Dr. Erin Wells offers hearing and tinnitus tests for adults and children along with hearing aid services and more. (Photo by Candice Black)

PARKERSBURG — County roads brought Dr. Erin Wells back to her roots as she started her own audiology private practice, Mountain Ears Hearing Clinic on Briscoe Road near College Parkway.

The grand opening for Mountain Ears was held Aug. 23.

“It’s exciting because I just have a great love for this community and since I moved back, I’ve worked in Parkersburg the whole time and I’ve gotten way more familiar with Parkersburg and all of the people in it,” Wells said.

Wells grew up in the Warren Local Schools district and when she was 18-years old moved away to attend the Ohio State University. After completing her undergraduate degree, Wells earned her master’s at the University of Cincinnati. Her fourth year of grad school took her to the St. Louis area where she worked for eight years.

In St. Louis, Wells was a pediatric audiologist at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. She also worked at the St. Louis VA Hospital where she started the Cochlear Implant program. Cochlear implants are for “people when hearing aids are not enough,” Wells said.

The Mountain Ears Hearing Clinic participates in the Caption Call program that writes out what is said over the phone. Qualifiers will receive the phone free of charge. (Photo by Candice Black)

If someone is able to hear but can’t fully understand, the implants help with clarity, she said. Wells said working at the VA is a dream job for audiologists.

Wells returned to the area after receiving a job opportunity. Opening her own practice, which she believed was the best way for her to be able to stay in the Mid-Ohio Valley, has been a dream for Wells for the past few years.

During her schooling, she worked at a private practice where she got experience in a smaller and more localized office. She attended an economic talk earlier this year that focused on how to increase the economy of the area where the seed was planted to open a private practice.

She hopes by owning her own business, she can boost the economy of the community.

“I don’t want anything to happen to it,” she said. “It’s our home and for us younger ones, we want it to stay strong and to keep improving.

A children’s play area is available at the office located at 3901 Briscoe Rd. Suite 10 in Parkersburg with the entrance off College Parkway. (Photo by Candice Black)

Wells said that being with her family is partially what prompted her to come back to the area. “It’s a big difference being out in St. Louis where you have no support system, you’re too far out,” Wells said.

She said her family roots in the Mid-Ohio Valley trace back to 1700s.

“I had a family member who fought in the Revolutionary War and after that, you got land and he (received) land around here,” Wells said.

The family has been in the area since.

“There’s lots of connections here. I have a lot of pride of being from the area. Whenever you grow up, you always think ‘I want to get out of here.'”

After moving away, Wells frequently got the comment “I have never met someone with so much pride of where they came from.”

While raising her daughter, Wells wants to instill a small-town upbringing.

“Living in a big city, you’re just a number. Here, there’s people who actually care about you,” Wells said.

She joined the Parkersburg Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce of the Mid-Ohio Valley in hopes of helping the community.

“I want my child to see that I actually make a difference in my community, Wells said.

After being away for so long, Wells could see a change after coming home. “I’m amazed by the change in our communities, Marietta and Parkersburg.”

She said that once she started looking into owning her own business “the amount of female support in the community is just incredible,” she said.

Wells feels that she’s had a lot of encouragement along the way, especially from local women. “You know that you have people cheering you on,” she said.

Family is also what began her interest in the field of audiology. With a family history of hearing loss, Wells talked about her grandfather who had hearing loss starting at the age of 15.

“I always wish I could have helped him,” Wells said. “I’ve just have a lot of exposure to hearing loss and it’s something that we always were aware of in our family.”

She feels that because of that, she has more of a personal connection with her profession. “It’s not just a job, it’s a passion that I have.”

She is able to take the family experience and bring it to her practice.

“I am more of an audiologist who looks at hearing loss not just an in individual’s problem, it’s the whole family’s problem because I know how it affects the whole family,” Wells said.

She wants to focus on education and to make sure that all family members know how to work together to be able to communicate better.

Mountain Ears, to Wells, will ideally be a place where people want to come. She feels that her passion and her ability to relate to her patients’ situations are what makes her business unique.

“I want my clinic to feel more like a community of itself,” Wells said. She offers options for people ranging from children to adults. “I have a different method of doing things. I’m someone that like to think outside the box.”

She said that she takes an individualist approach and views patients as individuals who have specific needs.

“That’s what I want I want to be known for and what I want to help people with,” Wells said.

She hopes to host events and create a relationship with the town and educate about hearing loss.

“I just hope that people will see the love that I have for people,” Wells said. “I don’t view people as just a number. I view them as a person of my community that I love so I want to serve them.”

To make an appointment or for more information about services offered, contact the office at (304) 917-3742 or send an email at mountainearshearingclinic@gmail.com.

Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.