New York, NY, May 13, 2021 —Do you miss hanging out with your friends? Want to see live sports or concerts? Done with Zoom? Then roll up your sleeves and get vaccinated, encourages top NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Westreich.
He has joined the movement to help spread the truth about the efficacy and safety of the COVD-19 vaccines and to dispel misconceptions swirling on social media.
“If you’ve held off on getting a COVID-19 vaccine because you think it was created too quickly, this is definitely not the case,” Dr. Westreich says. “The vaccines have been more than three decades in the making. They were pulled off the shelf and used and began being developed for SARS-COVID-1 in 2003. This outbreak stopped and there was no need to continue. It was pulled off the shelf again in 2012 for the MERS outbreak; this was a very limited outbreak. Misinformation should not be a reason to not get vaccinated.”
He and his dedicated team have created fun and informative videos featuring familiar tunes with re-tooled lyrics to encourage more Americans to “crush COVID” by getting their vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that 30 percent of the entire U.S. population is fully vaccinated and that more than 43 percent have received at least one dose. But medical experts agree that herd immunity is still a distant dream if more people can’t be persuaded to get the vaccine.
“Based on what we know, getting a COVID-19 vaccine also helps keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19 and will protect those around you,” Dr. Westreich adds. “My staff and I created these videos as a fun way to not only shed light on a serious situation, but also to spread very important awareness about the importance of getting the vaccine and to save lives.”
Dr. Richard Westreich graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Biological Basis of Behavior, Neuroscience concentration in 1995 from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his medical school training at the New York University School of Medicine in 1999 with an M.D. and Honors in Cell Biology Research. Dr. Westreich then did his post-graduate training in Facial Plastic Surgery and Otolaryngology at the prestigious Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City.
He has been selected multiple times by Castle Connolly and New York magazine as one of the top doctors in facial plastic surgery. He is an assistant professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and is on staff at Lenox Hill and Mount Sinai Hospitals. He is a faculty member and teacher at a fellowship in Facial Plastic Surgery at Mount Sinai. His private practice is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where he specializes in rhinoplasty, septoplasty, secondary and reconstructive rhinoplasty, facelifts, eyelid surgery and nonsurgical procedures.
WWC Conference to be largest virtual event for women in the cannabis and psychedelic industries
Toronto, ON, May 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Award-winning cannabis and marketing firm, Marigold PR, has announced the eagerly anticipated Womxn, Wellness and Cannabis Conference (WWC Conference) is poised to be the biggest ever. Taking place May 26 – 27, in celebration of the feminine cannabis and psychedelic experience, the largest free event of its kind unites women globally for two days of female-led panel discussions, Q&As and keynotes.
Hosted in association with Platinum Partner Lift & Co. Expo, North America’s largest cannabis industry conference and tradeshow, day one will be committed to cannabis programming with psychedelics slated for day two. “Lift & Co. Expo is honored to partner with WWC Conference to support women led organizations,” says Lacey Houston, Manager of Sales at Lift & Co. Expo. “This is going to be an impactful event and Lift & Co. Expo is excited to see the women leading the Cannabis and Psychedelics community come together to shape the future of the industry.”
With over 80 speakers representing four continents, WWC Conference provides an educational platform to learn from, and network with, international thought leaders in cannabis and psychedelics. As cannabis markets emerge globally and the buzz builds around psychedelics, creating inclusive spaces for women to connect and collaborate is essential.
For industry professionals, and those looking to break into the blossoming cannabis and psychedelics space, this year’s WWC Conference features a series of ticketed networking events. These provide exclusive opportunities to forge commercial relationships with business leaders, experts and influencers from across the burgeoning markets.
Cannasupplies’ Executive Director, Hilary Lieberman, says, “Creating a stage for thought provoking discussions that promote inclusion is vital to normalize cannabis consumption. Faced by ongoing travel restrictions, occasions that empower like minded professionals from across the world to build strategic alliances are of paramount importance. As the industry landscape continues to evolve, Cannasupplies is proud to support groundbreaking events that champion diversity and shape the sector’s future.”
