Gustafson and 150 of her peers were the beneficiaries of the new, year-long Know Noise Peer Education Program. Developed by the Sight & Hearing Association, the program brought together 35 Health Academy students from Blaine High School to teach five third-grade classrooms at McKinley Elementary in Ham Lake about hearing conservation.

The program, which debuted during the 1998-99 school year, introduces high-school students as role models for the younger children. At the same time, both age groups learn about a serious health and social concern: noise-induced hearing loss.

A study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that nearly 15 percent of young people 6- to 19-years-old showed signs of hearing loss.

"This is a troubling statistic," said Julee Sylvester, spokesperson for SHA. "Yet most people remain totally unaware of the potential damage that is occurring to the delicate organs attached to the sides of their heads."

In 1990, the National Institutes of Health recommended that hearing education programs be taught at a younger age, starting with school-age children. As a result, in 1993, SHA developed Know Noise®, a curriculum targeted at third- to sixth-graders. The Peer Education Program is a natural extension of Know Noise.

"In using high-school students to teach the classes," Sylvester explained, "we hope the message sinks in at an age when they are most susceptible to hearing damage ‹ going to rock concerts and driving "boom cars." A preacher can¹t preach on a topic he or she knows nothing about. So too, we hope the high schoolers will practice what they teach."

According to Health Academy student Tiffany Bachmeier, it was an experience she truly learned from.

"This program is a great idea," she said. "I never knew that it took only seven minutes to damage your hearing at a concert. I wish we had this when I was younger."

During November, February and April, the Health Academy students ‹ juniors and seniors interested in health careers after high school ‹ taught the elementary kids fun lessons on how the ear works, the importance of good hearing and how to protect hearing from noise. For example, the young protégés became human parts of the ear to understand how sound travels, played telephone to understand the difference between listening versus hearing, and created "fashion" ear plugs to learn that it¹s cool to protect their hearing. And, they learned it all from teen-agers they look up to.

"The high school kids have a lot of credibility with our third-graders because they can relate to them," explained Bonnie Johnson, principal at McKinley Elementary. "This is such an effective way of presenting the information."

After logging almost 10,000 hours with the preschool program, Ritzer and her teammate Pat Rossini, a 10-year veteran screener, have decided to retire.

Day in and day out, this team has hauled equipment, comforted children and traveled to most of the day cares, nursery schools, Head Starts, and even churches in the east metro area, all to perform vision and hearing tests.

"We tell the kids that we are grandmas here to play some games," said Ritzer. "That helps them feel more comfortable."

So what¹s made them stick around so long?

"I love children and love seeing them get the help they need," Ritzer explained. "It means a lot to me to find a child with 20/200 vision and to have it get corrected."

Over the years, many children have been helped because of Ritzer and Rossini¹s skill at finding potential problems. One child Ritzer remembers was a doctor¹s son who had 20/200 vision and needed glasses. The parents had no idea anything was wrong.

"You'd think doing the same thing day after day would be boring," Rossini said. "But the kids always made our day by the funny things they¹d say. There have been days we just fell over laughing."

For instance, they both recalled the child who told them he knew they were grandmas because of the "stripes" (wrinkles) on their faces.

"We often said we should be writing a book," Ritzer joked.

Ritzer is extremely conscious about children¹s vision because of her own experience as a child. When she was 5, she poked a scissors in her right eye and had to undergo surgery. Forced to wear patches on both eyes to prevent infection, she has had poor vision in that eye ever since.

Besides screening, Ritzer and Rossini share a common bond as friends, mothers and grandmothers. Ritzer, a mother of six and grandmother of 10, has been married for 36 years. Rossini, who also has been married 36 years, has four grown children and seven grandchildren.

To educate the public about the dangers of noise to hearing and health, the Sight & Hearing Association and other hearing-related organizations worldwide participated in International Noise Awareness Day on April 21. SHA coordinated free hearing screenings in Minnesota with audiologists and otolaryngologists in the Twin Cities, Duluth, St. Cloud, Rochester and Thief River Falls. We would like to thank the following clinics for opening their doors to the public for free hearing screenings on International Noise Awareness Day:

• Allied Hearing Services in Crystal, Edina, Minnetonka and St. Louis Park
• Associated Hearing in St. Paul
• Audiology Associates Hearing Care in Roseville
• Ear, Nose & Throat Specialty Care in Coon Rapids
• East Central Audiology in Forest Lake
• Fairview Lake Regional Medical Center in Wyoming
• Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery in Woodbury
• Audiology and Better Hearing Care in Rochester
• Hearing Associates in Duluth
• Northwest Medical Center in Thief River Falls
• St. Cloud State University Department of Communication Disorders in St. Cloud

The Sight & Hearing Association voluntarily underwent an intensive review process by the CRC last winter. The Council evaluates approximately 300 charities each year by accountability standards regarding the purpose, programs, governance, financial activity and fund-raising of the organization. For example, one standard ensures that at least 70 percent of the organization¹s annual expenses are for program activity and not more than 30 percent for management and fund-raising.