Brentwood Town Centre and ride 120km to Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa. Riders are asked to secure pledges of at least $300 and are free to ride the entire distance or team up with others each doing a portion of the ride.
Many Riders form teams and compete for the Team Trophy awarded to the team raising the most money for our cause. Corporate teams are also invited to ride and compete for the Corporate Trophy awarded to the team that posts the best time.
There are 5 checkpoints along the way where riders get snacks & refreshments. These are provided by McDonalds at Coquitlam, Maple Ridge and Mission, a Blueberry farmer at Deroche and by us at the top of Cardiac Hill. Appropriately named because of its 4 km uphill ride.
A security team of radio equipped cars, provided by the Agassiz Rotary Club, and a Nurse accompany the riders to deal with emergencies should they occur. Reckless Bike Store supplies a repair van in the event of tire failure or other bike emergency.
Upon arrival in Harrison, Riders are welcomed at the finish line, receive a welcome gift, are invited to have lunch in our Lite Bite room and have access to the Hotels spas and pools for a relaxing afternoon. At 4:30 we host a Celebration Banquet named after our dear friend Don Waters who passed away last year. Riders and their families enjoy a sit-down dinner and a ton of prizes are given away to lucky recipients. Trophies are awarded to the winning teams and a Special Achievement award, in honour of Don Waters, is presented to the rider raising the most funds. At 6:30 buses transport riders back to Brentwood. A truck generously provided by Salmon’s Transfer transports their bikes.
Sponsors
Our Sponsors play a major role in helping us stage this event.
- Worksafe BC has sponsored us since 2007. Over the past 12 years they have donated over $73,000. I would like to acknowledge Craig Fitzsimmons who is the Director of Government, Community and Media Relations who is with us today.
- Cochlear Canada as sponsored us since 2006 donating $14,000
- Oticon Canada
- Medtronic
- Med-El
- NexGen Hearing
- A.T. Storrs
- McDonalds provide muffins and a drink and a much needed rest stop at their 3 location in Coquitlam, Maple Ridge and Mission
- Canadian Springs is proving free water this year
- Thank to Doug Kellough, Salmon’s transfer provides 2 trucks to transport our equipment to and from Harrison and the bicycles back to Brentwood. In addition they store our equipment and signs over the year.
- Reckless Bike Store provides a repair van and 2 Bicycles for our major prize draws at the banquet
- Paul Martin’s DTM Systems donates a laptop for our major prize draw.
- Securiguard provides a security guard to watch over the bicycles in Harrison
Volunteers
I can’t say enough about our volunteers. They start early and finish late. We owe them all a debt of gratitude for their dedication.
- Parking control at Brentwood - 5-6 am - 2 people
- CheckPt #1 - 6-8 am - 2 (Coquitlam)
- CheckPt #2 - 6:30-9:30 - 2 (Maple Ridge)
- CheckPt #4 - 7:30-Noon - 1 (Deroche)
- CheckPt #5 - 8:30-2pm - 1 (Mt. Woodside)
- Tent erection and take down - 8am and 2pm - 2
- Harrison Route Monitor - 9am-2pm - 1
- Sell Raffle tickets - 4:30-6pm - 1
Why Do We Do It
Who can forget the surprise and delight on Janelle’s face when her new cochlear implant was first turned on in 2001?
CLICK HERE to view the short video. Today she is a vibrant young lady, the valedictorian of her graduating class, who's greatest desire is to give back; she is a regular volunteer at the Bike-A-Thon.
And then the gratitude of Jaspreet’s parents for his cochlear implant:
“When our Jaspreet was born, we were shocked to find out about his hearing loss. No one in our family had this problem. Later on, we were told that he could have cochlear implants at BC Children’s Hospital. When he heard voices for the first time, there was a little smile on his face and he was surprised as well. We will always be thankful to the doctors and audiologists who helped Jaspreet.” - Balgeet
“While it is fun to be called a bionic woman, my cochlear implant electrodes represent far more than just technological gadgetry. They reconnect me with the essence of being human – the connection and communication with others that I had lost over many years of profound hearing loss. I once struggled and gave in to isolation, but now have so many of the amazing sounds of life restored to me, most importantly the voices of family, friends, acquaintances and even strangers.” - Claire
“The Rotary Club of Vancouver’s annual Bike-a-Thon is a great day of cycling and camaraderie with friends, family and colleagues. Along the scenic route, which includes 5 checkpoints/rest stops, I appreciate the friendly volunteers that provide food and refreshments to keep me going. The banquet dinner tops off the day with a nice meal, inspirational speakers and great prizes. At the end of each ride, I look forward to participating in the next one!” - Joanne
What More Can We do
Prevention is the Key. We must continue to support efforts to educate our children about the dangers of excessive noise and loud music. Sound level is measured in decibels or db and normal conversation is about 70db. For every 10db increase the sound is TWICE as loud. Everyone can be exposed to loud noise for a short time before it becomes damaging to your hearing. For example, music at 85db can be listened to for 8 hours with no damage to the ear. But for every 3db above that, you cut the time of exposure without damage by one half
- Subway or Lawnmower – 91db – 2 hours
- Motorcycle – 97db – 30 minutes
- A School Dance – 100db – 15 minutes
- A Rock Concert – 110 db - <1 minute
Send a message to your children, your grandchildren, anyone you can. Turn it Down!
What More Can You Do
Well, that’s easy! Ride, raise pledges, volunteer, find more riders, donate a prize, support a rider. One or all of the above. You choose. Join the Ride
Thank You
A finally, THANK YOU to everyone who has made this success story possible for the past 35 years.
2018 BIKE-A-THON
