New location for Warren Center for Speech and Audiology Now Open
BANGOR – Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC), the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in Maine, is ready to open its new space for speech and audiology services and community meetings. The first floor of the facility located at 6 Telcom Drive in Bangor opened on Monday, Jan. 27, and will be the new home of The Warren Center for Speech and Audiology and the Community Room. The new space will offer patients greater access and new technology for audiology services, and will offer the community a place that can be used for meetings or small events in a convenient location.
“The Warren Center offers invaluable hearing and speech therapy services for all ages,” said Lori Dwyer, President & CEO of PCHC. “Our ability to hear and communicate is directly tied to our ability to learn, especially at a younger age when kids cannot articulate these specific problems. The Warren Center’s audiologists and speech therapists can identify what problems exist, and how to best manage those problems. Moving to this new space enables our team to have more room for more services, and offer greater access to patients.”
Moving to 6 Telcom Drive creates enough space for the Warren Center to increase the number of sound suites for patients from two to three. This will loosen up scheduling restrictions and create the opportunity to possibly add an additional provider, which will decrease the wait time for patients in need of appointments.
The Warren Center will also make upgrades to equipment, and will now be able to do ultra high frequency testing, which is useful for ototoxic monitoring.
“Between the upgrades to technology and the physical ability to see more people, our patients should see positive impacts from this move fairly quickly,” said Dwyer.
Audiology services will occupy one side of the first floor of the building, and the speech therapy wing, donated by Robert and Marybeth Allen and newly named Marybeth and Bob Allen Speech and Language Center. will occupy the other side of the first floor, along with a dedicated community meeting space. The Rudman Winchell Community Room will be open to the public and offers a space for people and organizations to conduct meetings, small events, and gatherings.
The opening of the first floor is the latest advancement in PCHC’s move into the former Verizon call center facility. Penobscot Pediatrics moved into the second floor of the building in November, allowing for more exam rooms, increasing access to primary care and mental health care services, and more capacity to see patients more quickly.
More details about Penobscot Pediatrics, The Warren Center, and PCHC’s other offerings can be found at www.pchc.com.