Colleen Grzan is living out a dream: She works to care for and
rehabilitate wild animals at the Wildlife Education and
Rehabilitation Center in Morgan Hill. Her dream has been
complicated because Grzan is nearly deaf, though she doesn
’t let that stand in her way.
Colleen Grzan is living out a dream: She works to care for and rehabilitate wild animals at the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center in Morgan Hill.
Her dream has been complicated because Grzan is nearly deaf, though she doesn’t let that stand in her way.
A battle with meningitis as a kid took its toll on Grzan’s hearing and by the fifth grade, it was nearly gone. She can still hear sounds, but can’t make out speech unless who ever is talking with her talks to her face.
But Grzan’s inability to hear hasn’t stopped her from living that dream. After being laid off from a technology company in Sunnyvale, she began looking for a place to volunteer.
“I worked all my life in Silicon Valley, but it was just a job, not a career,” Grzan said. “I just wanted to do something I love to do.”
Initially, she looked into nursing, but the job would have been paper work, so Grzan looked elsewhere. What she found was WERC.
“I have always loved animals,” Grzan said. “My kids never brought home animals, but I would have liked it.”
Grzan’s family has been environmentally active in Morgan Hill, especially through her husband, Mark, an environmental activist who is on the city’s Urban Limit Line Committee.
When Grzan approached WERC in May of 2003, Sue Howell, executive director of WERC, was uneasy about bringing her on board.
“I was very apprehensive about taking her on,” Howell said. “There is so much verbal communication. But I decided to giver her a try.”
And Grzan did not disappoint. She learned quickly and everyone soon no longer paid much attention to her hearing.
Grzan would help feed the birds, clean up enclosures and any other job needed. Soon she began asking for more responsibility. An opportunity came in August of 2003 when WERC needed a new animal handler for their Bonfante Gardens show.
But again, communications were a problem.
“We were going to try a laser pointer, but that didn’t work very well for us,” said Anna Venneman, an intern at WERC and who worked with Grzan at Bonfante Gardens.
Venneman and Grzan decided to use hand signals and the system worked.
“Anna would signal when I had to go on,” Grzan said. “We worked really well together. We would go over what we were going to do. It went great.”
Now Grzan has taken on more responsibilities from the educational animals, to bird walking, to caring for the bobcats. There isn’t many special accommodations made for Grzan except people need to talk to her face-to-face and during meetings she sits in a certain spot so she can see everyone who would talk.
She has offered her services to care for animals around the clock, including one bobcat kitten, Monty, who was not expected to live the night.
“I slept all night with the bobcat,” Grzan remembered. “I gave it injections and slept with a heating pad and a hot water bottle. I had to get up every hour and make sure it was still alive.”
The kitten survived the night and has continued to improve.
“She is an awesome person,” Venneman said. “She is one of those people that you are glad to know them.”
Howell has been impressed with Grzan, who can now do everything except answer the phone.
“She is doing a fantastic job,” Howell said. “I wish I could clone her. She doesn’t have a disability and she doesn’t have a handicap. To see her come along with what she is doing has made such an impact on us.”
Howell added Grzan may be the only one in the nation who does what she does. Howell knows of a deaf zookeeper, but he only works with one animal.
“I am glad to see her come along,” Howell said. “I was scared in the beginning, but she has been wonderful.”
