About the Nonprofit
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For over 74 years, the Jacksonville Speech & Hearing Center (JSHC) has served the speech, language, and hearing needs of the Northeast Florida community with the mission “to provide the highest quality professional and compassionate care to all individuals in our community with speech, language, and/or hearing disorders, regardless of ability to pay.” Founded as a volunteer-led organization by the Junior League of Jacksonville in 1949, the organization originally provided speech therapy to an average of only four children each week. JSHC has since grown into an award-winning, professionally staffed nonprofit and currently the only non-profit agency in Northeast Florida accredited for both speech-language pathology and audiology services. Our vision is that every individual in Northeast Florida is able to communicate effectively.
JSHC serves all populations, with a strong focus on vulnerable individuals, bringing speech-language and audiology services to often neglected and marginalized community members. We provide our services to low-income individuals and families at no cost and have expanded our reach to encompass all socioeconomic and health disparity levels in our area. Our goal is to reach everyone in need of our services and give a voice to individuals in our community suffering from communication disorders.
During this past 2022 – 2023 fiscal year, our organization reached new heights in service to the community. We provided speech, language and audiology services to over 5,000 pediatric and adult patients, including 1,116 Veterans. We administered 755 speech-language screenings, provided over 10,000 speech therapy sessions with 4,276 that were grant enabled therapies, achieving 100% of participating children making gains. Our audiologists and assistants administered hearing screenings and evaluations to over 2,500 patients and dispensed 1,433 subsidized hearing aids.
In 2015, JSHC became the first, and remains the only, healthcare provider in Northeast Florida to earn credentials as a Certified Autism Center. All JSHC clinicians receive comprehensive training in autism care from the International Board of Crediting and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), and our clinic on 1010 N. Davis Street features a therapy room specially designed to limit external stimuli.
JSHC’s life-changing work has enabled individuals with speech-language and audiology needs to connect and communicate effectively with others at home, school, work, and countless other areas of daily life. As part of our community outreach, we provide speech and hearing screenings at preschools, daycare centers, assisted living facilities, and community health fairs for low-income individuals. In 2022, JSHC launched a Mobile Clinic Initiative, made possible by funding from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. The Mobile Clinic, known as the “Communication Station”, allows JSHC to meet patients where they are and provide more accessible services.
JSHC’s Audiology Services Program identifies, diagnoses, and treats hearing health disorders in individuals. The program is comprised of, but not limited to: full diagnostic hearing evaluations, treatment of hearing loss, evaluation and treatment of tinnitus disorders (ringing in the ears), cerumen (earwax) management, hyperacusis (sensitivity to sound) evaluation and treatment, and mobile screenings in our community.
The Speech-Language Team’s objective is to evaluate, diagnose, and create effective care plans to treat speech, language, cognitive, communication, voice, and fluency disorders with an individualized approach. Our primary speech/language-patient demographic consists of children who (1) have difficulty making speech sounds or articulating them, (2) have language comprehension and production disorders, or (3) require therapy for cognitive-communication impairments, such as autism spectrum disorder. A significant portion of these patients are aged five and under. We aspire to ensure these children can communicate effectively when they enter kindergarten on par with their classmates.