Pacific University Celebrates Opening of EarClinic

Local residents and civic leaders celebrated the opening of Pacific University’s state-of-the-art EarClinic in downtown Hillsboro on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

Located on the fourth floor of the Tuality Medical Plaza (333 SE 7th Ave.), the clinic provides a wide range of hearing services to people of all ages, including newborn diagnostic hearing assessments, hearing evaluations for ages 5 and up, balance disorder/dizziness evaluations, tinnitus evaluations, hearing instrument services, assistive listening consultations and more.

“This clinic is phenomenal,” university president Lesley Hallick said. “I was over here as its first customer. It’s an exciting place and I credit the vision of College of Health Professions Executive Dean Ann Barr-Gillespie, School of Audiology director Victoria Keetay and all of their predecessors for making this a reality.”

Hallick noted that the clinic provides both practitioners and Pacific’s audiology students with unsurpassed facilities and equipment to assess patients and, in students’ cases, apply what they learn in clinical practice. “The first-year students have indicated that they came here because we have the best of virtually everything they need.”

Hillsboro City Council president Aron Carleson added that Pacific EarClinic will be a great community asset for years to come. “We are looking forward to our residents and our community participate and help in the education of Pacific students as we protect our hearing.”

Pacific’s School of Audiology has grown rapidly in just a few years. The three-year doctorate of audiology degree program is an innovative block curriculum format in which students take one class at a time over an accelerated pace. Most programs are four years in length.

“It is a bigger audiology program than most, and designed to meet the pent up need in Oregon and the country for audiology professionals,” Barr-Gillespie said, noting the steep increase in demand for hearing services as the general population grows and the Baby Boomer generation nearing its golden years.

Pacific EarClinic is the latest of the university’s outpatient health clinics, which also include several EyeClinic locations throughout the metropolitan area, two psychology clinics and ones for dental health, physical therapy and diabetes management.

To schedule an appointment at the Pacific EarClinic, please call 503-352-2692.

Photos

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014