Jun 04, 2025
Joe Jensen spent more than 40 years in the coal mining industry, including 28 years in Price, Utah. For most of his career, Joe worked the phones, a job that was no easy task. He needed to warn miners of belts and pumps starting or stopping, and other dangers that might be headed their way, like rising carbon monoxide or methane levels. Joe’s expert listening skills helped him conduct life-saving calls and relay information to evacuate miners who were sometimes 12 miles deep at work.
Over time, Joe’s listening skills hit a major roadblock. He started having trouble hearing in his left ear, which made it difficult for him to effectively transfer information while he worked on the phone. As his hearing worsened, Joe found out that he had a tumor in his left ear that had burst. Along with his regular hearing loss from working in the mining industry, Joe faced major difficulties at home and on the job.
Joe decided to get his hearing checked and see a clinician, but he couldn’t find a specialist in Price. Instead, he spent a full day traveling to and from Salt Lake City for an appointment. Thankfully, he was able to get hearing aids to help with his daily life, but he had to continue to take time off work and travel extensively for follow-up appointments.
Fortunately, one of his neighbors told Joe about the Tele-Audiology Clinic for Rural Miners, part of the University of Utah College of Health’s Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic. The clinic provides free, high-quality hearing aid follow-up care to rural miners in Price, with plans to soon offer comprehensive testing, hearing aid fitting, troubleshooting, and counseling. Like Joe, 61% of miners face noise induced hearing loss, so the clinic serves an essential need in the area.
Thanks to the Tele-Audiology Clinic, Joe can hear again and get back to fully living. After he retired from mining, Joe decided to drive a school bus for local schools, and now farms livestock. With his sense of hearing restored and his audiology care much more accessible, Joe can take on the challenges of continued employment.
“I think if I hadn’t had my hearing aids when I switched careers to drive the school bus, I wouldn’t have been able to do it,” he said.
Your support can help us continue to provide these essential services to miners like Joe. By donating to the Tele-Audiology Clinic for Rural Miners, you are ensuring that more hard-working individuals can receive the care they need without the burden of long travel times and expenses. Every contribution makes a significant difference in the lives of Utah’s miners and their families.