Southlake Regional Health Centre Expanding Use of Novari Technology
KINGSTON, ON, May 13, 2021 /CNW/ - Novari Health has announced that Southlake Regional Health Centre (SRHC) is expanding its use of Novari Health access to care technologies. The Novari eRequest® referral management technology will be leveraged by the Diagnostic Assessment Program (DAP) of the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre.
Southlake Regional Health Centre has been a long-term client of Novari.
The Stronach Regional Cancer Centre (SRCC) at Southlake represents the regionally designated program for the Central Region Cancer Program. The Southlake Diagnostic Assessment Unit is one of many regional diagnostic assessment programs across Ontario managing referrals and providing diagnostic assessments for cancer patients.
The Novari eRequest system is a three-in-one technology that enables referral workflow management, central intake and wait list management. The system is highly configurable and can be easily adapted for any type of healthcare service (e.g., diabetes, mental health & addictions, orthopedics, cancer, etc.). The technology features customizable workflows and robust integration capabilities to other hospital IT systems. Novari eRequest is scalable and has been deployed at individual hospitals, across health regions and provincially.
The Ontario Ministry of Health, Ontario Health and hospitals across the province have been working to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients. Central intake models, enabled with modern referral workflow management and wait list management technology, are an effective way to get the right patient to the right provider at the right time and with the right data. Across Canada and beyond, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and accelerated the need for new models of care and new technologies like Novari, that improve access to care.
Novari Health's innovative and unique access to care technologies are live and being implemented at dozens of hospitals and regional health authorities across five Canadian provinces.
"Novari has implemented our access to care technologies for many different healthcare services. All of which I am proud of. However, like so many families, mine has been impacted by cancer. Novari's work to help improve access for cancer patients is rewarding and emotional."- John Sinclair, CPHIMS-CAPresident Novari Health
About Novari Health Novari Health designs, builds, and implements award-winning enterprise scale SaaS solutions that improve access to care, coordination of care, and the delivery of healthcare services. Based in Kingston Ontario and with offices in Vancouver, Australia, and New Zealand, Novari has become one of the largest Canadian based digital health solution providers. ISO 27001 certified, Novari Health is a Microsoft Gold Partner, with software solutions hosted on Microsoft Azure Canadian and Australian cloud data centres. For more information visit www.novarihealth.com.
SOURCE Novari Health Inc.
16 People, Impacted by Depression, Contribute Their Unforgettable Journeys to Encourage Dialogue
Bayview, Idaho, May 14, 2021 — The voice on the other end of the phone was familiar but shaky. It was Sarah’s friend Carolyn, and she was grappling with suicidal ideation.
“Something had her in its grip and would not let go,” Sarah Zabel explains. “I kept wondering, what’s doing this? How does a normal, happy person come to feel life is so bad that she must kill herself?”
Sarah shares Carolyn’s unforgettable story, along with the emotional journeys of 15 others, in Fighting Chance: How Unexpected Observations and Unintended Outcomes Shape the Science and Treatment of Depression. Included are interviews with more than 20 experts in the fields of neuroscience and psychiatry, plus current research, to give readers a 360-degree look inside the world of mental illness.
Described by Sarah as a “science book for non-scientists,” Fighting Chance tackles key questions that have guided scientific research for decades and delves into the discoveries that have formed the medical world’s understanding of the disorder. Peppered throughout are more than 20 illustrations that help explain the science involved — making it widely accessible.
Sarah adeptly explores topics ranging from the neurobiology of depression to antidepressant medications; stress and inflammation; genetics; suicide; traditional and alternative therapies and treatments; and even gives a nod to Big Data’s efforts to clarify depression’s causes and cures.
Ultimately, Fighting Chance is a tale of human endeavor and ingenuity, of downright weird experiments and serendipitous discoveries, and of people who valiantly battle for answers for themselves and for people they will never know.
Author Sarah Zabel graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree in computer science in 1987 and was commissioned a second lieutenant. She retired from the Air Force in 2018 as a major general and decided to turn her focus to her life-long love of learning and become a science writer. She set herself the task of first coming to understand, and then to explain for other lay-persons, the science behind some of life’s most complex but important human experiences. Inspired, intrigued and frustrated by an enduring friend’s battle with depression, she set that topic as her first task. Sarah does occasional consulting and other activities associated with her time as one of the military’s leaders in cyberspace operations and security, in the provision of communications and other services to a community, and leadership of a diverse workforce.
