President's Message 2019

On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to welcome you to the California Academy of Audiology (CAA)! I am so thankful and privileged to have the opportunity to serve this wonderful state and organization as President in 2019. I have been a member of CAA since 2003 and served as Northern California representative in 2013 and returned to the same position in 2017 after a brief hiatus from the Board of Directors. It has been wonderful seeing how CAA has evolved through the years and am happy to say we are celebrating 20 years as state organization. Happy 20th Anniversary CAA!!

It is my 19th year as an audiologist. Whoa, where has the time gone? It‘s been a thrilling and wonderful ride through my career! I have spent my most of my career working in ENT and Audiology private practice, working along side great audiologists and ENT physicians. I have had the opportunity to work with vestibular patients, watch various otologic surgical procedures and learn from some of the best in running a successful private practice. I am humbled to have learned and walked alongside some of the greatest audiologists on this planet. In addition, I have had the privilege of working with many, many great patients and helping them navigate their journey to better hearing, improve their quality of life with tinnitus and providing parents with the tools they need to help their children who have been diagnosed with a central auditory processing disorder. Working with people has always been a love and passion of mine, even back to the days when I was a candy-striper at a local hospital in Melrose, Park, IL. I‘ll never forget my red and white candy-striper apron and playing cards with the geriatric patients.

Audiology was not my first career choice, it was actually medicine. Along the way, I met my wonderful and loving husband, and decided a career in medicine would not be the wisest choice when trying to raise a family. I chose the profession of audiology after having worked on a summer research project with Ruth Bentler, Ph.D. at The University of Iowa. My own audiologist was shocked when I shared the news with her that I was accepted into the Audiology Masters‘ program at The University of Iowa in 1998. I guess I should mention that a little birdie told me that I should be an audiologist based the fact that I have worn hearing aids since I was 16 months old! Fast forward to 2019, I am happy to say I just celebrated my 5th year anniversary with my own private practice, Silicon Valley Hearing, Inc. in Los Gatos, CA.

Over the years, I have witnessed so many changes in our field. Decreasing insurance reimbursements, Third Party Administrators making deals with the insurance companies on hearing devices, Over-the Counter hearing aids and the pending 2020 ruling by the FDA, tele-audiology and the possibility of dispensing hearing aids across state lines, negative impact of proprietarily locked hearing aids on consumers, increased wait times for audiological diagnostic and hearing aid services at hospitals and large medical centers, physician private practices being bought by large medical centers and impacting the physician referral to private practice audiology clinics, and reduced funds to educational audiologists within the school districts to help provide and maintain FM systems within the classrooms so our hearing-impaired children can hear and learn in their academic environment. In addition, we are seeing the growth of retail chains like CVS and Walgreens make their foray into providing hearing healthcare services. Last but not least, the growth of on-line hearing aid sales and remote programming assistance across state lines.

In California, I am happy to see the opening of more Au.D. programs to help grow and mentor new audiologists within our state. The university programs are looking and need many placement sites to send the wonderful audiology students to for clinical rotations. If a program is opening up in your local area, please reach out to them and offer them the opportunity to work with you as a mentor. In addition
to the already existing Au.D. programs at San Diego State University and University of the Pacific-San Francisco, California State University-Los Angeles has begun the first semester of their Au.D. program in January 2019. California State University-Northridge is set to open in Fall 2019 and Sacramento State University and San Jose State University are set to open their programs in Fall 2020. Please consider opening up your practices to accepting Au.D. students and MENTORING our FUTURE AUDIOLOGISTS!!

CAA‘s mission is to serve and represent all of the audiologists in the great state of California. Regardless of the setting you work in, we want you to feel that you are heard and represented by CAA. Let your voices be HEARD! PLEASE GET INVOLVED WITH CAA!! We need to know what issues you are facing and how CAA can help you. If we don‘t hear from you, we do not know the issues our organization needs to work on. If you don‘t speak up, your voices will not be heard. We need to know what makes CAA VALUABLE to you as an audiologist. LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD!

Our profession is facing many changes and disruptions in the field and during this tumultuous and quick-changing pace, we as a group of audiologists need to come together in order to carry our wonderful profession of Audiology into the future and not get lost in the shuffle. We to find ways to adapt and grow with these changes and disruptions. We cannot simply ignore what is happening in our field or expect some other organization to lead us by the hand. Change is hard. Let me share one of my favorite quotes, by Rob Siltanen, regarding the powerful message of change, moving away from the status quo and thinking differently:

Here‘s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They‘re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can‘t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Come and be the crazy genius with us! Come and be heard! Come and help move CAA forward into the next 20 years!

Respectfully,
Marni Novick, Au.D., F-AAA
Board Certified in Audiology
CAA President 2019


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