SE Center for Speech and Hearing set to grow with United Way funding

Recently announced United Way funding will help fill in funding gaps for children to receive hearing and speech services through the Center for Speech and Hearing at Southeast Missouri State University, allowing new opportunities to flourish.

Elizabeth Shelton, executive director of the Cape Girardeau-based United Way of Southeast Missouri, said the center's community outreach is the reason why the United Way has made the organization a new funding partner.

She said the center gives students a learning opportunity, but does not receive full funding from the university.

"We're helping fund services to primarily children who are not eligible for other programs," Shelton said.

Clinic coordinator Amy Herren said undergraduates and graduate students -- nearly 30 each semester -- who are studying speech language pathology help the organization with clients and get hands-on experience.

She said the center -- built in the 1980s -- serves many of the same clients with communication disorders the United Way also reaches.

Herren said the center's fees are significantly lower than more traditional facilities. Though the fees are lower, she said, "all of the clients have access to fully licensed and certified speech language pathologists" within the department.

The facility also serves individuals within the community who have had strokes or brain injuries. Being partnered with the United Way makes that possible, Herren said, adding a new opportunity recently surfaced: a transportation program.

"One barrier that we see is individuals are not able to get the transportation that they need to get to services here," she said.

The Center for Speech and Hearing serves within the community through screenings and other outreach events, including Project Homeless Connect. With all outreach events combined, Herren said, the center serves about 500 people each year.

She said the students serve as the main contact with the clients, "but because they are in training, they will always be supervised."

"The students are heavily involved in everything that we do," she said.

Herren said she sees a "huge need" for services that are affordable.

"We serve a lot of children who have literacy disorders and language disorders," she said. "We serve children who are struggling with reading development and also struggling with their spoken language."

And that ties into the United Way's mission of "long-term financial stability," Herren said.

"Our hope is that we're able to serve more individuals who might qualify for our sliding scale discount," she said, by working with the United Way partners.

According to previous reporting, 38 community service programs sponsored by 27 not-for-profit organizations will receive funding through United Way of Southeast Missouri over the next three years.

The United Way of Southeast Missouri serves residents in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Perry and northern Scott counties through health, education and financial stability services.

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