March 25, 2025
Charity Day marks World Hearing Day with free hearing screening
By Joy Rojas
Losing the ability to hear doesn’t just deprive you of simple pleasures like listening to music or appreciating the sounds of nature. It hampers the way you communicate with others, limits your job opportunities, and is costly to treat—all of which can be isolating, discouraging, and financially draining.
Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctors drove this and other points across to 91 medical assistance beneficiaries and their family members at Tzu Chi Foundation’s Quarterly Charity Day on March 23 at Buddhist Tzu Chi Campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
In a belated commemoration of World Hearing Day, which is observed every March 3, ENT specialists and clinical audiologists Drs. Joyce Rodvie M. Sagun and Kristine Layson covered all the bases of hearing health. They identified the common causes of hearing loss (loud sounds, chronic ear infections) and discouraged the use of cotton buds to clean ears. (Instead, get a damp clean cloth to gently wipe the outer portion of the ear.)
The doctors also conducted a free hearing screening. The 33 beneficiaries who signed up for the consult underwent an otoscopy (a visual examination of the ear canal and eardrum) and hearing test before recommendations were made on how best to treat their hearing loss.
“In the Philippines, ear infection cases are very high,” said Sagun. “But due to lack of awareness, limited facilities, and the cost to avail of them, the infections become long-term until they are debilitating.”
Vincent Balingan and Bambi Rodriguez, Charity Day’s guest speakers who are both hearing impaired, shared what it’s like to navigate and succeed in our largely hearing world.
A special education teacher and advocate for people with autism spectrum disorder, Rodriguez is the author of “Super Maya” and “Super Maya and Her Amazing Ears!”, children’s books about a 4-year-old girl who is hard of hearing. Call it art imitating life: Rodriguez has been hard of hearing all her life, and only begun to use a hearing aid in 2017.
Balingan, who lost his hearing from swimming in the deep part of a river 30 years ago, admitted to being angry and withdrawn at first. “But I thank my family and church friends for not giving up on me,” he says. Indeed, their acceptance, understanding, and support encouraged him to find jobs that tapped his other skills—computers and writing. President of Hard of Hearing Group Philippines since 2022, Balingan uses a hearing aid and communicates by lip reading and asking people to scribble their messages on paper.
Thanks to recommendations from Tzu Chi social workers, hearing aids donated by Rotary Past District Governor Danny Low and Dr. Angeline Low from Australia were awarded to Jasper Arreza and Arturo Labalan, beneficiaries diagnosed with profound hearing loss in addition to their respective health concerns.
In time, others will be able to avail of this life-changing device. Sagun announced plans to partner with Tzu Chi for a groundbreaking Hearing Aid Bank. Beneficiaries who qualify for a hearing aid will be tasked to reciprocate with acts of kindness that are in keeping with Tzu Chi values.
“They can perform community service, pledge to a plant-based lifestyle, or adopt an animal shelter and volunteer their time,” she enumerates. “That’s what I like about Tzu Chi. The provision of service is way beyond what I see in other organizations. It also aligns with my own values since I’ve been a vegan for almost 12 years. I’m grateful to Tzu Chi for welcoming us and allowing us to give this service.”
The next Quarterly Charity Day is on June 22, 2025.
Before the start of Charity Day, Tzu Chi’s medical assistance beneficiaries sign up for a free hearing screening consult.
Tzu Chi Charity Department volunteers Julie Collado (left) and Jackie Raper hosted the recent Quarterly Charity Day.
Students from Elpidio Quirino Senior High School lead beneficiaries and volunteers to an energizer dance before the start of the program.
Accompanied by his wife Esther (right), medical assistance success story Alejandro Campaña Jr. is healing nicely following surgery to remove a hemangioma, a non-cancerous growth on the right side of his face. His next procedure is correcting the vision on his right eye, which was affected by the benign mass.
Vincent Balingan lost his hearing 30 years ago, after swimming in the deep part of a river. The impairment didn’t stop him from finding jobs that tapped into his strengths in writing and computers. He’s also president of Hard of Hearing Group Philippines since 2022.
Hard of hearing for most of her life, Bambi Rodriguez channeled her experiences into the children’s books “Super Maya” and “Super Maya and Her Amazing Ears!”, whose lead character, a 4-year-old girl named Maya, is hard of hearing. Rodriguez is a special education teacher and advocate for people with autism spectrum disorder.
Hearing aids donated by Rotary Past District Governor Danny Low and Dr. Angeline Low from Australia were awarded to Tzu Chi medical assistance beneficiaries Arturo Labalan (third from left, with his wife Helen) and Jasper Arreza (fifth from left, with his mother Jocelyn).
At the free hearing screening, Jasper Arreza undergoes a hearing test. He has Fanconi anemia, a condition marked by small stature, skin pigmentation, and hearing problems, among other symptoms.
Dr. Joyce Rodvie M. Sagun performs an otoscopy (a visual examination of the ear canal and eardrum) on Arturo Labalan. A dispatcher at the airport, he was constantly exposed to the deafening sounds of airplane landings and take-offs.