(Rockville, MD - January 11, 2006) The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has received the Minority Health Leadership Award from the Office of Minority Health (OMH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
OMH recognized ASHA for working to eliminate health disparities by preventing speech, language, and hearing disorders whenever possible; increasing awareness of available services; assuring that professionals have the skills to provide culturally competent services; and, recruiting and retaining underrepresented minorities into the professions.
"This award highlights ASHA's commitment to advancing the cultural competence of its members and increasing access and improving services to minority populations," according to ASHA President Alex Johnson, CCC-SLP. "Our commitment to multicultural issues has been steadfast for nearly 40 years, ever since ASHA became one of the first associations in the nation to establish an Office of Multicultural Affairs in 1969."
The Minority Health Leadership Award is given to a private or non-profit entity which has a demonstrated vision and shows innovation, creativity, and leadership developing opportunities or investing in effective models for improving the health of racial and ethnic minority communities.
The honor was presented to ASHA at a January 10, 2006 program of the National Leadership Summit on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health. The summit drew leaders from across government, academia, public and mental health areas, minority-serving institutions, and minority communities who gathered to advance key issues and opportunities for improving minority health and closing gaps in the provision of health care.
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 120,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders. For more information about noise, hearing loss, and noise prevention, go to www.asha.org or 1-800-638-Talk.
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Editor's Note: A photo or jpeg file is available upon request. Please contact Greg Weimann at 301-897-0152 or send an e-mail to pr@asha.org.