To mark the end of Better Hearing and Speech Month in May, Infinity Rehab speech-language pathologists hosted an informational session about speech.
 

Spreading the importance of speech therapy

Infinity Rehab SLPs Jade Abdulrahamizi and Nicola Aiello at Cascade Terrace Nursing and Rehab invited their fellow Infinity Rehab and Prestige team members to learn the importance of oral care and why they should refer patients to speech therapy and their recent Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) service.
This service allows patients to be referred for a swallow study with immediate results. The study only takes one to two hours and assesses a patient’s tissue and muscle function.
 

Positive engagement, positive results

The team invited administration, admissions coordinators, infection control, resident care managers, and nurses to their SLP info session.
“This was all received very well with questions and engagement,” said Julie Buker, Director of Rehab with Infinity Rehab.
It went so well that they went longer than expected!
“We had originally planned for 10 minutes of information that turned into the whole lunch hour of sharing with resident care managers, nurses, administrators, the director of nursing, and therapy staff,” Julie said.
They received such a positive response that they were invited to present again at the next all-staff meeting.
In addition to the overwhelmingly positive response, the FEES service has already proved its value, according to Julie. Two of their patients were able to upgrade their diet texture much sooner than they would have been able to with an outside exam.
 

A little fun on the side

This memorable session certainly left an impact not only to all the attendees, but also to Nicola and Jade. Their hard work was well worth it.
But they do make time to have a little fun!
The team dressed up Senior Director of Human Resources Derek Fenwick’s Fathead from Symposium with a t-shirt from their Restorative Aid Program and a stopwatch. When Julie returned to her desk, she found Derek had stolen her seat.
“We do have fun at Cascade Terrace!” Julie exclaimed.