Deaf Whanganui woman denied cochlear implant after waiting for over two years

Delwyn Gedye from Broadview Lifecare Ritrement Village (left) and and Tracey Jones from Hearing Wanganui (right) present Shona Beamsley with funds raised for her cochlear implant. Photo / Supplied

The gift of hearing is something one Whanganui woman is longing for but is currently being denied.

Now a fundraising effort is underway to help her get there.

Shona Beamsley was born completely deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other and had been waiting over three years for a cochlear implant.

In 2016, Beamsley traveled to Christchurch where she was assessed and accepted to have a cochlear implant fully funded by the government.

There was a two-year waiting time before she expected to get the operation.

However, a month before the two years was up she received a letter saying she was no longer a priority and she had be moved further down the list as children were taking priority.

Her daughter Jane said her mother was devastated by the news.

A cochlear implant can cost between $45,000 and $50,000.

"She was really excited about it, I mean totally understand about the funding and having to put children first that is totally understandable but on Mum's behalf it's heartbreaking to have your heart set on something like that and then sort of get turned down."

Beamsley was hoping a cochlear implant would make things easier for her in her role as a laundry supervisor at Broadview Lifecare Rest Home where she has worked for 22 years.

She is now in a senior role where she is required to train new staff, attend monthly meetings with management to report on her department, order supplies and co-ordinate maintenance on commercial machinery that Broadview uses.

Beamsley said it is essential that she is able to understand fully and communicate effectively with many different people.

Over the past 22 years she had taught New Zealand Sign Language to the Whanganui community.

This has included night classes at Whanganui UCOL and high schools, participating in Sign language month, holding private unpaid lessons for family groups who have a deaf family member and one on one interpretation for lawyers and Police.

Beamsley has also been welcomed into the Pākaraka Marae to teach sign language which she exchanges to learn Maori customs and flax weaving.

She has taught a range of people sign language classes through Whanganui Hearing Association including Alex Goodwin.

Goodwin who is a board member on Whanganui Hearing Association heard about Beamsley's position on the waiting list and wanted to help.

Jurnee McCaskill with her cochlear implant. Photo / file.

"Hoping by having a cochlear implant she might be able to get a promotion at work or she might be able to communicate better with the people that she works with but in saying that doesn't feel sorry for herself."

Goodwin said when Beamsley's mother was expecting her she had measles and was told her baby would be born both deaf and blind.

"Shona always said afterwards I'm always so glad that I was only deaf and that's the sorts of things she would say, she makes the most of everything, she is a happy person."

She said Beamsley has always encouraged the local hearing-impaired and deaf people in Whanganui to get involved in life in many ways including through indoor bowls, pool, and darts, which her and her husband compete in.

Goodwin soon became an advocate for Beamsley to get answers as to how long she would have to wait.

She said the hearing community is very forgotten because it is not a visual thing.

"Hearing aids now are so tiny and people if they don't realise if someone is hearing impaired they just talk and mumble and they look this way and that and someone who is deaf is going to want to read their lips and it is very hard for them."

Before his retirement, MP Chester Borrows advocated for Beamsley by contacting the implant programme and trying to get her advanced up the list but had no luck.

Goodwin emailed Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who referred her to MP Jenny Salesa.

Letters of support from Beamsley's sign language students including Tracey Jones and Jackie Hazelhurst and her daughter Jane were also sent to Salesa.

Goodwin then took matters into her own hands and has begun raising funds for Beamsley to get the implant sooner.

She spoke to Delwyn Gedye, manager at Broadview Lifecare rest home who was very sympathetic and decided the proceeds raised from their annual market day would go towards Beamsley's implant.

They raised $1250.30 in November.

Goodwin has organised an art auction with all proceeds to be put into an account for Beamsley's implant.

Glass artist, Lyndsay Patterson has donated a piece valued at $1500 that has gained interest from Te Papa.

Gaye Downing has also donated a framed painting valued at $1800.

The art auction will be held on February 21, 202 at The Grand.

Goodwin can be contacted at alexg.nzl@gmail.com.