Hearing the call: Couple returns to hearing-aid business after 18-month mission at Thailand orphanage

The Johnston family poses with some of the children they worked with for 18 months at an orphanage in Thailand.

Selective Hearing Centers Jeffrey and Cheryl Johnston.jpg

Jeffrey and Cheryl Johnston pose in their business, Selective Hearing Centers, 6804 Green Bay Road.

Jeffrey Johston points out the works of the inner ear at his business Selective Hearing Centers, 6804 Green Bay Road.

Palm trees are silhouetted in this photo from Thailand.

Jeffrey and Cheryl Johnston share a van ride with their daughter and children from an orphanage in Thailand.

Jeffrey Johnston works with children at an orphanage in Thailand.

Not too many successful business owners would one day decide to sell their business, uproot their family and travel thousands of miles to do volunteer work helping orphans in a foreign country.

But for Jeffrey J. Johnston, owner of Selective Hearing Centers, hearing the call to take on a mission to help others was a no-brainer.

It started in 2014, when Johnston, his wife Cheryl and their two daughters began discussing the drastic life change.

To prepare, the family took a vacation — or what he described as a “reconnaissance trip” — to Thailand to meet the children and staff at an orphanage there and to learn about the culture and the language.

After their return, they began making plans to sell the business that had two locations and dispose of their household belongings.

They returned to Thailand in October 2016. They spent 18 months 40 miles from Chiang Mai, a city 430 miles north of Bangkok to help at an orphanage with children ages 3-16 who had either been abandoned, or their parents had been killed.

“It tore at my heart that some had living parents,” Johnston said.

Johnston said his daughters, Abbey, who was 16 at the time, and Savanna, 22, immediately embraced the mission.

They all worked closely with the children teaching them English, helping them with lifestyle issues and helping them to develop a stronger self esteem.

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Johnston and his wife were like parents to the children, he said. “The would call us Pa Jeff and Ma Cheryl,” he said.

In a country where sex trafficking is prevalent, the Johnstons were instrumental in helping the older ones learn about choices.

Their mission was totally hands-on. They also had other duties such as cleaning and painting.

Johnston described the mission as an accomplishment to “just love these people who God put before us.”

The experience has been especially rewarding in helping to develop a new perspective.

When they returned to the United States, Johnston worked to re-establish his business.

Earlier this year, after some negotiations, Johnston and his wife opened their new Kenosha-based Selective Hearing Centers at 6804 Green Bay Road.

With some 20 years in the audiological services industry, evaluating, counseling and fitting people with hearing aids, Johnston said he is devoted to educating people about hearing and how audio deprivation can significantly affect a person’s quality of life.

While some patients may initially be reticent to embrace a hearing aid, they learn how important it is to connect with people.

“A lot of people are desperate,” he said. “They want to be able to hear their grandkids.

“The vast majority tell me, ‘I should have done this sooner.’”

Just as he wants to help people improve their hearing, he said he’s glad he heard the call to take on the Thailand mission.