In our next installment of our “Ask the Expert” blog series, we’re featuring Debra “Debbie” Conn out of our Uniontown and Waynesburg, Pennsylvania offices along with our New Martinsville, West Virginia office. Debbie has been with Beltone and in the hearing care business for 24 years! Let’s get to know a little bit more about Debbie.

What do you like best about your career?

Seeing the difference Beltone hearing aids along with hearing and understanding better make in people’s lives. They have a smile on their face, they are more confident, they blossom and become more interactive and become part of family gatherings again. And, it isn’t just about the person, but the difference better hearing has on the ENTIRE family!

Why did you choose this career?

It started out helping a family owned Beltone business with telemarketing. Then the opportunity presented itself to give me a better quality of life working with Beltone.

What was one of your most rewarding moments as a hearing care practitioner? 

I can’t honestly think of just one of the most rewarding moments. I am blessed to have those rewarding moments each time I can give the gift of better hearing and understanding to an individual and their family.

Do you have any accomplishments within your community you’re proud of?

Church work with youth.

I am blessed to work for such a wonderful company as Beltone that believes in giving back to the community. For the last two years, Beltone has sponsored a local food drive to help give back to the communities in which we live and work. This has been done as a challenge between the offices and my Uniontown, PA office has won the challenge for the last 2 years.

In 2017, we collected over 700 items of food and were able to donate to the Fayette County Community Action Food Bank a check for $1,965.00. We were also able to help Melvin Bowers hear better by presenting him with a brand-new set of TRUST 17 hearing aids. Melvin had been putting off getting new hearing aids for himself because of helping his family financially with the sudden death of a young father that left a wife and five little children behind. We could not think of a better person who was more deserving of hearing better than Melvin.

In 2018, we won the challenge again by collection 2,897 items of food. We collected food from Perryopolis, PA to Morgantown, WV and were able to benefit seven different food pantries. We collected at the Fairchance Shop & Save, Perryopolis Save-A-Lot, Uniontown Giant Eagle, Uniontown Shop & Save, Uniontown Shopping Center Family Dollar, Jodon Chiropractic Clinic, Cheat Lake Animal Hospital in Morgantown, WV, Wal-Mart in Granville, WV, at the Connellsville District Lay Servants School in Scottdale, PA as well as several United Methodist Churches in the Uniontown area.  We could not have accomplished this without the help and support of volunteers from the United Methodist churches and youth from the area. We were able to present a $2,000.00 check to the Fayette County Community Action Food Bank and a $500.00 check to the Perryopolis Food Bank. We were also able to help another deserving person hear better with a brand-new set of AMAZE 17 hearing aids, Scott Miller. Scott is a Masontown, PA police officer who was shot in his left hand in the line of duty. Scott is well known in his local community and is loved and respected by many, many people. As soon as Scott had one new AMAZE 17 aid in, he commented how much better he could hear and how much better the sound quality was over his old hearing aids. We were blessed to have two TV stations and two local newspapers with us to help spread the word about what Beltone was able to do for their local community. We were happy that they came to share with us the presentations to the local food banks as well as when we surprised Scott Miller with his new hearing aids.

What are your favorite hobbies/pastimes outside of the office?

Crocheting prayer shawls and graduation blankets. Youth work and youth mission projects. Church work.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone who was anxious about getting a hearing aid, what would it be and why?

Listen to the professionals! Come see for yourself! And don’t listen to the negative, unhappy and unsuccessful hearing aid wearers.