What I re - learned this year

Hustle? Yes, we SLP's have hustle in spades (hearts, clubs, and diamonds)! Whether squeezing in an improvised consumer visit, or an unexpected hard right turn to the daily schedule, we always have a higher gear.

 

Traveling among facilities I serve, there may be texts and emails to scan and process. Voice calls from consumers and their supports need answering. The therapy session for which you had prepared the BEST customized materials ever, need be replaced with a priority evaluation you discovered when arriving at your next stop. A family meeting for which you had mentally budgeted fifteen minutes, is now running past AN HOUR and fifteen minutes. The COVID - 19 mitigations are changing again, so an ad hoc training meeting is called. Hustle. 

 

Discipline? Pish tosh. People depend on us. We have great science, great methods and great history to keep us focused and propelled to reach the best outcomes possible. 

I think many of us would want to wear a patch that resembles the image above, if we have a standard work uniform like a scrub outfit. The medieval scribe toiled and squinted endless hours to get manuscripts copied. We squint, toil, copy and paste, curse at files lost that must be redone, and distill often detailed observations into rigid technical prose. It's what we do. It drives the healthcare and educational systems. It isn't what we aspired to do, when graduate training started. It's what we get flagellated for when it's not done well, and for which we flagellate our tablets, laptops, desktops and phones to get through the workday. It's what we do.

Power? We help people communicate, think and swallow better. As the slogan asks, what's your superpower? 

The more we do 'that voodoo that speech therapists do' (a manager actually told me that once), the more we realize and take to heart that our profession is one of civilizations great levelers; that even with the wide and deep reach the field now has, we have - all clinicians of all credentials,  in all settings - the wish to help all who have a need, to grow their quality of life throughout their lives. This is what we really do. 
 

Farewell to 2020, so fast, and all the best to my colleagues, their circles of support, and all people they support, all around the world!

Can speech-language pathologists offer primary prevention of cardiovascular disease for consumers ?

Dear speech-language pathology colleagues, 

I hope the survey accompanying this post perks your interest in the science of chronic disease prevention. My goal for sharing the survey with you is to discover how many of us include prevention activities in our practices. 

* Do you help your consumers lessen or avoid risks for disability? 

* Do you participate in screenings that will help identify potential consumers of your services? 

* Do your evaluation and treatment sessions include lessons in health literacy, so that your consumers might continue to function at their best? 

You can access the survey by going to - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MQ7K658 

Please try to complete the survey by 1/15/2021, to help me understand how prevention is influencing our field. 

SOME EXPLANATORY NOTES:

Modifiable Risk Factors: fitness, nutrition,  weight control, smoking, environmental health, mental health, etc.

Non-modifiable Risk Factors: age, gender, ethnicity, family history, etc. 

Send any comments about the survey to me at payne.carey11@gmail.com. 

Thanks, 

Carey Payne, MCD, CCC-SLP

"Pretty Wonderful, Communication"  

Favorite speech things: Christmas 2020

 

Patients, or clients; consumers, what have you - !

Speechies will strive to help you meet your goals, true. 

But at this time of year, we do excel

At getting more function, so you swallow well....

 

But  - you say - "Don't you help talking and thinking?

Aren't you called first a SPEECH THERAPIST?" - blinking - 

Yes, we do all that stuff all day and night; 

But it's in the swallow, we best make things right. 

 

When you celebrate at the Holidays

You want to nosh and quaff

And speechies will help you see through to the end

So eating and drinking, are good enough!

 

Try some desired food; sip a good beverage - 

You'll find out what skills will need careful leverage - 

Protect the airway, while increasing flow, 

You'll feel the wassail the best that you'll know!

 

When the plum pudding, crispy fresh latkes,

Or Hoppin' John make you smile; - 

Your happily swallowing holiday tastes

Will help close your holiday clinic file.