Bio-inspired scaffolds help promote muscle growth Rice University bioengineers adapt extracellular matrix for electrospinning
HOUSTON – (May 14, 2021) – Rice University bioengineers are fabricating and testing tunable electrospun scaffolds completely derived from decellularized skeletal muscle to promote the regeneration of injured skeletal muscle.
Their paper in Science Advances shows how natural extracellular matrix can be made to mimic native skeletal muscle and direct the alignment, growth and differentiation of myotubes, one of the building blocks of skeletal muscle. The bioactive scaffolds are made in the lab via electrospinning, a high-throughput process that can produce single micron-scale fibers.
The research could ease the burden of performing an estimated 4.5 million reconstructive surgeries per year to repair injuries suffered by civilians and military personnel.
Current methods of electrospinning decellularized muscle require a copolymer to aid in scaffold fabrication. The Rice process does not.
“The major innovation is the ability to prepare scaffolds that are 100% extracellular matrix,” said bioengineer and principal investigator Antonios Mikos of Rice’s Brown School of Engineering. “That's very important because the matrix includes all the signaling motifs that are important for the formation of the particular tissue.”
The scaffolds leverage bioactive cues from decellularized muscle with the tunable material properties afforded through electrospinning to create a material rich with biochemical signals and highly specific topography. The material is designed to degrade as it is replaced by new muscle within the body.
Experiments revealed that cells proliferate best when the scaffolds are not saturated with a crosslinking agent, allowing them access to the biochemical cues within the scaffold matrix.
Electrospinning allowed the researchers to modulate crosslink density. They found that intermediate crosslinking led to better retention of fiber alignment during cell culture.
Most decellularized matrix for muscle regeneration comes from such thin membranes as skin or small intestine tissue. “But for muscle, because it’s thick and more complex, you have to cut it smaller than clinically relevant sizes and the original material properties are lost,” said Rice graduate student and lead author Mollie Smoak. “It doesn’t resemble the original material by the time you’re done.
“In our case, electrospinning was the key to make this material very tunable and have it resemble what it once was,” she said.
“It can generate fibers that are highly aligned, very similar to the architecture that one finds in skeletal muscle, and with all the biochemical cues needed to facilitate the creation of viable muscle tissue,” Mikos said.
Mikos said using natural materials rather than synthetic is important for another reason. “The presence of a synthetic material, and especially the degradation products, may have an adverse effect on the quality of tissue that is eventually formed,” he said.
“For eventual clinical application, we may use a skeletal muscle or matrix from an appropriate source because we're able to very efficiently remove the DNA that may elicit an immune response,” Mikos said. “We believe that may make it suitable to translate the technology for humans.”
Smoak said the electrospinning process can produce muscle scaffolds in any size, limited only by the machinery.
“We’re fortunate to collaborate with a number of surgeons, and they see promise in this material being used for craniofacial muscle applications in addition to sports- or trauma-induced injuries to large muscles,” she said. “These would include the animation muscles in your face that are very fine and have very precise architectures and allow for things like facial expressions and chewing.”
Co-authors of the paper are Rice graduate student Katie Hogan and Jane Grande-Allen, the Isabel C. Cameron Professor of Bioengineering. Mikos is the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation supported the research.
