欧美视频

Students and patients at the 欧美视频鈥檚 Welch-Schmidt Center for Communication Disorders will benefit from the 2019 SPEAK OUT!庐 & LOUD Crowd庐 Grant program developed by the Parkinson Voice Project庐.

 

WARRENSBURG, MO (July 25, 2019) 鈥� The 欧美视频 has been named a recipient of  the 2019 SPEAK OUT!庐 & LOUD Crowd庐 Grant program developed by the Parkinson Voice Project庐, the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the world solely dedicated to helping people with Parkinson鈥檚 disease improve their speech and swallowing. UCM鈥檚 Welch-Schmidt Center for Communication Disorders (WSCCD) will utilize the funds to enable students and patients at the center to work within the new program to assist individuals with Parkinson鈥檚.

 

The Parkinson Voice Project is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Launched in 2018, the SPEAK OUT!庐 & LOUD Crowd庐 Grant program includes 149 recipients of grants, which are up 62 percent from the 2018 inaugural year. Organizations served are located throughout the United States, and include five international clinics. The closest grant-funded organization to UCM is currently located in Clinton.

 

Grant recipients include hospitals, university speech therapy clinics, private practices and nonprofit Parkinson鈥檚 organizations. Each clinic will receive free training for their speech-language pathologist and graduate students, as well as speech therapy supplies. Some grant recipients also will receive funding to offset the cost of providing group speech therapy. UCM will utilize the WSCCD, located in the Martin Building, to offer the Parkinson Voice Project鈥檚 speech therapy program.

 

鈥淯p to 90 percent of people with Parkinson鈥檚 are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and aspiration pneumonia caused by swallowing issues accounts for 70 percent of the mortality rate in this patient population. Awarding these grants has substantially increased access to quality speech treatment for those living with Parkinson鈥檚,鈥� said Parkinson Voice Project鈥檚 founder and chief executive officer, Samantha Elandary.

 

The grant program honors Daniel R. Boone, Ph.D., a world-renowned speech-language pathologist and voice expert who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinson鈥檚 could improve their communication if they spoke with 鈥渋ntent.鈥� Parkinson Voice Project鈥檚 highly effective speech therapy program is based on Boone鈥檚 teachings and combines individual therapy (SPEAK OUT!庐) with ongoing group therapy (LOUD Crowd庐) to convert speech from an automatic function to an intentional act. 

 

The Parkinson Voice Project庐 operates a speech therapy clinic in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and also hosts the World鈥檚 Largest Chorus consisting of nearly 100 individuals with Parkinson鈥檚 whose voices have been restored through the program.

 

Through SPEAK OUT!庐 & LOUD Crowd庐, the vision of Parkinson Voice Project庐 is to replicate its two-part therapy approach across the globe to help individuals with Parkinson鈥檚 preserve their speech and swallowing abilities. More than 1,600 speech-language pathologists have been trained to date, including clinicians in Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Israel, and New Zealand.

 

鈥�We are very excited to have been named a recipient of the Parkinson Voice Project Grant,鈥� said Bonnie Slavych, assistant professor of communication disorders at the WSCCD. 鈥淣ot only will this grant provide funding for our graduate students to complete a specialized training in the treatment of a voice disorder as a result of Parkinson's disease but it will also provide funding for members of our community to receive treatment that they might not otherwise receive. We look forward to helping our neighbors and friends regain their voices so that they will have the confidence and satisfaction of participating in activities that they may have thought no longer possible.鈥�

 

When individuals with Parkinson鈥檚 lose their speaking abilities, it has a tremendous impact on their lives by making it difficult to converse with family and friends, carry on telephone conversations and even order food at restaurants. This program will consist of weekly speech and therapy sessions while also offering camaraderie, support and encouragement to patients as they battle the progressive, degenerative effects of Parkinson鈥檚.

 

The WSCCD is a self-contained unit that provides clinical training, and is situated in an 8,600-square-foot area on the lower level of the Martin Building at UCM. Students who are enrolled at UCM provide diagnostic and rehabilitative services to children and adults with communication and swallowing disorders from throughout the local community. 

 

Learn more about the Parkinson Voice Project庐 at .  To learn more about UCM鈥檚 Welch-Schmidt Center for Communication Disorders, contact Brenda Dooley, clinic support coordinator, at 660-543-4993, email wsc@ucmo.edu or visit .

 

For more information contact:
Jeff Murphy
Assistant Director for Media Relations
Integrated Marketing and Communications
660-543-4640
jmurphy@ucmo.edu