News From NPR

Hearing Aids: A Luxury Good For Many Seniors

Credit IStockphoto.com

Basic hearing aids cost an average of $1,500 per ear.

By editor

Originally published on Wed May 29, 2013 12:07 pm

Listen

More than 30 million Americans experience significant hearing loss, but only a third of them get hearing aids.

There are a lot of reasons why someone who needs a hearing aid won't get one: Some think their hearing loss is not that bad, others are too embarrassed to use them, and many people say they are just not worth the price.

Hearing aids cost an average of $1,500 per ear for a basic model, and unlike most technology, their price has not dropped over time.

3:44 am

Tue May 28, 2013

Searching For Veterans On Alaska's Remote Edges

Next image Previous image

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Daniel K. Omedelena, 71, served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1968-69. A disproportionate number of veterans live in rural, sometimes remote parts of the country, like Wales, Alaska. As the veteran population ages, their health care needs increase, but many have not even filed claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Sean C. Komonaseak, 47, served in the U.S. Army from 1984-88. He is the tribal veterans representative for Wales, Alaska.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Ralph Anungazuk, 64, served in the U.S. Navy from 1969-75.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Kelly Anungazuk, 61, served in the U.S. Army from 1970-73.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Isaac Oxereok, 69, served in the infantry of the U.S. Army from 1966-67. After "tunnel ratting" in Vietnam, he returned home to Wales and struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Wales, Alaska, has a population of about 150, including about a dozen veterans. The hunting and fishing village is cut off, except by aircraft, all winter long until the ice breaks up on the Bering Strait.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

A woman holds the door for her daughter at the entrance to the Wales community center, where a meeting for local veterans turned into a gathering for many of the villagers in the tiny town.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Local veterans representative Sean Komonaseak drives a snowmobile with Tommy Sowers (back seat) and Sean Foertsch across the ice to the village of Wales, Alaska.

Credit David Gilkey / NPR

Isaac Oxereok, 69, fills out the papers needed to register for full VA care and benefits. Oxereok was in the Army and served in Vietnam from 1966-67.

By Quil Lawrence

Originally published on Tue May 28, 2013 8:18 pm

Listen

When he was in Vietnam, Isaac Oxereok's small build made him ideal for tunnel-ratting: running with a pistol and a flashlight into underground passages built by the Viet Cong. In 1967 he finished his tour with the Army and returned home to Wales, Alaska. Oxereok knew he wasn't quite right, but there wasn't anyone around to tell him how to get help.

"Post-traumatic syndrome?" he said. "I went through that I guess, mostly on my own. Some wounds never really show. So inside was kind of messed up."

3:43 am

Tue May 28, 2013

Navajo Schools Lose Funding Due To Sequestration Cuts

Credit Laurel Morales / KJZZ

An elementary school student enjoys Field Day on a playground. Harold Begay, superintendent of the Tuba City Unified School District in Arizona, says the repairs that are needed to playground equipment, school buildings and buses would not be allowed anywhere else.

By editor

Originally published on Tue May 28, 2013 11:29 am

Listen

When Congress enacted the across-the board budget cuts known as the sequester in March, they cut $60 million for American Indian schools across the country.

Since people living on reservations don't pay state property taxes, the schools heavily depend on federal aid. For the Navajo Nation that means larger class sizes, fewer school buses and putting off building repairs.

A Bumpy Ride

Navajo children travel up to 70 miles to get to school. Many of them ride small school buses over roads that look like off-road trails for weekend warriors.

3:39 am

Tue May 28, 2013

Plans For Smithsonian Museum 'Bubble' May Have Burst

Credit Roger L. Wollenberg / UPI/Landov

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden proposed adding a giant, inflatable structure that would balloon out of its top and side.

By Elizabeth Blair

Originally published on Tue May 28, 2013 10:04 am

Listen

Call it the Smithsonian's bubble problem. One of the Smithsonian museums — the Hirshhorn museum for contemporary art — came up with an ambitious new design to add more space: Why not build a giant, inflatable structure that would be big enough for people to walk around in?

But some of the Smithsonian's trustees in Washington, D.C., haven't been blown away by the bubble.

12:52 am

Tue May 28, 2013

In Damascus, A View Of Syria's War Turned Inside Out

Next image Previous image

Credit Steve Inskeep / NPR

The Ummayyid Mosque in Damascus has been a mosque for around 1,400 years. It sits in the center of a city where many people are struggling to live normal lives amid war.

Credit Steve Inskeep / NPR

A child plays in a dusty courtyard of half-finished apartment buildings, now housing refugees, in a suburb of Damascus. The complex is deemed safe because artillery has landed across the street but not yet here.

By Steve Inskeep

Originally published on Tue May 28, 2013 9:41 am

Listen

Many years ago, the president of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, approved the construction of a new presidential residence on a mountainside above Damascus.

Assad never occupied the building, saying his successor should take it. When his son Bashar Assad became that successor, he didn't move into the house, either. He preferred a residence down the slope.

News From NPR		RSS
All Content	closeNews podcasts Use iTunes Use a different player	RSS
View all podcasts & RSS feeds

Now Playing

Podcasts & RSS Feeds

News From NPR

Pages

Shots - Health News

3:45 am

Tue May 28, 2013