Founded in 1948, the Heuser Hearing Institute (HHI) is the only non-profit organization in the Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana region providing access to world-class and comprehensive hearing, speech, language and balance disorder services. Through the powerful combination of a hearing healthcare clinic, a preschool and kindergarten program for children with communication disorders regardless of a patient’s ability to pay and now KY HEARS statewide access to mobile and permanent hearing screening facilities, HHI offers a unique continuum of care for all ages – from diagnosis to treatment across the lifespan from childhood into adulthood.
At the heart of the HHI service model is the downtown Louisville clinic, the only facility in the area completely dedicated to hearing healthcare. The HHI clinic is Kentucky’s largest nonprofit pediatric audiology provider, one of the largest cochlear implant service sites and one of the largest Medicaid hearing healthcare providers. The clinic was originally established to sustain academic and clinical care for the Heuser Hearing & Language Academy. Many are not aware, however, that proceeds from the clinic directly benefit the school. The clinic is the revenue engine for the entire HHI system. Without it, the Heuser Hearing & Language Academy could not provide the no cost tuition and services nor could we support our various satellite clinic locations throughout the Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana area.
The Challenge
Due to the rising cost of hearing healthcare, low reimbursement rates and a large influx of children in need, HHI has self-funded its Pediatric Program for two decades. Unfortunately, this left no funds for capital expenditures and facility updates for the clinic. Since 2001, HHI has been operating at its downtown location in a former elementary school built in 1886 and the team has made it work but we now must renovate our patient care facilities to improve efficiency, effectiveness, capacity and access. We remain committed to our downtown location and the access we provide to our underserved neighborhoods with a significant percentage of patients and students coming from the most economically disadvantaged zip codes in the Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana region. It is time to redesign and upgrade outdated facilities to reflect the high level of services HHI Is already providing while also allowing us to build a sound foundation for the future.
Our Vision
Our goal is to provide the highest quality of hearing healthcare, and to achieve this, we need facilities that are up-to-date and fully equipped to meet the diverse needs of our patients of all ages. We envision a modernized space where patients “from twinkle to wrinkle” can receive worldclass healthcare, and where our multidisciplinary team of experts can utilize cutting-edge technologies to deliver holistic, patient-centered care, all under one roof. We seek to deliver our services more effectively and efficiently, increasing capacity and access. By renovating and updating approximately 20,000 square feet of our patient care facilities on the downtown campus, the goal is to serve 30% more children, adults and seniors than we do today. Increased clinical capacity will in turn increase funds available to the school.
Other key benefits to the community will include:
- Transformation of existing patient care facilities into state-of-the-art centers for innovative hearing healthcare including audiology, balance and vestibular rehab (for vertigo and tinnitus), cochlear implant services, speech pathology and specifically designed spaces for pediatric audiology
- Increased number of audiology testing and exam rooms to help reduce the backlog of appointments and current 3-week wait time for hearing appointments and up to a 4-month wait time for balance appointments
- Relocation and addition of sound booths in hearing aid fabrication lab to improve operational efficiency and patient adjustment process
- Expanded speech pathology services to address growing demand for adults
- New state-of-the-art training rooms and supporting technology to train Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) externs and apprentices
- Creation of a first-in-kind hearing healthcare learning center with telehealth access for newly diagnosed patients and their families to educate about assistive listening and alerting/safety devices for the home and school
- Leverage university partnerships to improve hearing healthcare research lab facilities focused on improving patient outcomes
- Accessible, large spaces for community and neighborhood groups to meet and connect
- A facility designed specifically to suppress noise and vibration
We estimate the total cost of the clinic renovation and infrastructure enhancements will be $5.0 million, in addition to our $1.2 million annual operational fundraising goal, for a comprehensive campaign total of $8.6 million over three years.
Your Support
Hearing barriers impact more than just the ability to communicate but societal outcomes related to employment, graduation and long-term health. Today over 700,000 Kentuckians have hearing loss, and 60% of Kentuckians who are deaf are not in the labor force compared to 33% of hearing individuals. Kentucky ranks third per capita nationally in people identified as deaf or hard of hearing and 51st nationally (behind Puerto Rico) in high school completion for deaf at birth students. and the employment rate for deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Children throughout the state with hearing loss are 25% more likely to experience abuse and neglect while adults and seniors with untreated hearing loss can be impacted by the risk of fall, dementia and shortened lifespans.
With the rising number of individuals diagnosed with hearing loss, the demand for specialized services at our downtown clinic and the Heuser Hearing & Language Academy has never been higher. Please help us continue to ensure communication equity, inclusion, and access by providing life-long services to support all people with hearing loss or communication difficulties.
We invite you to be part of this transformation and help make this new space a reality as we grow and optimize our care. You can make gifts of cash or pledge your gifts over as many as three years. We will be pleased to review the naming opportunities for this project for all gifts of $50,000 or more.
Please contact Emily Cheshire, Philanthropy Coordinator, at (502) 371-9919 for more information.