2025 Wrap up with CEO Ellyn McCall

We do this stuff every day, but when you really stop and think about it, we're doing some really unique and exciting things at here in Deanna. This is Amplified, a podcast by Here in Deanna. Our aim for the show is to educate our audience on the services and support Here in Deanna provides to the deaf and hard of hearing community in Indiana. My name is Britton Johnson. This is a roundabout episode 12. I almost said 13. Woo! Close one. We are wrapping things up. This is going to be our probably last major episode for the year. It brought back in Ellen McCall to join me today and talk about what we've started with this here in Deanna podcast. Amplified. I keep forgetting to say the right name. But, Ellen, welcome back. Thanks. I'm glad to be here. I came to you when I started to join the board with this crazy idea of a podcast. You said, "That sounds amazing. Not really realizing how much work it is." First of all, I just want to have a little bit of a, "How do you think this is going?" Are you getting any feedback from anybody inside or outside the organization? What are some of the things that you're hearing? Everyone that I have heard from has really enjoyed it. They said it's been really informative. They've learned new things. We've gotten positive feedback. We've been happy to do the podcast and to be able to share more about what we're doing and what our partners are doing in Indiana. We've kind of run the gamut this year of topics to cover and people to talk to, talk to a lot of staff, talk to a couple of board members. Is there anything between you and I we've had to probably listen to all of them. Is there anything that kind of stood out to you as kind of an interesting moment or something like that? I think it's been great to really be able to dig into all the different things that we're doing. So to talk about camp and to talk about our evaluations and to talk about our audiology department. We do this stuff every day but when you really stop and think about it, we're doing some really unique and exciting things at here in Indiana. I think it's been really cool to be able to share those. That's kind of been my takeaway. It's nice to stop and take stock of what we're really offering to the community. I've also appreciated the episodes we've done with partners to show the ways that we collaborate and the ways that we can offer help to families by joining together with another group. I think it's a nice way to kind of highlight just the community aspect of everything that here in Indiana is involved with and the broader reach that the organization has. We're covering the whole state. I mean, there's a lot there. As we look towards next year, we'll talk more about the organization, some other things here in a minute. But what are some thoughts around the next set of topics that we can cover? I know we've gone kind of like I feel like as a non SLP is a non audiologist. That's just kind of a gear head parent in this crazy world. It feels like we've gone really deep in certain areas, but maybe not so deep in others. And I'm always trying to bring it back in because you guys are such experts in the field of what you do. It's really easy for you to just push into a topic and be really really specific about things that maybe somebody who doesn't work in the field every day is not sure about how that goes. So I'm so my goal in all of these conversations is to try to just keep it at an accessible level. As we kind of go through this, what are some other areas that we can maybe start to talk about next year that we didn't get into this year? And is there anything that we might want to revisit that you think in terms of areas to cover? I think there's a lot more to talk about regarding listening in spoken language certification and services. So that's an area I'd definitely like to hit again. But what I'm really excited about for next year or next season of the podcast is to bring some kids and some families into the podcast as well as some panels, some whether that staff or partner organizations to be able to really bring in multiple voices. Who can share about the things we're doing in the state? Yeah, I mean, I think we'll put together a nice slate of content for people and again, try to keep it, you know, quick and accessible and all the things. And just really just keep pushing forward on what the mission of the organization is and how we're serving the community. Part of what I wanted to talk to you about today, and is sort of the emotional update, if you will. And just sort of check in with you to kind of see like, okay, it's the end of the year. There's a lot of, you know, end of year callouts by a lot of organizations. So kind of can you can you give us a little bit of a recap as to maybe some of the broader achievements that here in the end has achieved this year. How things are doing maybe from a financial perspective and kind of where we're looking at for the future and then in 2026. Yeah, so just to remind everybody our mission is to create equal opportunities for kids with hearing loss in Indiana through listening and spoken language. So four families who want their child to grow up listening and speaking were kind of the place to go for that. And our goal is to do that through our services and programs and through our partner services and programs through other organizations that work with us. This has been a really big year for us. We realized back in 2024, you know, we're really hitting a ceiling as far as how many patients we can see with our staff and with our space. And so 2025 was a really big year. We did a huge clinic expansion. So we took out our sound booth, which was over 50 years old and replaced it with two brand new state of the art. Really cool sound booths and treatment spaces. And the clinic and we also added two additional audiology treatment spaces. So effectively we doubled our treatment space. And in addition to that, we also added another full time audiologist. So now we have three full time audiologists and an ample treatment space to be able to really decrease our wait times and see patients in a more timely manner and and look forward to some big plans we have for 2026. 