Aligned myotubes formed on electrospun extracellular matrix scaffolds produced at Rice University. The staining with fluorescent tags shows cells’ expression of myogenic marker desmin (green), actin (red) and nuclei (blue) after seven days of growth. (Credit: Mikos Research Group/Rice University)
Aligned fibers produced via electrospinning can be used to form a tunable scaffold for growing new muscle, according to Rice University bioengineers. These fibers were fabricated with decellularized skeletal muscle extracellular matrix on a mandrel spinning at 3,000 rotations per minute. (Credit: Mikos Research Group/Rice University)
Samples of electrospun decellularized skeletal muscle extracellular matrix created by Rice University bioengineers. Such scaffolds can be used to regenerate injured muscles. The natural scaffold material degrades as new muscles take over. (Credit: Mikos Research Group/Rice University)
A sample of decellularized extracellular matrix created by Rice University bioengineers. The electrospun scaffolds can be used to regenerate injured muscles. The natural scaffold material degrades as new muscles take over. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Rice University graduate students Katie Hogan, left, and Mollie Smoak prepare to fabricate a scaffold with an electrospinner. The scaffolds derived from decellularized skeletal muscle are designed to promote regeneration of injured skeletal muscle. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
IntelGenx Announces Initial Closing of atai Investment
SAINT LAURENT, Quebec, May 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IntelGenx Technologies Corp. (TSX-V:IGX) (OTCQB:IGXT) (“IntelGenx”), a leader in pharmaceutical films, today reported that the previously announced US$12,346,300 investment in IntelGenx by ATAI Life Sciences AG (“atai”) has been completed. As a result of the investment, atai now holds approximately 25% of the issued and outstanding common stock of IntelGenx.
"We would again like to thank our shareholders for their support of our transformative strategic partnership with atai,” said Dr. Horst G. Zerbe, CEO of IntelGenx. “In addition to positioning IntelGenx as a leader within the novel therapeutics field of psychedelics, atai’s investment provides us with the requisite financial resources to continue to advance our portfolio of other pharmaceutical film product candidates towards commercialization.”
“We are pleased to have achieved our goal of progressing from collaborators to partners with IntelGenx via this transaction, and we are excited to make IntelGenx’s innovative film technology an integral part of our platform,” said Florian Brand, CEO of atai.”
About IntelGenx
IntelGenx is a leading drug delivery company focused on the development and manufacturing of pharmaceutical films.
IntelGenx’s superior film technologies, including VersaFilm® , DisinteQ™, VetaFilm™ and transdermal VevaDerm™, allow for next generation pharmaceutical products that address unmet medical needs. IntelGenx’s innovative product pipeline offers significant benefits to patients and physicians for many therapeutic conditions.
IntelGenx's highly skilled team provides comprehensive pharmaceuticals services to pharmaceutical partners, including R&D, analytical method development, clinical monitoring, IP and regulatory services. IntelGenx's state-of-the-art manufacturing facility offers full service by providing lab-scale to pilot- and commercial-scale production. For more information, visit www.intelgenx.com.
About atai
atai is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company founded in 2018 in response to the significant unmet need and lack of innovation in the mental health treatment landscape. atai is dedicated to acquiring, incubating and efficiently developing innovative therapeutics to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and other mental health disorders. atai's business model combines funding, technology, scientific and regulatory expertise with a focus on psychedelic compounds and other drugs with differentiated safety profiles and therapeutic potential. atai operates a decentralized model to enable scalable drug or technological development across its companies, seeking to effectively treat and ultimately heal mental health disorders. atai's vision is to bridge the gap between what the mental healthcare system currently provides and what patients need. atai is headquartered in Berlin, with offices in New York, and London. For more information, please visit www.atai.life.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document may contain forward-looking information which involves substantial risks and uncertainties. Statements that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act. Forward-looking information or forward-looking statements by their nature are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation at the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Words such as “expects”, “continue”, “will”, “anticipates” and “intends” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Because these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, the Corporation’s actual results, objectives and plans could differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some of the important risks and uncertainties that could affect forward-looking statements are discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Corporation’s annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov, and also filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date the statements are made, and the Corporation assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements except as required by law. Moreover, all forward-looking information contained herein is subject to certain assumptions. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Each of the TSX Venture Exchange and OTCQB has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.
Source: IntelGenx Technologies Corp.
LifeLabs Recognized on Forbes Canada’s Best Employers 2021 List
Toronto, ON, May 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LifeLabs is proud to announce that it has been recognized on the Forbes list of Canada’s Best Employers 2021. This prestigious award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.
