A Filipina-Canadian is raising money for people who cannot afford hearing aids by selling hearing aid cuffs inspired by the culture of the Philippines.
Ruzzelle Gasmen, a speech pathoiogist in Vancouver, suffers from hearing loss and knows the struggles being faced by those who cannot afford hearing aids.
"It can be very isolating," she said in an interview with CBC News.
"I hear words, but sometimes they don't make sense because some of the sounds are missing."
Gasmen said she went nearly six years without hearing aids as these are quite costly and are not covered under the province's Medical Services Plan (MSP).
She then decided to make an ear cuff with designs inspired by Filipino heritage. It later became one of her line’s most popular designs.
One of Gasmen's designs was inspired by the ear cuff worn by Catriona Gray during the Miss Universe pagent in 2018.
"I really wanted it but I knew it wouldn't work well with the hearing aid, because the metal would clink and it would impact my hearing," she told CBC.
"So I just decided to make one for myself, for my hearing aid," Gasmen added.
She also made ear cuffs inspired by a wing of an "aswang," a shape-shifting evil creature popular in Filipino folklore.
For Gasmen, making these hearing aids was just her simple way to give back and help others who are in the same situation.
"It's very therapeutic for me," she said. "It allows me to embrace my heritage and culture in a way that I never really did before growing up."