Hi All:
I am writing to ask for any recommendations, guidance or even simple words of support.
This is our story:
This past fall, my daughter after falling in love with the US Naval Academy (USNA) at the USNA Summer Seminar in 2017, applied to the USNA for the class of 2022.
She had her initial DODMERB physical exam done on September 27th 2017. My wife had asked for copies of the exam results and was told by the doctor’s office that they do not give the results to the candidate or candidate’s parents at the time.
Just before Christmas 2017, we were notified she was being nominated by our local congressman! Thank you so much! ! ! & Hooray!!!
Then right after Christmas vacation on January 3rd 2018 my daughter received an e-mail serving as a Letter of Assurance for appointment into the class of 2022 for the USNA pending medical review. Hooray Again!!!
We had no awareness of any issues, but she logged onto DODMETs and it said pending follow up remedial of Urinalysis with microscopic examination. Apparently they just did a urinalysis without microscopic exam at the initial DODMERB physical exam. We promptly scheduled this appointment and had a repeat urinalysis with microscopic examination done.
Then on January 25th 2018 she received a letter from DODMERB stating she was DQ due to excessive hearing loss. This was shocking to us! We have no family history of hearing loss and we’ve never noticed any hearing loss in my daughter.
In fact, she had an annual physical exam on October 9th 2017 (just a week or two after her initial DODMERB physical exam – Sept 2017) at her regular physician and during this exam they had done and audiology exam and had not detected any hearing loss. In her medical records for the audiometry results on October 9th 2017 it reads:
Left ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
Right ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz, 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
I called her USNA assigned medical technician and told her that we were unaware of any hearing loss in my daughter and told her about her October 2017 results as well as results from a May 2017 physical exam. Her USNA medical technician said she would need to have a more recent audiology exam to be done so they could review the results. So we scheduled her to have another audiology exam with her personal physician on March 6th 2018 which she again passed with the same audiometry results:
Left ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
Right ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz, 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
We faxed medical records from her personal physician from all of her physical exams (May 27th 2015, October 9th 2017 and most recent March 6th 2018) all showing audiometry results:
Left ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
Right ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz, 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
On March 12th 2018 she was issued a letter from DODMERB that at the request of the USNA they had re-evaluated her medical records and were requesting a follow-up formal audiogram preferable to be completed with a Concord contracted provider through DODMETs.
They said the medical records we had provided were insufficient because they did not provide individual frequency results 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, or 4000Hz and the individual decibel results for each frequency.
I called and asked if there was a time frame of when this needed to be completed by and if this would affect her letter of assurance. They said they would hold the spot until this issue was cleared up, but that there were timelines that this needed to cleared-up by, but they could not give me these dates. They also told me that the review had used up one of her allowed reviews and that she only had one more opportunity to get this cleared up. From what I have read online, the waiver authority generally doesn’t give waivers for reports of hearing loss.
We are frantically working to schedule a repeat of the formal audiogram through DODMETs and Concorde and are trying to get that done ASAP.
I was considering taking my daughter to an ENT specialist to have a formal audiogram for our own information and to confirm ourselves that there are no issues with hearing loss.
Her mom and I (mostly me) are panicking about this. It is my daughter’s dream to attend the USNA. I am suspicious there might have been an error on the recording of her initial DODMERB exam? We’ve not been able to get a copy of the results of the initial DODMERB exam, but were told that one of the results of her initial DODMERB exam audiogram had right ear was deficient with 45 decibels @ 4000Hz which was the reason for the initial DQ.
When she had her initial DODMERB exam my wife had asked for copies of the exam results and was told by the doctor’s office that they do not give the results to the candidate or candidate’s parents at the time. We called the doctor’s office back about a month ago to see if we could get a copy of her medical records and again were told that they were not allowed to provide the results to the candidate or candidate’s parents.
If she is DQ’d we assume she would lose her spot at the USNA and this would be so heartbreaking.
Would this prevent her from re-applying again for class of 2023?
Is there any way to get a copy of the initial DODMERB exam?
Would it be of any value to take her to an ENT specialist to also repeat formal audiogram?
Any recommendations and thoughts you might have would be so greatly appreciated.
Also, all prayers and warm wishes for a successful repeat formal audiogram when we get that scheduled would be much welcomed.
Thanks so much from our family.
