With a core theme of service, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMUoHP) demonstrated a commitment to serving the community by opening a second pro-bono. The Rocky Mountain University Center for Communications Disorders (CCD) is a free clinic run by the Master of Science in Speech-Language Program’s experienced faculty and educated students.
The CCD officially opened on Friday, June 15, with a grand opening. While the clinic has been up and running for the past few months, Friday’s event celebrated the official opening of the Center for Communication Disorders by hosting a formal ribbon-cutting event held at Building 561 of the RMUoHP campus in Provo, Utah. The event was live-streamed to allow all off-campus employees, faculty, students, alumni, and community friends to participate as well.
At the start of the event, students, faculty, employees, and community guests were greeted and handed a “passport” with an itinerary and various activity stations listed. The activity stations featured student poster presentations, program and university enrollment information, speech-language pathology equipment, and a tour of the CCD with equipment demonstrations. Each guest who visited all of the stations and received stamps in their passport entered into a drawing to win various prizes.
The event culminated in an official ribbon cutting. Wendy Chase, Director of Clinical Education for the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology Program (MS SLP) and the Director of the Center for Communication Disorders (CCD), spoke to those in attendance. Ms. Chase stated, “You might wonder why now after we’ve been teaching students for the past two and a half semesters that we are officially opening something over here in Building 561. The reason is our students need to work with clients and receive excellent supervision in the early stages of their career so that we can instill values, expectations, skills, and knowledge that they will need to be wonderful colleagues in the future.”
She continued, “RMUoHP has been hard at work with the RMU Foundation and with the support of university operations and facilities to construct a space that supports these endeavors. We had this opportunity because of the gracious support of the community, the university, the commissioner, the mayor’s office, and the chamber for supporting the needs of people in this community who are underserved, underinsured, or [who are] without adequate resources to meet their needs in the area of speech-language pathology. Our clinic today offers us a formal opportunity to invite people in to receive service and to help us educate our students and meet the needs of the community at the same time. We are blessed to be a part of this university. If this was not a university committed to the value of service, we would not be here—we would not be able to offer this to the community at no cost. And for that, we are truly, truly grateful.”
For more information about Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions and its contributions to healthcare and the community, visit our website at https://rmuohp.edu/.
For more information about the Center for Communication Disorders, visit the website at http://rmuccd.org/