“LifeLabs is honoured to be included in Forbes’ list of Canada’s Best Employers for 2021,” says Charles Brown, President & CEO of LifeLabs. “At LifeLabs, we are committed to building a culture where our people can succeed and feel valued for what they do. This award is a true reflection of the progress we have made on our transformation journey and is a powerful motivator that will help us continue in these efforts.”
“At LifeLabs, our people are at the heart of everything we do,” says Nicole Desloges, LifeLabs’ Senior Vice President, People. “This award is an achievement that celebrates and reflects the collective contributions of our employees.”
Forbes and Statista selected the Canada's Best Employers 2021 through an independent survey of a vast sample of more than 8,000 Canadians working for companies with more than 500 employees in Canada. The evaluation was based on direct and indirect recommendations from employees that were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employers to friends and family. Employee evaluations also included other employers in their respective industries that stood out either positively or negatively.
About LifeLabs
LifeLabs is Canada’s leading provider of laboratory diagnostic information and digital health connectivity systems, enabling patients and health care practitioners to diagnose, treat, monitor, and prevent disease. We support 20 million patient visits annually and conduct over 100 million laboratory tests through leading edge technologies and our 6,000 talented and dedicated employees. We are a committed innovator in supporting Canadians to live healthier lives, operating Canada’s first commercial genetics lab, and the country’s largest online patient portal, with more than 5 million Canadians receiving their results online. LifeLabs is 100% Canadian owned by OMERS Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment manager of one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans. Learn more at lifelabs.com
Rice engineers set sights on implantable 'living pharmacy' Five Rice labs join DARPA-funded effort to make an implant to counter jet lag
HOUSTON – (May 13, 2021) – Five Rice University engineering laboratories are part of a $33 million national effort to develop a wireless, fully implantable device that can control the body’s circadian clock, halving the time it takes to recover from jet lag and similar disruptions to the body's sleep/wake cycles.
Led by Northwestern University and funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project will blend bioelectronics, synthetic biology and traditional electronics to create a "living pharmacy" that produces the same peptide molecules the body naturally makes to regulate sleep cycles. The device could be a powerful tool for military personnel, who frequently travel across multiple time zones, as well as first responders and other shift workers who oscillate between overnight and daytime shifts.
Faculty in Rice's Brown School of Engineeringwill lead the development of key components of the proposed technology. Omid Veiseh, assistant professor of bioengineering, will oversee the creation of engineered cells that produce the therapeutic biomolecules, and Jacob Robinson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, will oversee the development of the wireless bioelectronic implant that houses the engineered cells and regulates drug production.
"Sleep control is something we can track while we develop this implant, but the real innovation here is being able to produce drugs inside the patient," Veiseh said.
The NTRAIN team will engineer cells to produce peptides to regulate sleep cycles. The engineered cells will respond to light, which will be delivered via bioelectronic controls that adjust timing and dose. Veiseh, who's leading the effort, said pharmaceutical companies often make drugs using industrial scale bioengineering.
"If we can bring all of that manufacturing right into the patient and produce high-quality compounds on an as-needed basis, the possibilities are infinite," Veiseh said. For a start, the technology could be used to manage diabetes and other chronic diseases where people regularly inject themselves with drugs.
The implant's power and communications will be delivered by a weak magnetic field generated by a wearable device. In a pioneering demonstration in 2020, Robinson and colleagues showed "magnetoelectric" technology could provide both power and communications for neural stimulators no larger than a grain of rice.
Robinson said the technology will provide plenty of power while enhancing device security.
"We'll design the device so it can only communicate in the near field, meaning only over a couple of centimeters," he said. "So you'd essentially have to be in contact with the device in order to hack it."
Veiseh and Robinson said an additional safety feature will allow a user to deactivate the device permanently by sending a signal for the engineered cells to immediately kill themselves.
The first phase of the highly interdisciplinary program will focus on developing the implant. The second phase, contingent on the first, will validate the device. If that milestone is met, then researchers will test the device in human trials as part of the third phase. The full funding corresponds to $33 million over 4 1/2 years.
Rice electrical engineer Kaiyuan Yang will design an application-specific integrated circuit to handle back-end functions and integrate with the bioelectronic controls. Rice bioengineer Isaac Hilton will optimize the cells' drug-making abilities, and Rice neuroengineer Caleb Kemere will test implants in rodents in the leadup to human trials.
