Listen for LIFE Podcast: Recent Episodes
LIFE Aphasia Academy℠ Genevieve Richardson
If you know the word aphasia, then you are in the right place. This podcast is to provide you with knowledge, inspiration, resources, and support. Do you feel alone and overwhelmed with day-to-day decisions? The Listen for LIFE podcast is for you! We’ll share inspirational stories and provide information you need to know to live your best life. We’ve all heard that life takes a village. Welcome to your village.
29 Telepractice and Aphasia Speech Pathology TreatmentSummary
I met my mentor, Bill Connors, sometime in early 2010 when I attended his Neuroplastic Principles of Adult Aphasia Rehabilitation course. That course blew my mind. 😳 Bill was a pioneer in the field. However, he had a different angle. He specialized in working with clients with chronic aphasia. Bill brought me into his practice in 2014, and I started working with his clients in California.
In this episode, we'll get into who is a candidate for telepractice for adults with aphasia, how to set up for success, the pros and cons of telepractice, and the advantages of telepractice for aphasia treatment. But first, check out the highlights below. Then, if you have questions, we'll cover them in this episode.
Please book a complimentary consultation if you or your loved one needs support during your aphasia journey. Your goals are our goals.
If the information in these podcast episodes has impacted you, I would be grateful if you would subscribe, leave a 5 🌟 review, and share this episode with a family member, a friend, or someone who needs to hear that they are not alone.
Highlights of this EpisodeHelp Build this Aphasia and Stroke Community
How I Started in Telepractice
Bill Connors was a Pioneer in Telepractice + Chronic Aphasia Treatment
My Path and Mission Changed Literally and Figuratively in 2014
Telepractice for Aphasia Treatment has Evolved
The Whiteboard has Revolutionized Telepractice for Aphasia Treatment
Defining Aphasia
Aphasia and Language Expression
Thought > Concept > Meaning > Intention > Words > Intonation > Articulation = MESSAGE
What is Telepractice?
Who is a Candidate for Telepractice?
How We Screen for Telepractice Candidates
What if Telepractice Isn't Successful?
Not Every Person is a Candidate for Telepractice
Advantages of Telepractice
Disadvantages of Telepractice for Aphasia
Telepractice Contributes to Neuroplasticity
Insurance Coverage for Telepractice
How to find a Speech Pathologist + Aphasia + Telepractice?
No Such Thing as a Plateau in Aphasia Recovery
Client Examples of Telepractice + Aphasia Treatment
Episode #28 Aphasia + Speech Pathology + Rehabilitation RoadQuote:
"We need to let families know that they are not alone. They need to know that speech pathologists are there, as well as physical and occupational therapists, physicians, nurses, and case managers." - Genevieve Richardson
SUMMARY:
A speech pathologist's job is to give hope. We need to give them choices. Even the smallest choices make a difference.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
PRESENTING TO THE CASE MANAGEMENT SOCIETY OF AMERICA, SOUTHERN CA
SPEECH PATHOLOGY THROUGH THE CONTINUUM OF REHABILITATION
ROGER: A CLIENT STORY
SPEECH PATHOLOGIST'S ROLE IN ACUTE MEDICAL CARE
FAMILIES ARE JUST SURVIVING DURING THE ACUTE MEDICAL PHASE
SPEECH PATHOLOGIST'S FIRST AND SECOND JOB
IMPATIENT, ACUTE REHABILITATION
HOME HEALTH CARE
ESTABLISHING THERAPY PRIORITIES IN HOME HEALTHCARE
OUTPATIENT THERAPY
GIVE CHOICES TO A PERSON WITH APHASIA: ALLOW THEM TO CONTROL THEIR LIFE
TELEPRACTICE TREATMENT
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PLATEAU
If you have questions, we have answers. Let us help you.
👉🏻 BOOK A CALL FOR A COMPLIMENTARY SPEECH & LANGUAGE CONSULTATION
👉🏻 👉🏻 Download your Guide to Asking Better Questions with Aphasia
Episode #27 Aphasia and Stroke Survivor Grief, How to Recognize and Process GriefQuote
"Your loved one may not have the ability to voice their emotions due to their aphasia. They may not recognize that their actions can be speaking louder than their words. Don't take their reactions personally. If they're having a bad day, it may have nothing to do with you. " - Genevieve Richardson
SUMMARY
Focus on any small changes that can be made to improve the situation. Acknowledge how you might perceive what your spouse is feeling at the time. Maybe you're onto something, and you can help them explore their feelings about the situation using your words.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS EPISODE
STROKE SURVIVOR GUILT AND GRIEF
MANIFESTATIONS OF GUILT IN A STROKE SURVIVOR
HOW TO RECOGNIZE SYMPTOMS OF GUILT IN THE STROKE SURVIVOR
A GRIEF EXPERIENCE OF A CLIENT: STORY
HOW TO SUPPORT THE STROKE SURVIVOR
If you have questions, we have answers. Let us help you.
