August 06, 2009

New ECHO Building Opens at Carle

Includes Pediatric Hearing Center and Carle Auditory Oral School

URBANA, IL - Carle Foundation Hospital's newest building on its Urbana Medical Campus, which will house the Expanding Children's Hearing Opportunities (ECHO) program, is ready to open its doors. This facility will house the Pediatric Hearing Center and the Carle Auditory Oral School, formerly known as the St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf at Carle. The ECHO program helps children with hearing loss to listen and communicate.

This 15,500 square foot building was designed with the special needs of children with hearing loss and their families in mind. Besides a colorful interior with kid-sized furnishings and bathroom facilities, the building has remote observation capabilities for parents and higher than normal sound-proofing throughout. With an eye towards expansion, the structure was also planned for future construction atop the building and to the southwest.

"This modern, light-filled and spacious building is the culmination of more than 20 years of research and experience in treating children with hearing loss," said Michael Novak, MD, an otolaryngologist with Carle Clinic Association and advocate for deaf children. "It's incredibly exciting to have this program under one roof, bringing together a comprehensive staff and making the program easily accessible for families that come to us from across the state."

The ECHO program was established in 1987 by Dr. Novak with a focus on cochlear implants-the first such children's program in Illinois. Since then, Dr. Novak, a national leader in cochlear implants, has surgically placed cochlear implants in approximately 210 children as young as 7 months old. The program has grown to serve children with all degrees of hearing loss, providing diagnostic and treatment services.  An auditory oral school-just one of two in Illinois--was opened on the Carle campus in 1997.

Although noted for its long-established cochlear implant program, the ECHO program promotes both auditory and sign language skills. The staff helps parents to make well-informed treatment decisions for their family and children.

The primary goal of the Pediatric Hearing Center, an outpatient services center, is to help children with hearing loss develop their communication skills to their fullest potential. The Center involves parents in the assessment and decision making process and provides opportunities to educate and empower families in a non-biased manner. If needed, children may be fitted with hearing aids or receive cochlear implants.

The Carle Auditory Oral School helps children with severe to profound loss learn about their world through listening and spoken language. Officials note that the language-rich, theme-based classroom environment offers an extraordinary learning opportunity. A student/teacher ratio of seven to one makes it a highly desirable learning environment for both hearing children and those with hearing loss.

Having served more than 50 children during the past 12 years, the Carle Auditory Oral School is now able to offer services to children, pre-school through second grade, adding first and second grade classes. This larger school building has increased the number of classrooms from four to nine and more than doubled the enrollment capacity, from 23 students to 54 students. With twice the amount of space, the School will soon open in its new building, welcoming 32 children on August 12. The School strives to be accessible to all children with hearing disabilities, regardless of their family's financial resources.

The Carle Auditory Oral School also serves as a primary teaching site for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State University, and Eastern Illinois University.

According to Robert Driver, vice president of The Carle Development Foundation, about half the cost of the ECHO Building project-or $3 million-is expected to come from donations. As of May 31, more than $1.8 million in donations had been raised through The Carle Development Foundation. "These charitable dollars not only made this modern, child-friendly facility possible, but also allowed us to purchase additional equipment designed especially for these children" said Mr. Driver. The remainder of the $6.25 million project funding came from The Carle Foundation.

The architect for the project is Ratio Architects, Inc. of Champaign, and the mechanical/electrical engineer is GHR Engineers and Associates, Inc. of Champaign. The general contractor is McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. of St. Louis, and the civil engineer is JJR, LLC. of Chicago.

Media Images

ECHO Building - Image 1 (JPEG/5.2 MB)	CAOS Student - Image 1 (JPEG/4 MB)
ECHO Building - Image 2 (JPEG/5.2 MB)	CAOS Student - Image 2 (JPEG/3.8 MB)
ECHO Building - Image 3 (JPEG/5.2 MB)