Circadian clock research will be led by sleep experts at Northwestern's Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology. Engineers from Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon University and Blackrock Microsystems will also develop bioelectronic components.
"This control system allows us to deliver a peptide of interest on demand, directly into the bloodstream," said NTRAIN principal investigator Jonathan Rivnay, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering. "No need to carry drugs, no need to inject therapeutics and — depending on how long we can make the device last — no need to refill the device. It's like an implantable pharmacy on a chip that never runs out."
Robinson and Kemere are each associate professors of electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering. Yang is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Hilton is an assistant professor of bioengineering and of biosciences. Veiseh, Robinson, Kemere and Yang are members of the Rice Neuroengineering Initiative, and Veiseh and Hilton are CPRIT Scholars of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
Other members of the NTRAIN team are Fred Turek, Martha Hotz Vitaterna, Josiah Hester, Guillermo Ameer, Peng Jiang and Phyllis Zee, all of Northwestern; Doug Weber, Tzahi Cohen-Karni, Darcy Griffin, Carl Olson and Matt Smith, all of Carnegie Mellon; Karrie Fitzpatrick of the University of Minnesota; Florian Solzbacher of the University of Utah; and Rob Franklin of Blackrock Microsystems.
A New Way to Take Charge of Your Hearing Health: World of Hearing Opening May 13th
VICTORIA, BC, May 13, 2021 /CNW/ - Three-quarters of Canadians with hearing loss do not realize it.* That is one reason Connect Hearing is bringing a whole new way to help people look after their hearing health to North Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.
Connect Hearing, the #1 physician-referred hearing healthcare provider in Canada, is excited to announce the opening of World of Hearing—North America's first hearing health store on May 13th at 1331 Lonsdale, North Vancouver (connecthearing.ca/woh).
World of Hearing is an innovative, modernized concept in hearing health. It empowers people to take control of their hearing health, at their own pace, with direct access to more transparent hearing information, new immersive learning tools, and support from hearing care professionals.
Some examples of the innovations clients can expect at World of Hearing include:
A Self-Screening Room—where clients can do an independent hearing test and receive immediate results.
An Impress Wall—displaying an overview of the products and services offered.
Interactive Tables—including built-in touch screens that showcase products and services and encourage clients to engage with staff to learn more.
The Experience Room—allowing clients to interactively experience how a hearing solution could help them by presenting real-life situations via large-screen video with 5.1 surround sound.
The ultimate in convenience—no referral or appointment is necessary. Visitors can drop in when it works for them.
Complete portfolio of hearing care all in one place, including hearing protection, hearing technology, testing, accessories, access to the world's most advanced hearing aids, tinnitus therapy, balance treatment and more.
World of Hearing builds on the global hearing health store concept introduced by Sonova, the world's leading provider of innovative hearing care solutions. "Allowing today's clients to customize their experience helps reduce barriers to addressing hearing loss," shares Lilika Beck, Managing Director, Connect Hearing Canada. "This new flagship store will empower clients on their journey of discovery and provide support with all their hearing health needs. Through the innovative Experience Room family members can also participate in a simulation of hearing loss to understand the impact it has on their loved ones – an incredibly powerful way to drive awareness within their support network."
About Connect Hearing Connect Hearing, the #1 physician-referred hearing healthcare provider, is one of the largest network of registered Audiologists and professional Hearing Instrument Practitioners in Canada with over 140 locations. Over the past 40 years, in communities across the country, it has helped more than 350,000 people stay connected to the sounds they enjoy most.
About Sonova Group Since 2008 Connect Hearing Canada has been a part of the Sonova Group. Sonova, headquartered in Stäfa, Switzerland, is the leading provider of innovative hearing care solutions. The group operates through its core business brands Phonak, Unitron, Hansaton, Advanced Bionics and AudioNova. Sonova offers its customers one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry—from hearing instruments to cochlear implants to wireless communication solutions. Founded in 1947, the group is currently present in over 100 countries across the globe and has a workforce of over 14,000 dedicated employees.