2025 was kind of laying the groundwork for what we want to do next year. Can we talk a little bit about just the re re construction of the booths and the spaces and like what are some of the feedbacks from families that you've gotten that have come through that have seen the new space and that have had had appointments in it. What is kind of the vibe that coming out of those those those visits. The families love the spaces and I can say that, you know, both as a professional, but my son also comes here for his appointments. And so I've gotten to experience it as a parent as well. We did something that's a little bit unique in that we have our booth in a treatment space. So in the past patients had to go back and forth between the their treatment space and the booth. So they would walk to the booth to get their testing done and they'd go back to the treatment space to get programming done. And if anything needed to be double checked, they had to go back to the booth again. So there could be a lot of back and forth and the kids would sometimes shut down and we wouldn't get everything done in an appointment that we would like to get done. So when we built the new booths, one of the things that I really, really wanted was to have an inclusive space where they could be in the booth, but also have the treatment space attached to that so that we could cut down on the going back and forth. Our booths both have a full treatment space attached to them, meaning the family can be in there. The kids can be in there. They can get their testing done and their programming done in the same spot. They're not having to move back and forth. So it's really made things not just more efficient and more convenient, but more comfortable for the families and just kind of allow us to create a better environment for their appointments. I mean, efficiency is always a big deal in these things because yeah, like it's it's a lot of work for these kids to like just do the thing that they have to do, just kind of in almost in a way of existence. When it comes to like the clinical side of it, like have you noticed any like differences and outcomes just from the setting change itself, like are they is it easier to like get programming done is Is it starting to pick up on things and maybe they weren't before or is it really just kind of the efficiency piece where they're in and out faster? It's not so much about being in and out faster. It's more about being able to make sure that the kids are not fatiguing and shutting down before we get all the results that we need. Right? So there's that piece. Our audiologists are really good at what they do and we try to be a center of excellence for our audiology. So that has not changed. So their actual testing looks very similar, right? Except that it's in a more comprehensive environment, right? But the really cool thing is that it cuts down not just for the patient, but for the audiologist, the amount of going back and forth and having to make changes and all of this stuff when they can do it all in one space. So it does allow them to be, I think they miss less. I think they're able to cover more of the basis of the appointment because they're in one space for the most part. And I think that we're getting patients who are able to sustain their testing through longer because they're not having to leave and come back and leave and come back. So it's in our new booths, also have windows in the doors and so it's just a lot more open feeling. So we used to have kids who would be really frightened of going in the booth because you know, you've been in a sound booth when the door shots it can feel confining. But our sound booths are really big, which is great. They're eight feet square, which allows us to do a lot of different testing. A lot of times in smaller booths, you're not able to do as much play with younger kids. And it also allows the booths to feel more open. So we're having less anxiety from the patient side of things as far as going into the booth. Now, if you haven't ever been inside of one of the sound booths, it is kind of a strange feeling because it's so just dead and quiet in there from an audio perspective. You know, a quote unquote normal hearing people, it can be a little disorientating sometimes because there's not ambient noise in the room and in the space. So I can only imagine from a kid's perspective of like, oh man, if you sometimes it feels a little bit m. I should make it really nice to make it functional but also feel comfortable. It's not like a playhouse feeling, but yeah. Well, we're really lucky to have an audiology assistant as well as audiology students who can make testing really fun. In the booth, they come in as second testers and they play with the kids to get their testing done, which is really cool and