Joanne Weeden for Hearing and Brain Centers Application

Speaker: Joanne Weeden

Joanne Weeden: Hi, I'm Joanne Weedon. I'm a board certified hearing instrument specialist. Um, I've worked in Wisconsin, South Carolina and Florida and recently relocated to Abilene, Texas to be available for my mom who has dementia. I'm looking for a hearing instrument position here in Abilene. Um, I do need to get a Texas license but that requires, um, a business sponsor. So that is what I am looking for.

Joanne Weeden: You should hire me because I am passionate about the hearing health care industry. I've raised two daughters who have hearing loss. One is now profoundly deaf, the other severe to profound um I have been in the industry since 2017 and passionate about my patients and about making a difference in the quality of their life. I have a proven sales uh record where I've turned failing clinics around for the companies I've worked for. Um I'm a go getter. Nothing is beyond my ability to try. And uh again, I'm just passionate about the hearing health care industry. I also um I'm board certified but I also did get my um dementia care practitioner certification as well. So.

Joanne Weeden: My greatest accomplishment so far is to have raised five incredible young people um from birth to adulthood. Um But more importantly, to have given my two daughters who were born with a progressive sensory neural hearing loss. Um The, the support um and love that they needed to become successful young professionals. My oldest daughter is 32 has a profound hearing loss and is a licensed clinical social worker for the VA system. My youngest daughter is 25 and um graduated from Baylor University. She has a severe to profound hearing loss and works for the city of Denton. Those are my greatest accomplishments, but in the world of hearing health care, um an accomplishment for me is any time that somebody walks into my clinic and I can send them away with improved quality of life and the ability to hear um their loved ones and those around them.

Joanne Weeden: My perfect day when I was in clinic was to come in to a full schedule, um whether that be helping somebody clean their hearing aids and show them again how to do it for themselves. If they have the ability to, um whether it was working with my PC C to return phone calls or when I just had patients in for follow up care and being able to chat with them and learn how much they had changed over the months um because of their hearing aids and, and then ultimately, when I've had somebody come in um with or without a loved one who's struggling and we find the best solution for them. Um I think one of the most exciting times that I had was I had a 73 year old man came in, he had left school at the age of eight to help his dad um cutting lumber and using a chainsaw. He'd used a chainsaw his whole life. Um could not hear literally was in my face. Um As I was doing the intake questions when I put him in the booth and put in insets into inserts into his ears. And started to talk to him. He began to cry. I thought I'd hurt him. And so asked some questions and he said, but II I can hear you. Um, he was not able to afford very much. And so I asked what they could do, they could spend $200. Fortunately, I had amazing management and had the ability to fit patients um with whatever they needed. Uh Knowing that management was ok with whatever price I went with, it just meant I went without commission and I was totally ok with that. Um I did put this gentleman in some top of the line hearing aids. Um and then did all the follow up care and their first visit back, he and his wife cried, um because he had been able to go to church and he said I didn't understand everything, but I had not communicated with people. He'd hidden in his room. Uh, hadn't been to church in years and so was able to go. That had been one of the most exciting and most rewarding uh patients I ever worked with just because it was such a profound difference in his life.

Joanne Weeden: I have a good more, 15 more years in me. Um And so the next 3 to 5 years, I would love to be back in a clinic just working one on one with patients. Again. I truly do enjoy that. Um But I also am a mentor, I've trained um others to become licensed hearing instrument specialists. Um And so really enjoyed that as well. Um I've been a leader in my field in my company. So I often times would get texts or phone calls from colleagues wanting to know how I would do something. Um I'm always learning. Um One of the greatest tools uh that we have as professionals are the audiologists at the manufacturers. So calling and asking for help when we can't do something. I have learned tremendous um valuable information from those audiologists when it comes to programming and some best practices and, and uh quick tips that have been very successful for me with my patients, I believe in best practices. So, um down the road, maybe 5, 10 years down the road, I'd love to be able to be part of an organization where I can also help uh newer and younger specialists improve their skills, um their patient care, their sales techniques, but more importantly, um how they work with the hearing aids and the patient. Um So I enjoy leadership. I enjoy the nonprofit world um that I love my patients. And so being able to be part of something where I'm seeing patients, but also helping my colleagues to grow in their field.

Joanne Weeden: I'm a Christian. So um many times I, you know, I can go to the Bible to the Scriptures for motivation um and an inspiration. I, I actually go to my daughter so many times. Um She truly is an amazing young woman and um is, is wise beyond her years and just knowing what she has gone through um in her own life as a, as a child, a teen, a young woman um navigating the world of hearing loss. Um sh she truly is amazing and, and have being a military family having um the exposure to our veterans who truly are an inspiration. Um but also colleagues, um I, I still, you know, stay in touch with managers that I've had, who have been um instrumental in my growth. So for me, it's, it's the people who have been important to me who share the same ideals as myself, who are um avid learners and positive people. I try to find joy in my day. There, we all have something that we can be grateful for every single day. And I like to share that with my patients as well. I think it's important because you can have someone crabby, walk into your office, but it's always pretty cool when they walk out smiling. And that's something that I do pride myself on. I can do that. And I think it's because I keep a positive attitude. I like to read, I like to stay abreast of, um, things in the industry, but also just in, in daily life. So that's where I go.

Joanne Weeden: I believe we're all called to make a difference in the lives of others. I enjoy that. So what gives me a sense of purpose is getting up every day, even though I haven't had a full time job in over a year now, knowing that I do have worth, I am valuable. I'm loved and I can make a difference for others. So right now, um I'm not working so I volunteer. Um, there's always something to be done somewhere for somebody. So a sense of purpose is being able to make a difference in the lives of other people.

Joanne Weeden: Oh, the big success question. Success used to look monetary for me. But you know, as we get older, success is everything around us that is positive. Um When I was at my lowest, earlier in the year after having been unemployed on a full time basis for well over a year. Um my youngest son reminded me, mom, you are very successful. Look at all of us, look what you've done. You gave up a career to support dad's career ambitions and raise us and we are all successful. So what is success to me it's knowing that I've made a difference in other people. Um monetarily, yeah, I've had some great years. I would love to get back into those great years again. But is that what's most important? Not necessarily um knowing that I can make a difference for people um whether it's in hearing health care, whether it's through a mentorship, whatever it is, that success?

Joanne Weeden: My top three recommendations would be the Bible because it's Timeless. It's a blueprint, it's truth and it's been my guide all my life, the greatest salesman in the world by OG Mandino, because it truly tells an incredible story. And if you follow, if, if you understand the story, it's, it's pretty amazing. But if you follow the guidelines in it, not only do you become a dollar sales person, um but you can become the best person that you can be in general, it just gives people a sense of purpose and then the go giver. I think the go giver. It's one of my recent readings and, and it's a wonderful story. But if you look underneath it, it talks about self worth and when we get our worth from and how we can grow on that. Those are my top three.