Nicole Satkowiak, Au.D.
2024-2025 Michigan Audiology Coalition President
Another tremendous year has come and gone here at the MAC! First and foremost, we want to thank every one of our MAC board and committee members for their continued dedication to making this organization a true success. This year, we will continue the focus on legislative initiatives, increase membership, and expand benefits for members.
As most of you know, our legislative committee continues to work closely with our lobbyist, Bob Devries, to advocate and represent Michigan audiologists at the state level. The committee continues to have a full legislative agenda requiring monitoring and assistance regarding the bill proposed for universal cytomegalovirus (CMV) screening for all infants born in Michigan, an amendment to the Public Health Code Act to add the word ‘prescribing’ in relation to hearing aid selection fitting, and dispensing, as well as monitoring the bill for Let MI Child Hear which would bring hearing aid coverage to children in Michigan. They also continue to their efforts for the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC) which would allow audiologists and SLPs in Michigan to practice across state lines. We encourage you all to sign up to be a part of the Michigan Legislative Action Network (MiLAN) to help us continue advocating for our profession. For any questions or comments on our legislative efforts, please reach out to the committee directly at legislation@michiganaudiologycoalition.org.
Additionally, our committees have worked diligently to continue to create opportunities for our membership connection and growth of the organization. The annual MAC Conference successfully hosted 32 speakers, including our lobbyist, Bob Devries, as the keynote speaker and members of our Pediatric and Educational Audiology Committee. We are excited to host a wide variety of speakers and another poster session at the upcoming annual conference in October. We look forward to seeing you there! Our newly formed fundraising committee successfully hosted their first annual Give Back to MAC event as well as the first ever Golf Outing to increase financial stability of our organization. We encourage you to join the second annual Give Back to MAC event on Thursday evening of the upcoming conference! The student outreach committee also initiated the first annual MAC Mentorship program with students across the state of Michigan paired with audiologists. Finally, we look forward to another membership drive this year to expand the number of contributing audiologists to our organization’s efforts.
As always, the coalition implores you to consider going one step further to volunteer your skills, talents, and passions on a MAC committee. If there is anything you would like to see from the MAC, please join us today to make it happen. The coalition additionally encourages volunteer nominations if you’re aware of a MAC member who may be well-positioned on a committee or as a board member. For a full listing of our current committees, please visit the ‘About’ section of our website. We look forward to working with you in the years to come!
Nicole Satkowiak, Au.D.
2024-2025 Michigan Audiology Coalition President