allows us to get really good results. So on that note then, so adult services becomes a thing. How are you going to kind of make it fun for adults? That's a great question. So that's kind of our big thing that's happening in 2026 is we're adding an adult services. So that is relatively new information for everybody out there. And we are doing this in a phased approach. We're starting by bringing back any patients who need care who previously graduated from our services because as you know, we used to graduate kids out at the end of high school. And then we'll open up to our donors and stakeholders and families and then fully open to adults later in 2026. The really cool thing is that our booth and our equipment and all of our setup is appropriate for both kids and adults. In general, it's a lot easier to test an adult than a kid. So in general, they're going to be easier to get in and out and it's going to be a quicker appointment for them. And counseling tends to go well too because you're counseling directly to the patient rather than to family members. And so we're hopeful that we'll be able to offer a really efficient and convenient and positive experience for adults and also allow them if adults know they need hearing aids. They know they need devices. Know that they are through getting those devices through here in D&D and they're supporting our pediatric audiology program as well. I guess that's one of my questions is if an adult comes in and they have hearing aids already or they need to get some. So we would hear in and that's the sense be sort of a full service location for an adult where they basically get diagnosed, they get mapped and they get devices and all of that happens in one spot that don't have to like, you know, I like until I get an eye exam and then buying your glasses from somewhere else. Like you wouldn't do that right? Nope, you're exactly right. So they would come to us, get their hearing evaluated. If they needed hearing aids, they could get the hearing aids for us and then come up come to us for follow-up care as well. So just like we offer comprehensive services for kids, we want to offer those for adults as well. You know, our mission is to help kids reach their full potential and remove barriers for them through listening and spoken language. But we really believe that seeing adults is in some ways extending our mission by offering care across the lifespan, meaning that these kids get to grow up and they don't have to believe. But additionally, by helping to support our audiology program through the sales of hearing aids, which helps fund our pediatric mission as well. Shifting gears a little bit, Ellen, we had a lot of events this year and I think there's always things going on with hearing data and I think there's, you guys are beginning sort of the major planning phases for next year. What were some of the highlights and specifically I would like to talk a little bit about the conference because I didn't make it to the conference unfortunately. Get kind of a sense of Kanhawa. What do you feel like from an event standpoint, how did out of things go, where that kind of leads us in next year for more events? Yeah, so the really cool thing is our events went so great this year. We were able to cover a lot of different areas through our events. So we had a run for sound, which is our 5K and that's our major fundraiser for the year. Our trivia night is a newer event that kind of goes along with our run for sound. Both of those were really successful and fun and we were able to raise money to help support our services and programs. And then we went very quickly into our conference. Our educational conference is designed to help professionals and parents stay really up to date with the latest research and latest information about listening and spoken language and they're able to earn continuing education for that, for their credentialing the professionals are. But it's also just a way for parents, professionals, everyone who's working with the kids that we serve to connect and learn from each other as well. So this was our first year back in person after four years of a virtual conference after COVID. And so the big takeaway that I had from our conference this year was just that people were so happy to be back in person. That was huge. I had so many people come up to me and say this is so amazing. I love getting to talk to the speakers. I love getting to talk to the other attendees. I'm learning so much. I didn't know this. You know, I have this new information and I'm excited to be able to go and use it and apply it next week when I'm back with the kids that I serve. And so that was huge. It was so nice to see everybody back in real life. Our speakers were fantastic. The engagement from the attendees was amazing. It was just a really great experience. Were any of those sessions recorded at all? Or is that not something you guys have done in the past? We didn't do that this year. We did it just fully in person. But for 2026, we will be doing a hybrid conference where the sessions will be in person live. But then they will be able to be accessed via a virtual portal after the conference is over as well. So that's an exciting change. We've never been able to do that before and we'll be doing it next year for the first time. Cool. Yeah, that's good. All the things of like, yeah, I'm sure I'd be able to glean a lot of stuff out there and be person selfishly. I'd like to steal a lot of that content to feed the podcast. It's