John W Looper Jr Speech & Hearing Clinic Inc

Looper Speech and Hearing Center was incorporated on October 16, 1969 as a 501C3 not-for-profit center by petition of Dr. Royal T. Farrow, Dr. Ronald Tipton and Mrs. John W. Looper, Jr.   The corporation was established in memory of the life of Dr. John W. Looper, Jr. in thanksgiving for his life and contributions to this community.  Dr. Looper died tragically in a plane crash during the initial development stages of the facility.  Dr. Looper was referring children with speech and language difficulties to the Chattanooga Speech and Hearing Center or to facilities in Atlanta.   This created a hardship on some parents and those parents without reliable transportation could not receive services.  The first Board of Directors consisted of 14 members: Mrs. John W. Looper, Jr., Mrs. William C. McGaughey, Mrs. John Chandler,  Dr. Royal T. Farrow, Dr. Ronald Tipton, Mr. Hugh Kemp, Mr. Henry Brobston, Rev. George Sparkes, Mr. Charles Allgood, Mrs. Edrie Huff, Mr. Russ Hanthorn, Mr. Bill Baisley, Mr. Paul Hooker and Mr. John F. Robertson.  The first registered office of the corporation was St. Marks Episcopal Church.         

 The Center moved to Broadrick Street, added Audiology services and continued to serve the local needs.  The Center became an affiliate service provider of the United Way of Northwest Georgia and continues in that capacity today.  The United Way funds from the United Ways of Northwest Georgia and the United Way of Gordon County helps to pay for services that local individuals are unable to pay.  Approximately eighty per cent of the Center’s income comes from fees for services rendered with the other twenty per cent from United Ways and contributions.

 In 1984 the Center operated the first Capital Fund drive approved by the United Way of Northwest Georgia to build its current facility on Professional Boulevard in Dalton. After raising the necessary capital, the Center initiated a building program and moved into the building in 1985. The Center currently operates with a fifteen member Board of Directors.  In 1999 the Center doubled its existing space by adding on to the current building.  In 2012, a single donor provided the funding to expand the building again to meet the needs of the increasing population of Northwest Georgia.

 In our fifty years of service to the community of Northwest Georgia we have touched many lives with many stories to tell.   It is gratifying to have mothers bring their children to the facility and tell us that they remember fondly their own days of therapy or having their hearing tested at the facility.  The Center in its years of operations has provided well over two hundred thousand services to Northwest Georgia and touched the lives of one hundred thousand or more individuals of the region.  The Center is a full range Speech and Hearing Center and provides a full complement of services including Speech, Language, Voice, and Swallowing evaluations and therapy as well as Audiological services, Industrial Services, and Hearing Aid Sales and Services.