Unified Clinics receives "Tech Boost" funding

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The Unified Clinics currently serve as a clinical education hub for various College of Health and Human Services, College of Fine Arts and College of Arts and Sciences programs, including long-standing teaching clinics within both Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences and Occupational Therapy. Both the SLP and OT programs rely on the UC to provide students with real world clinical experiences where students bring their classroom knowledge of evidenced-based-practices to work with clients with authentic health care needs. Students consistently cite their experiences at UC as the most impactful of their education and leave Western Michigan University with cutting edge skills in their fields. 

Due to the escalating need for the expansion and advancement of technological capabilities for the Unified Clinics to maintain a state-of-the-art environment for student learning, clinic staff (Dr. Michelle Suarez, Kathy Rigley and Dr. Adriana Degani) wrote a proposal and were granted $50,000 in funding for a technology upgrade.   

WMU’s Experience-Driven Learning Venture Grants awarded the funds to the Unified Clincs project, “TechBoost: A technological infrastructure upgrade for experiential learning excellence at Unified Clinics.” Specifically, enhanced infrastructure would support student education in tele-practice to prepare them to meet the needs of the marginalized communities that they will serve post-graduation (e.g. rural, chronically ill, immune-compromised).  Also, technological expansion at the UC will provide the foundation for student participation in clinical research, elevating the clinics into a site that supports both clinical education and student research production.  

Students who will benefit include: