SAN ANTONIO, TX - March 2003 - Ear Medical Group today announced that deaf former Miss America Heather Whitestone McCallum will visit San Antonio to speak about her recent cochlear implantation at a reception being sponsored by the Group and Sunshine Cottage. The reception will be held on Friday, April 4, 2003, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at the St. Anthony Wyndham Grand Heritage Hotel.
Heather decided last year to get a Cochlear Nucleus® 24 Contour™ implant because she wanted to hear her family's voices, make further strides in achieving her goals and experience the hearing world. With the implant, she plans to help raise awareness among the hearing-impaired community about the opportunities available for improving speech and language.
Heather's story
At 18 months of age, Heather was rushed to the hospital with a dangerously high fever from the Haemophilus influenza virus. She was only hours from death when the doctors administered powerful antibiotics that saved her life. But several months later, Heather tested profoundly deaf in both ears.
The doctors concluded that this was a result of the virus, the antibiotics or both. Heather had been inspired by her family to work hard and never stop trying. Without an interpreter, she attended public school until she was 12 years old, and then enrolled in the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis. In 1991, she graduated from public high school and went on to attend Jacksonville State University.
Since she was crowned Miss America, Heather has been traveling across the country giving motivational speeches to corporations, schools and government agencies about overcoming challenges to achieve your dreams. She served as a former executive board member on the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Advisory Council. She also spearheaded the nation's largest multimedia public service campaign to identify early hearing loss, and was a spokesperson for the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education. In addition, Heather has authored three books, Listening With My Heart, Believing The Promise and a third book, which is expected out in the spring.
Additional information and photos are available. Please visit www.Cochlear.com/MissAmerica.asp for more information.
For more information on Cochlear Americas click here.
Click here to visit the Cochlear Americas website.
About Ear Medical Group
Ear Medical Group, located in San Antonio, TX, prides itself on providing a caring environment for the treatment of patients with hearing and balance disorders, chronic ear infections, facial paralysis, trigeminal neuralgia and skull base tumors. The Practice consists of four physicians board certified and fellowship trained in otology, neurotology and skull base surgery; twelve audiologists; and two vestibular technicians. Ear Medical Group stands apart from other facilities by its utilization of medical and surgical therapies to restore hearing, as well as hosting a complete hearing aid clinic. For more information about Ear Medical Group, please call 210.614.6070 or visit their Web site at www.earmedicalgroup.com.
