Donald Hood
Doctor Donald Hood (born circa 1945) is a retired American-Canadian audiologist currently living in Halifax.
Early life
Dr Hood was born and raised in America and attended Northwestern University.
Career
Dr Hood was an audiologist by profession, one of a wave of foreign-trained professionals who filled the ranks of Canadian hospitals during the 20 years between when the profession was founded in the 1960s and when Canadian universities finally started graduating nationally-educated professionals. [6]
He initially worked for the government health care system in Ontario, starting in 1970. He worked at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He was Head of the Division of Audiology in 1973.
He left this position in August, 1978, around the same time that his 1977-1978 term as President of The Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA) expired.
In 1978 he incorporated Thunder Bay Audiology Limited, which was branded as Thunder Bay Audiology, and located in Suite 200, above King's Stereo in Fort William, at 135 Syndicate Avenue North, with phone number +1 807 623 0322.
Corporate information [1]
- THUNDER BAY AUDIOLOGY LIMITED
- Company Number 376375
- Status Inactive
- Incorporation Date 9 March 1978
- Dissolution Date 1 April 2007
- Company Type: Ontario Business Corporation
- Jurisdiction: Ontario (Canada)
- Registered Address: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
From at least February 2001 to February 2005, the business had the following key staff:
- Audiologists: Dr. Donald Hood and Daniela Kralovec
- Hearing Instrument Practitioner: Silvia Martin
- Hearing Aid Repair Technician: Pirkko Turmaine
- Webmaster: Leslie Publicover
- Manager / Office Manager / "Second-In-Command": Cathy Hunt
The building Dr. Hood rented his office from the Twin City Gas Building, was popularly known as the King's Stereo Building after Howard King's famous stereo store. The building stood from the 1950s until 24 May 2010, when it was demolished. [2]
Dr Hood sold Thunder Bay Audiology Limited in 2005, likely to "Connect Hearing", an American franchise of Audiology Clinics founded in 1979. The domain `hearwellnow.com` was Thunder Bay Audiology's website from 2001 until about 2006, when it redirected to `www.connecthearing.ca`, which is likely the buyer of Dr. Hood's practice. This appears to have placed Dr. Hood's practice in the vanguard at both the beginning and end of his career:
- From 1970-1978 he worked at a large government-run hospital, which was normal for employed audiologists (similar to surgeons) and
- In 1978, he quit and pioneered the sale of hearing aids by privately-run audiology clinics owned and operating by audiologists (run similar to dentists) rather than as they were previously done, at hospitals.
- Then in 2006, at the end of his career he was swept up in a wave of consolidation where most independently-run audiology clinics got bought out by large chains like Connect Hearing, which have since de-emphasized the individual audiologist, (like optometrists at eyeglass stores) turning them into something akin to technicians who conduct hearing tests rather than prestigious academic researchers who push the boundaries of audiology research while also helping clients.
So it seems he got in (1978) and got out (2006) at just the right time.
Two years later, in 2008, Connect Hearing was itself acquired, by Sonova Group, a Swiss publicly-traded hearing aid company with a market cap of $20 billion and a global market share of 25%.
After the Twin City Gas Building was demolished, Connect Hearing moved their Thunder Bay branch to 1186 Memorial Avenue (at the corner of John and Memorial), in a standalone building in the parking lot of the Shoppers' Drug Mart. It is branded as "Expert Hearing" rather than Connect Hearing for some reason. [3]
Fate of Staff:
- Cathy Hunt seems to have moved to Connect Hearing's "Stratford Audiology Clinic" branch. [4]
- As of 2008, Daniela Kralovec was practising audiology in Gardenia, California, at 879 W 190th St - Pacific Pointe as "Dr. Daniela Kralovec Love" which indicates that either she married someone called Mr. Love or else she simplified her last name "Kralovec", which already contains the word "Love". [5] This location houses yet another instance of the "Connect Hearing" franchise which does not advertise the audiologist names on their staff. However, her license has not been updated since then and she does not appear on any websites, so it's likely she retired around 2008.
Volunteer Work
Dr. Hood also sold hearing aids in the Caribbean. This began in the 1970s, as part of a charity program. The first trip was around 1976, to St. Vincent, and then to Trinidad and Tobago, from 1982. Eventually it became a business as well as a charity. In 2005 Dr. Hood incorporated it as Caribbean Hearing Limited. He made "countless trips" [1] to many Caribbean countries while he had that business, until he sold it to a colleague in 2021. The full list of countries visited is:
- 8 Caribbean Countries (St. Vincent, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago)
- Chile
- India
He also sailed in his 29-foot sailboat, In the Mood, until he lost it during Hurricane Fiona in 2022. He sold the wreck to his neighbour who has since repaired it.