just good to grab snippets of things that people say in a session like that and have a bigger conversation about it. So that's awesome. As it relates to recent events, our tide to the financial end of things, can you give kind of a broad financial update and just let us kind of know where things are shaking out for the year? Yeah, so we do a lot of fundraising throughout the year. We all see it. So run a clinic that builds insurance and we work really hard to make the clinic as sustainable as possible. Because we are treating pediatric patients, there's some differences in the care that we offer that means that our appointments need to be a little bit longer. We do some more counseling. The kids come in more frequently than an adult might. We also wanna make sure that our providers who are very highly qualified and experts in their field are paid appropriately for what they're doing. And so because of that, our clinic does not sustain itself. So we operate it as a deficit in our clinic every year. And we try to make that deficit up with our fundraising throughout the year. And we are largely grant and donor funded. And that helps us to really be able to do a lot more. And that allows us to say we don't turn anyone away based on their ability to pay for their services. So we've worked really hard this year, both from a sponsorship level, from an individual fundraising level and a grants perspective. And we've made a lot of progress. We do operate it as a deficit, but our deficit is smaller than it has been in the past several years. So we're making great progress. But we still have a ways to go. We are currently in the middle of what we call our end of year appeal. So that's our kind of end of year campaign to reach out to donors. And just let them know what we're doing, what their money goes to fund if they do donate to us and how it helps the patients that come to us. And so far, it's been a successful campaign, but we wanna finish the year really strong and meet all of our fundraising goals. And also go into 2026 with all these new plans that we have ready to kind of hit the ground running and be able to support everything that we're trying to do. - And for those who want to donate, they can do that how. - So the easiest way is just here in diana.org/donate. You can donate directly online, but a lot of people still send us checks. They're more comfortable with that for whatever reason. We will take your donation just about any way. There's also some really cool matching programs through employers now that allow us to really increase your impact because we are able to really double often or even triple or quadruple in some cases depending on what the matching is for each employer, what families can give. So checking to see if your company does a match is a really easy way to increase your gift. - Just to kind of put this out there, if this is something I'm assuming this is something you can share, can you share kind of what the deficit is? And you just just, I mean, 'cause crazy things happen sometimes, people are like, "Hey, actually I can do that." So maybe somebody who just hears the number will just be like, "Sure." - So right now our deficit for 2025 is just under 50,000. That's what we are working with. And our goal for 2026 is for it to be smaller than that. And goal eventually is to not operate a deficit at all, right? But we also know that we wanna be able to fulfill our mission and so we're balancing, providing high quality services, even when it means that we bring in less with creating a sustainable clinic. So that's a line that we are always walking. Adult services, we really hope will help to close the gap. But we do, we're so grateful to our donors for helping us continue to meet that need. - All right, just, I just wanted to get that out there because if somebody hears this and they're just like, "No, yeah, I wanna do something big." Like, you know, let's just, let's just give folks the opportunity to be generous. Ellen, I guess I'm gonna try to wrap this up here, but you know, thanks for trusting me to run through, you know, hosting this podcast. I think it's been educational and informative for me. It's been, I've done podcasts for a long time. It's never been on something that I'm not necessarily an expert myself in. So I've always been on the technology side and talk about these things. And it was interesting, like I had my first moment, running into somebody who's like, "Hey, I listen to the hearing data podcast." I'm like, "Oh, thanks." So, like, so thank you for trusting me to host this thing for the organization. I'm looking forward to next year. And more of this contact getting out there. And I think, you know, we'll continue to kind of feed people's curiosity and knowledge. And hopefully at the same time help here, Dan, I'll move forward. - We appreciate everything that you do so much. And I'm really excited about the topics that we're talking about for next year. And I think it's gonna be a great experience. Thank you. - I think that'll wrap us up for the year. This has just been good. And I may cut together kind of a quick retrospective episode just to kind of highlight some things that we talked about throughout the year. But I think this has been really good. And so let's keep the momentum going and have a good 2026. So thank you everybody for listening. Please go to here, and Danador.org/donate. And, you know, help us close the gap out for the rest of this year. And we will see you all next year. (upbeat music)