A new clinic on the Missouri State campus offers speech-language pathology, counseling, audiology and psychology services, combining existing programs into one space.
Missouri State held a grand opening Friday for the new Collaborative Care Clinic located in Ann Kampeter Health Sciences Hall.
Clinic services are free to the public, often with no referral needed, and there are no income guidelines. The clinic doesn’t do Medicaid or billing, according to the dean of the McQueary College and Health and Human Services Mark Smith. He said there might occasionally be a request for a donation for counseling services since they must fund that.
The clinic opened its doors on January 26. Graduate students work alongside licensed care providers to offer services to the public.
Dr. Letitia White-Minnis, associate dean of the McQueary College of Health and Human Services, said in a statement it helps students gain a deeper understanding of patient needs.
The idea is to allow students to apply classroom knowledge in a real-world setting while meeting community health needs, according to the university.
Smith said it’s a fully supervised educational training facility with students in their second or third year of graduate school.
“Most of the time before you see a client or a patient, same with nursing as an undergrad, you’re going to go through your academics, you’re going to go through your controlled supervision in with your peers, and then you transition,” he said.
Research facilities on the second and third floor of Kampeter Hall are expected to open in September.
Smith said the project has already attracted new students to campus, and there will be 300 to 350 graduate students going through the clinic space each year.
Services offered at the clinic include counseling, speech-language pathology diagnostics and treatment, hearing and balance testing, hearing aid services and psychological and learning diagnostic services.
The clinic is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.
