New clinic will help treat balance and hearing problems

Teresa Ziegler needed help when she started stuttering and losing her
memory and balance after a car accident.

So she came to CMU.

Dr. Dawn Nelson, an associate professor of communications disorders,
correctly diagnosed the problem and referred the 47-year-old Farwell
woman to CMU’s speech and cognitive therapy clinic.

“Dr. Nelson did an ENG (electronystagmography) to check my
vestibular (balance) system,” Ziegler said. “I had to sit still and
watch red bars moving across a thin bar on the wall and follow each
bar. This test tells whether you have central lesions in your brain.”

Even though Ziegler got the diagnosis she needed, the nearest place
Ziegler could get treated was in Saginaw.

But a new CMU facility will soon change that.

A new Fall and Balance Center will focus on audiology, the
measurement of hearing and vestibular rehabilitation, which includes
physical therapy for dizziness and imbalance.

Kickoff for the new Fall and Balance Center will be from 5:30 to
7:30 p.m. Thursday in the atrium of the Health Professions Building.

The Center will officially open Jan. 9 in the Herbert H. and Grace
A. Dow College of Health Professions Building.

“Audiologists will be conducting thorough evaluations for fall and
balance-risk patients and offering rehabilitation services when
appropriate,” said Liana Bachand, Bridges Center director.

Evaluations such as computerized treadmills simulating balance and
walking conditions will be used to determine the patient’s responses to
help treat balance problems.

“This is for people who need to try to relearn their balance,”
Ziegler said. “It is absolutely necessary.”

Other equipment includes a rotational chair that spins patients and
tests equilibrium.

“You sit in the chair in a small dark room and the chair starts to
spin,” Ziegler said. “While the chair is spinning you are also doing
tasks such as math problems, to keep your brain busy. There are only a
few in the state.”

Physician assistant programs in the new center will allow students
to observe and participate in assessments to consenting patients.

“This special clinic offers hands-on experience for students of
clinical patients that provide consent,” Bachand said.

Patients must be referred by a physician and call ahead for an
appointment.