Mercy opens satellite Hearing Center in Agawam

Date: 9/21/2011

Sept. 21, 2011

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Editor

AGAWAM — Facility tours, free hearing screenings, speeches and a blessing were all part of the Sept. 14 grand opening celebration at the new Agawam location of the Mercy Hearing Center.

This first-ever off-campus hearing services outpost, located at 200 Silver St. in the recently completed Agawam Crossing office building, is, according to the welcoming remarks of Mark Fulco, senior vice president of strategy and marketing for the Sisters of Providence Health System, “A manifestation of our mission to bring hope and healing out into the community.”

Daniel P. Moen, president and CEO of the Sisters of Providence Health System, emphasized how important the work of the center’s staff of licensed audiologists — most of whom have been with Mercy’s Springfield-based Hearing Center for many years — is to the quality of life of their patients.

“Hearing loss is so isolating,” Moen said. “The staff here gives patients their lives back.”

He called the center “A great addition to the array of services we offer throughout Western Massachusetts” and “the type of outreach that is absolutely critical” to both patients and the community at large.

Yvonne Boudreau, senior vice president of mission for the Sisters of Providence, who blessed the facility in the tradition of the Sisters of Providence’s religious order, said she hoped “the community will take advantage of this center,” which is close to many communities on the west side of the Connecticut River.

During a tour of the facility Lois Osetek, Mercy Hearing Center manager, told Reminder Publications the new Agawam location was chosen and developed in direct response to patient requests.

“When people have hearing aids, they have to come back [to the center] more than one time,” Osetek said. “The drive into [the Weldon Hearing Center in Springfield] for people on this side of the river was sometimes too difficult.”

She said the new center, which began seeing patients on a limited basis on Aug. 4, is already serving individuals from West Springfield, Agawam, Holyoke, Westfield, Southwick, and the Connecticut towns of Suffield, Enfield and Granby.

Osetek added she felt the center’s staff, which includes audiologists Marilyn Perreault, Christina Lee and Nancy Orcuilo and Doctoral Resident Sarah Moore, was a big reason patients started seeking diagnosis and treatment at the Agawam location as soon as it opened.

“This is the best staff in Western Massachusetts,” Osetek said. “We have many patients who would not see anyone else.”

Prior to the official ribbon cutting, Mayor Richard Cohen thanked the Sisters of Providence for choosing Agawam as the location for their newest hearing center.

“We are so honored to have this center to provide services to the residents of Agawam and greater Springfield,” Cohen said.

For more information about the services available at the new Mercy Hearing Center in Agawam, call 827-4200.

Debbie Gardner can be reached by e-mail at debbieg@thereminder.com