Oddly, this boat name is not attested in the Transport Canada registry, except to a similar vessel from Vancouver. [6]
Success Dear Sir: Once again, I want to report to your readers on the success of the Caribbean Hearing Aid Programme co-ordinated by the Ontario Ministry of Education. During 1977, Dr. Donald Hood, Audiologist, and Mrs. Hood, a Speech Therapist, visited St. Vincent in the West Indies where they did follow-up work on children previously fitted with hearing aids; conducted tests and fitted aids for other deaf children. At this time, 65 children have been fitted with hearing aids donated to this programme by Candians from coast to coast. And, like all successful ongoing and voluntary programmes we are again in need of discarded hearing aids. Anyone with a hearing aid, in any condition, is invited to support this small but productive effort to help the deaf children in St. Vincent. Hearing aids may be mailed to: Project Hearing Aids, Student Activities Branch, Ministry of Eduction, Ontrio, 19th Floor, Mowat Block, Queen's Park, Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M7A 1L2 On behalf of the deaf children who have already benefitted from this programme, and those who have yet to enjoy the world of sound, I thank your readers for their warm response to my previous appeals. George J. Mason, Co-ordinator, Student Activities and Special Projects Branch
Personal Life
He met a St. Louis woman, Nancy Greenwald [7] at University (?) and in 1970 they moved to Toronto so Dr. Hood could work at the Hospital for Sick Children. Seeking a quiet place to raise a family (and with a lower cost of living), they sold their Toronto house and moved to Thunder Bay, in Canada. From 1978 to 1992 he lived with her on South Hill Street and had two children:
- Arleigh Hood (born 2 August, circa 1978) [8]. Since at least 2014 until at least 2024 she has lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- Jeremy Hood (born circa 1980), married to Jaclyn Haber in 2007 with two children born soon afterward [9]. Since at least 2014 until at least 2024 he has lived in Woodbridge, Ontario.
On Hill Street, Dr. Hood lived beside Michael Currie from Michael's birth until about 1992.
Dr Hood gave or sold Michael's father Ron Currie his first home computer as a hand-me-down, in about 1988, which had a 20-megabyte hard drive. Michael's habit of playing with the computer and causing problems led to Dr Hood coining the phrase "Pulling a Michael", which meant: unintentionally causing an unrecoverable error through curious use of the computer.
In about 1992, Dr. Hood separated from his wife and moved to Parkview Place Apartments at 790 Arundel Street. It was here that Michael Currie played the Dark Seed video game with Jeremy, which initiated Jeremy's "Goth" phase.
Sometime in the mid- to late-1990s, Dr. Hood remarried to a woman named Joan, middle initial M., and moved to Halifax. He acts as stepfather to his second wife's sons. His second wife's sons now have children of their own as of at least 2019. Since at least 2001, he and his wife live on the coast at 9669 Peggy's Cove Road, in Hackett's Cove, Nova Scotia. [10].
In July 2001 Michael Currie had dinner with Dr. Hood and his new wife, and Jeremy Hood, at their home.
Sources
[1] Interview by Michael Currie in July 2001 [11]
[2] Opendi [12]
[3] Varia: "Canadian Speech and Hearing Association, April 21-24, 1976. The Annual Convention hosted in Halifax, Nova Scotia by The Atlantic Provinces Speech and Hearing Association. Speakers will include: Dean E. Williams, Martha Taylor Sarno, Norma Rees, Louise Getty, Joel Stark, Mark Ross, Donald Hood, Agnes Ling, and David Yoder. The conference will feature a call for convention papers and a special lecture by Eric Lenneberg. For further information, please contact Wendy McPhee, 78 Stewart Harris Drive, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (Canada)." [13]
[4] History of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology in Canada: Our First Fifty Years, by Virginia Martin, 2011. “…exactly what is this (a)morphous identity we call a Canadian Audiologist?” Donald Hood asked. Then he said “Our European and U.S. counterparts have just a few years on most of us and are our professional parents…” quoted from Roberts, Margaret; Donald Hood. (1989) Guest Editorial JSLPA. 13.4. December 4 This issue also has recollections and history information. [14]
[5] hearwellnow.com, Wayback Machine [15]
Association Presidents: 1977-1978 Donald C. Hood (ON)
ARTICLE 1: Hood, Donald and Peter B. Meuller. (1973) The hospital for sick children, Toronto. Human Communication Number 2, Autumn
ARTICLE 2: Roberts, Margaret; Donald Hood. (1989) Guest Editorial JSLPA. 13.4. December 4 This issue also has recollections and history information.
(For article 2, the guest editorial is not present in the archive here https://www.cjslpa.ca/ which seems to exclude it (probably it was at the beginning (pages 1-4))
Full article: https://www.cjslpa.ca/files/1973_HumComm_Vol_01/No_02_2-92/Hood_Mueller_HumComm_1973_News.pdf
[7] (A training video for audiologists) Doctor, does my child hear? 1975 https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-7603998A-vid http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/7603998A
Contributor(s): Mitchell, David P. Hood, Donald. Platt, L. Jay. University of Toronto. Faculty of Medicine. Division of Instructional Media Services. Publication: Toronto : The Division, 1975