Sangay*, a 46-year-old Bhutanese man, had hearing loss in his right ear. This depressed him and kept him housebound except for when he had to see his GP.
Unfortunately, despite having telephonic interpretations of what his GP told him, Sangay never understood the GP and he always came out of those
consultations more confused than before he went in.
He came to the Community Connections Program (CCP) through Community Access Services SA (CAaSSA) in September 2021 and a CAaSSA Bhutanese support worker, Sonam, listened to his needs.
Sonam took Sangay back to the GP to advocate for his hearing needs. The GP explained that he needed to see a hearing specialist to address the hearing loss and Sonam took the referral and accompanied Sangay to the hearing specialist.
On the 3rd appointment with the hearing specialist Sangay was given hearing aids to try. The hearing aids worked, and he could hear again.
“I can go out shopping with my wife again.”
It didn’t take long after that for Sangay's mental health to improve. He started to go out with his wife and kids to do some grocery shopping and left the program a happier man. He has also been referred to a NDIS service with an application in progress.
*Not his real name