I am writing to ask for any recommendations, guidance or even simple words of support.
This is our story:
This past fall, my daughter after falling in love with the US Naval Academy (USNA) at the USNA Summer Seminar in 2017, applied to the USNA for the class of 2022.
She had her initial DODMERB physical exam done on September 27th 2017. My wife had asked for copies of the exam results and was told by the doctor’s office that they do not give the results to the candidate or candidate’s parents at the time.
Just before Christmas 2017, we were notified she was being nominated by our local congressman! Thank you so much! ! ! & Hooray!!!
Then right after Christmas vacation on January 3rd 2018 my daughter received an e-mail serving as a Letter of Assurance for appointment into the class of 2022 for the USNA pending medical review. Hooray Again!!!
We had no awareness of any issues, but she logged onto DODMETs and it said pending follow up remedial of Urinalysis with microscopic examination. Apparently they just did a urinalysis without microscopic exam at the initial DODMERB physical exam. We promptly scheduled this appointment and had a repeat urinalysis with microscopic examination done.
Then on January 25th 2018 she received a letter from DODMERB stating she was DQ due to excessive hearing loss. This was shocking to us! We have no family history of hearing loss and we’ve never noticed any hearing loss in my daughter.
In fact, she had an annual physical exam on October 9th 2017 (just a week or two after her initial DODMERB physical exam – Sept 2017) at her regular physician and during this exam they had done and audiology exam and had not detected any hearing loss. In her medical records for the audiometry results on October 9th 2017 it reads:
Left ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
Right ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz, 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
I called her USNA assigned medical technician and told her that we were unaware of any hearing loss in my daughter and told her about her October 2017 results as well as results from a May 2017 physical exam. Her USNA medical technician said she would need to have a more recent audiology exam to be done so they could review the results. So we scheduled her to have another audiology exam with her personal physician on March 6th 2018 which she again passed with the same audiometry results:
Left ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
Right ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz, 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
We faxed medical records from her personal physician from all of her physical exams (May 27th 2015, October 9th 2017 and most recent March 6th 2018) all showing audiometry results:
Left ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
Right ear: dB threshold at 500-4000 Hz, 25 decibels before 1st tone heard.
On March 12th 2018 she was issued a letter from DODMERB that at the request of the USNA they had re-evaluated her medical records and were requesting a follow-up formal audiogram preferable to be completed with a Concord contracted provider through DODMETs.
They said the medical records we had provided were insufficient because they did not provide individual frequency results 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, or 4000Hz and the individual decibel results for each frequency.
I called and asked if there was a time frame of when this needed to be completed by and if this would affect her letter of assurance. They said they would hold the spot until this issue was cleared up, but that there were timelines that this needed to cleared-up by, but they could not give me these dates. They also told me that the review had used up one of her allowed reviews and that she only had one more opportunity to get this cleared up. From what I have read online, the waiver authority generally doesn’t give waivers for reports of hearing loss.
We are frantically working to schedule a repeat of the formal audiogram through DODMETs and Concorde and are trying to get that done ASAP.
I was considering taking my daughter to an ENT specialist to have a formal audiogram for our own information and to confirm ourselves that there are no issues with hearing loss.
Her mom and I (mostly me) are panicking about this. It is my daughter’s dream to attend the USNA. I am suspicious there might have been an error on the recording of her initial DODMERB exam? We’ve not been able to get a copy of the results of the initial DODMERB exam, but were told that one of the results of her initial DODMERB exam audiogram had right ear was deficient with 45 decibels @ 4000Hz which was the reason for the initial DQ.
When she had her initial DODMERB exam my wife had asked for copies of the exam results and was told by the doctor’s office that they do not give the results to the candidate or candidate’s parents at the time. We called the doctor’s office back about a month ago to see if we could get a copy of her medical records and again were told that they were not allowed to provide the results to the candidate or candidate’s parents.
If she is DQ’d we assume she would lose her spot at the USNA and this would be so heartbreaking.
Would this prevent her from re-applying again for class of 2023?
Is there any way to get a copy of the initial DODMERB exam?
Would it be of any value to take her to an ENT specialist to also repeat formal audiogram?
Any recommendations and thoughts you might have would be so greatly appreciated.
Also, all prayers and warm wishes for a successful repeat formal audiogram when we get that scheduled would be much welcomed.
Thanks so much from our family.