👉🏻 BOOK A CALL FOR A COMPLIMENTARY SPEECH & LANGUAGE CONSULTATION
👉🏻 👉🏻 Download your Guide to Asking Better Questions with Aphasia
🎇 !SHOW NOTES! 🎇
Episode #26 Grief After Stoke for Families; Processing Grief as a Caregiver
QUOTE
Grief is a normal part of the process. When you lose something, you eventually need to grieve it." - Genevieve Richardson.
SUMMARY
Grief and guilt are common feelings that someone might experience. When you are a caregiver of a stroke survivor, you have a new set of responsibilities. What are some of the stages of grief as a caregiver of a stroke survivor?
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF IN RELATION TO STROKE
GRIEF AND COPING THROUGH THE REHABILITATION PROCESS: Acute Medical Care, Acute In-Patient Rehabilitation, Home Health Care
IDENTIFYING SYMPTOMS OF GRIEF
GRIEVING AS THE ADULT CHILD OF A STROKE SURVIVOR
HOW TO PROCESS GRIEF
BE MINDFUL
I WISH YOU TO FEEL HOPE
TO-DO LIST
👉🏻 BOOK A CALL FOR A COMPLIMENTARY SPEECH & LANGUAGE CONSULTATION
👉🏻 👉🏻 Download your Guide to Asking Better Questions with Aphasia
🎇!SHOW NOTES AND DOWNLOAD A TRANSCRIPT!🎇
Episode #25 #MACONADIFFERENCE LIFE After a StrokeQUOTE
I focus on what I can do. And I have this 80/20 rule. What I mean is 20% of my work gets 80% of what I need. So with the 20% that I've learned how to do, I can do 80% of what I need to. - Brandon Macon, 2023
SUMMARY
Today, we're talking to Brandon Macon. He is a stroke survivor with aphasia and tells us how he lives and thrives despite his aphasia. Communication is not the words you speak but the tone, body language, and other things that communicate with you and others.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
HOW COULD BRANDON COMMUNICATE WITHOUT WORDS?
BRANDON'S 80/20 RULE
REGAINING CONFIDENCE WITH THE HELP OF HIS TRIBE
SOME WORDS ARE HARDER TO SAY THAN OTHERS
WHY MINDSET MATTERS
HOW BRANDON GOT A STROKE
HOW THE STROKE IMPACTED BRANDON
THE IMPORTANCE OF FINDING THE RIGHT
BRANDON'S PAST AND FUTURE
A MEANINGFUL ENCOUNTER
THE PROCESS OF ACCEPTING LIFE
THERE ARE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DAILY LIFE
MY EXPERIENCE AT UT HEALTH IN SAN ANTONIO
A MESSAGE FROM BRANDON
TWO EARS, ONE MOUTH
STAYING THANKFUL DESPITE NEGATIVE THINGS
TO-DO LIST
👉🏻 BOOK A CALL FOR A COMPLIMENTARY SPEECH & LANGUAGE CONSULTATION
👉🏻 👉🏻 Download your Guide to Asking Better Questions with Aphasia
🎇!SHOW NOTES AND DOWNLOAD A TRANSCRIPT!🎇
24 Won't vs. Can't Aphasia Rehabilitation After StrokeIf someone shows you their true colors, don't try to paint them. -Unknown
When people show you their true colors, don't get mad. Paint a beautiful mural of life's lessons and keep marching forward. - Alex Ellie
Our topic today is about the stroke survivor who won't do therapy versus who can't do therapy. So let's dive in.
Scenario: Your dad is a strong and independent man. He just had a stroke. Fortunately, he doesn't have weakness on either side of his body. His arms are fine. His legs are fine. He doesn't need physical therapy.
He's showing changes in his ability to concentrate and memory, and more often now than before, he gets irritated when you ask him questions or to do something. The doctors say he has good potential for improving his ability to talk and find the words he wants to say.
He's refusing to go to therapy. He won't listen to you when you ask why he won't go to therapy.
