Catholic Medical Center (CMC), a member of GraniteOne Health, is pleased to announce it has been awarded a 2019 SPEAK OUT!® and The LOUD Crowd® grant from the Parkinson Voice Project. CMC first began offering SPEAK OUT!® and The LOUD Crowd® in 2018 to help patients with Parkinson’s disease regain and maintain their ability to speak.
“Up to 90% of people with Parkinson’s are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and aspiration pneumonia caused by swallowing issues accounts for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population. Awarding these grants has substantially increased access to quality speech treatment to those living with Parkinson’s,” said Parkinson Voice Project’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Samantha Elandary.
The grant provides free training for CMC’s speech-language pathologists as well as speech therapy supplies. The Parkinson Voice Project created SPEAK OUT!® and The LOUD Crowd® based on the teachings of world-renowned speech-language pathologist Daniel R. Boone, PhD, who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinson’s disease could improve their communication if they spoke with intent.
“Walking, talking and swallowing are all automatic tasks. We take them for granted.” said CMC Speech Language Pathologist Larissa Hebert, MA, CCC-SLP. “These programs help people with Parkinson’s improve their communication and quality of life by converting speech from an automatic function to an intentional act. It is very empowering as patients learn to regain their voice.”
SPEAK OUT!® and The LOUD Crowd® are offered at CMC’s Outpatient Rehabilitation at Dartmouth Commons.
About CMC:
Catholic Medical Center (“CMC”), a member of GraniteOne Health, is a nonprofit regional health system, with a commitment to delivering the highest quality and most advanced healthcare to patients across New Hampshire. CMC is the home of the nationally-renowned New England Heart & Vascular Institute, rated among the top cardiovascular programs in the country. Our doctors were the first in the state to perform a mechanical heart/left ventricular assist device implant and first in New England to implant the WATCHMAN™ for atrial fibrillation. CMC was also one of the first hospitals in New Hampshire to establish a joint venture with independent medical staff members when it became a partner in the freestanding Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center and imaging center. CMC’s birthing unit, The Mom’s Place, was the first hospital in the country to have a neonatal unit based on "couplet care.” Our nationally-accredited Breast Care Center was the first in the state to use contrast enhanced mammography and SAVI SCOUT localization for breast surgery. With primary care practices that care for the very young to the young at heart and our dedication to community outreach programs, CMC is helping to foster a healthier community, everyday. CatholicMedicalCenter.org
ABOUT PARKINSON VOICE PROJECT:
Parkinson Voice Project is the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the world solely dedicated to helping individuals with Parkinson’s improve their speech and swallowing. The organization runs a speech therapy clinic in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and also hosts the World’s Largest Parkinson’s Chorus consisting of nearly 100 individuals with Parkinson’s whose voices have been restored through their program.
Parkinson Voice Project developed the SPEAK OUT!® and The LOUD Crowd® program. The vision of the organization is to replicate its two-part therapy approach across the globe to help individuals with Parkinson’s preserve their speech and swallowing abilities. More than 1600 speech-language pathologists have been trained to date, including clinicians in Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Israel, and New Zealand. ParkinsonVoiceProject.org