Schools
Video: World Wide Hearing Conference Held in Mill Neck
Glen Cove residents involved in hosting Reps from 20 countries meet at Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf to discuss World Wide Hearing issues.
Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf (MNMSD) recently hosted representatives from 20 countries for the World Wide Hearing Organization’s annual meeting.
The two day annual meeting, held April 28 and 29 also marked the first ever conference event to be held in the schools 1920’s Gatsby Era Mansion Manor House, newly renovated and refurnished as a conference and retreat center.
Financial director of MNMSD and Glen Cove resident Bill Sharon says this was a great opportunity for the school to host a world class event.
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"Well I think it was a great honor for Mill Neck to be able to host the International Conference," he said. "We had people here from all over the world, from China, from South America, from Europe, from Asia, and Middle East."
Glen Cove resident Nancy Leghart, director of advancement at the school, helped prepare the Manor House for its new role: "I think people were just fascinated when they walked through the door, just trying to imagine what it would be like to wake up in the morning and live here," she said. "They stared at the ceilings and the architecture. It was a very nice warm feeling."
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"We're happy to be hosting the conference of world-wide hearing, which is an international organization devoted to the creation and prevision of low cost hearing aids for people in the developing world. Mill Neck has had a history with this organization for some time now. This will be the first real test of the Manor house as a conference and retreat center," said MNMSD Executive Director Dr. Mark Prowatzke.
"This is great for us here at Mill Neck, for the staff we worked very hard to put this together. We're very proud of this beautiful building that we have here and we hope we can use it for many more conferences," said MNMSD Board of Directors President Rudolph Oslander.
The World Wide Hearing Organization was formed in 2006.
"There's a world problem that most people never heard of and that is that there are literally almost seven hundred million people in the world that have a hearing disability and half of that number close to 300 million have a disabling hearing loss," said WWH Chairman Christian Garms. "Those are staggering numbers that most people today are not aware of. Being here at Mill Neck Manor is an amazing experience. When Mill Neck invited us to have our annual general meeting here, it was too good to be true. we're delighted to be here."
"Today was really the membership association that is meeting to discuss issues of common concern and to do a business meeting. "We're getting closer to being able to provide the solutions to the problems of hearing loss," said Brother Andrew De Carpentier from Jordan.
Another reason the group says they decided to hold the meeting at MNMSD was to tour the school as a model of quality deaf education. For more information about the World Wide Hearing organization you can check out their website at www.wwhearing.org or Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf.