Let's talk about therapy resistance and understanding the potential reasons behind therapy resistance. There are many reasons why a stroke survivor may be resistant to therapy. It's important to understand these underlying concerns to address them.
Highlights of this episode
[00:03:06] POTENTIAL REASONS FOR THOSE WHO WON'T DO THERAPY
[00:04:41] POSSIBLE CULTURAL ISSUES IMPACTING REHABILITATION PARTICIPATION
[00:06:34] PRIDE CAN IMPAIR PARTICIPATION IN REHABILITATION
[00:08:09] REASONS SOMEONE CAN'T DO THERAPY
[00:09:26] HOW DO WE OVERCOME RESISTANCE TO THERAPY?
[00:09:59] MOTIVATING SURVIVORS IN REHABILITATION
[00:11:45] ROLE OF CAREGIVERS IN SUPPORTING THERAPY
[00:13:08] FUNCTIONAL GOALS TO WORK TOWARDS IN THERAPY
[00:15:38] LIFE PARTICIPATION APPROACH TO THERAPY
[00:20:56] WHAT CAN A DAUGHTER DO TO MOTIVATE HER DAD TO DO THERAPY?
[00:23:20] HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE YOUR LOVED ONE TO PARTICIPATE?
YOUR TO-DO LIST...
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🗓️ Schedule a free consultation to help your loved one communicate better
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👉🏻 Download the Aphasia Workbook Freebie: A NEW YEAR, A NEW WAY OF ASKING QUESTIONS
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Please share this episode with a friend 🥰
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More resources at DoLIFESpeechPathology.com/resources
23, Strengthen Your Marriage after Stroke"If you're not happy with where you are and what you've got, you won't be happy with where you go or what you get. Happiness is a choice for today." -Fawn Weaver
Stroke can be a trying time for any marriage. Not only is it a health crisis, but it can also be an emotional and financial one as well. Suffering from a stroke has the ability to completely change your life, which will consequently affect your marriage. If your spouse has suffered a stroke, it's important to do everything you can to support them physically and emotionally and work together to rebuild a healthy relationship.
Highlights from this episode
[00:01:55] COMMUNICATE OPENLY AND HONESTLY
[00:03:20] LEAN ON EACH OTHER FOR SUPPORT
[00:04:51] A STORY ABOUT ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
[00:06:23] MAKE TIME FOR EACH OTHER
[00:06:43] A STORY ABOUT CONNECTION
__________________________
BOOK A CONSULTATION WITH LIFE SPEECH PATHOLOGYIf you'd like specific help improving your communication with your loved one, LIFE Speech Pathology can help. Free consultations are available. Schedule a consultation HERE.
NEW FREEBIE TO DOWNLOADA NEW YEAR, A NEW WAY OF ASKING QUESTIONS IN APHASIA
Be mindful of how you're asking questions. If you have a particularly challenging communication situation, be sure to go back and analyze it later. Really process it to figure out what could have been done differently. I hope you'll download and use this workbook.
22, How to Embrace Your New Reality after Stroke"Worry never accomplishes anything. When you have a problem, it is best to concentrate on the solution to that problem and not the problem itself." -Thomas D. Willhite
A stroke is a life-changing event for the person who survives and their spouse, partner, and family members. It can be difficult to adjust to your new reality physically and emotionally. If you're struggling to cope, know that you are not alone. There are ways to work through your challenges and come out stronger on the other side. In this episode, we'll cover three strategies to help you embrace your new reality after a stroke.
Here are highlights from this episode
[00:01:44] COME TO TERMS WITH WHAT HAPPENED
[00:03:54] FIND YOUR VILLAGE OF SUPPORT
[00:05:32] DISCOVER THINGS THAT BRING YOU JOY
[00:07:10] START WITH SMALL CHANGES AND BUILD
[00:08:00] ONLINE RESOURCES FOR SUPPORT
__________________________
BOOK A CONSULTATION WITH LIFE SPEECH PATHOLOGYIf you'd like specific help improving your communication with your loved one, LIFE Speech Pathology can help. Free consultations are available. Schedule a consultation HERE.
NEW FREEBIE TO DOWNLOADA NEW YEAR, A NEW WAY OF ASKING QUESTIONS IN APHASIA
Be mindful of how you're asking questions. If you have a particularly challenging communication situation, be sure to go back and analyze it later. Really process it to figure out what could have been done differently. I hope you'll download and use this workbook.
