Courtesy of Debbie Clark
Dawn Deardorf, left, is fitted with a free hearing aid at Los Altos-based Pacific Hearing Service last month by Dr. Brook Raguskus.
When Dawn Deardorf put on her hearing aid for the first time, she started to cry.
“I could hear stuff,” she said. “I realized how much I couldn’t hear before.”
Deardorf won a free hearing aid from Pacific Hearing Service in Los Altos last month as part of a contest in which people could nominate someone they believe deserved to receive the device.
Deardorf, who runs a catering service with her husband, was nominated by Joanna Baldwin, who has been friends with Deardorf for 27 years. Baldwin, who has a hearing aid herself, knew Deardorf was struggling. At restaurants, there would be times when they would be out with a group of their friends and Deardorf would sit back, giving up on trying to understand the conversation.