New Year's Eve is just around the corner, and with it comes the chance to start fresh with new year's resolutions. I am taking this opportunity to talk about how we ask questions to your person with aphasia. Whether your person can talk or is limited in their words, asking questions in a simple, straightforward way will ensure accurate communication.
Download the workbook, A New Year A New Way of Asking Questions.
If you'd like specific help improving communication with your loved one. LIFE Speech Pathology can help. Free consultations are available by phone or by Zoom. You can schedule a free call HERE.
Life After Stroke: Building A Life You LoveLife is about accepting the challenges along the way. Choosing to keep moving forward and savoring the journey. — Roy T. Bennett
Episode 3 of 5: Life After Stroke
So this episode is number three of the LIFE AFTER STROKE series. This episode is about how to build a life you love. And I have four takeaways from this episode. Making healthy life choices. Work toward a positive attitude. Journal to process emotion. And set realistic goals.
Learn more at
DoLIFESpeechPathology.com. Office 512-553-4364. Email: Hello@DoLIFESpeechPathology.com
"Resilience isn’t a single skill. It's a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road, as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive." — Jean Chatzky
"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts."
— Winston S. Churchill
WELCOME TO EPISODE TWO OF FIVE: LIFE AFTER STROKE
Hi there. This is the second of five episodes in the series LIFE AFTER STROKE. This week, we're talking about how to build resilience.
HOW TO RECONNECT WITH YOUR LOVED ONE
Last week we discussed how to reconnect with your loved one after a stroke. And we covered four points. The first one was
- To speak slowly and clearly
- Take advantage of every means of communication
- Be patient
- Take one day at a time
Suppose you are early in your journey with aphasia. You may not be thinking you need to reconnect with your loved one. You may be thinking, 'everything is fine. We're surviving. We're moving forward.' However, down the road, months or even years after the stroke, you may realize that you have just been focused on the day-to-day tasks.
At some point, you may realize that you see your partner or loved one as someone to care for, look out for, and advocate for, and don't look at them as the person you chose to spend your life with. My wish for you and your family this holiday season is to find ways to reconnect with your loved one with aphasia.
THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF RESILIENCE
The four components of resilience are honesty, humility, flexibility, and patience. Here's how to incorporate these elements of resilience into your recovery.
Learn more at
DoLIFESpeechPathology.com. Office 512-553-4364. Email: Hello@DoLIFESpeechPathology.com
QUOTE
"Connection is the energy that exists between two people when they feel seen, heard, and valued, when they can give and receive without judgment and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship."
EPISODE ONE OF FIVE ABOUT LIFE AFTER A STROKE
This is the first of five episodes about life after a stroke. Today's episode is about reconnecting with a loved one after a stroke. Starting next week. We'll talk about how to build resilience, how to build a life you love, how to embrace your new reality and strengthen your marriage.
If you need more personal guidance for building a connection, reach out by phone or email. All lists, both the contact information and a link to schedule directly on the calendar. And you can find that information also in the show notes. I offer complimentary phone calls or Zoom.
Office 512-553-4364
Email Hello@DoLIFESpeechPathology.com
Schedule a phone call HERE
Download your FREEBIE Talking Turkey about Aphasia Inclusion at the Holidays
STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT YOUR LOVED ONE WITH APHASIA DURING THE HOLIDAYS1. preparing your guests so they understand the best ways to interact
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setting up a communication buddy
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recruiting key family or friends to look out for your loved one with aphasia when you have other holiday responsibilities
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allow for some communication struggles; struggling can lead to growth
Download your guide Talking Turkey about Aphasia Inclusion at the Holidays.
ASK THE PERSON WITH APHASIA HOW THEY WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO ADVOCATE FOR THEM"You should be advocating every day in every situation, not only for yourself but for your spouse or your friend or your partner." - Aurora
Advocating for a person with aphasia is tricky. Find out their wishes. You may have to do some detective work to understand how to help them the way they want to be helped.
Graduate student Aurora Azevedo gives us insight into one of her clients and how he was empowered to advocate for himself.
EDUCATION, ADVOCACY & EMPOWERMENT IN APHASIA
Bringing education and awareness to other people in the real world is so important. And it gives the caregiver a sense of empowerment.
Today we are discussing education, advocacy & empowerment in aphasia with two graduate clinicians, Callie Maywald and Abigail Johnson, from the University of Texas Health, Department of Communication Science and Disorders, San Antonio.
Learn more about our mission at LIFE Speech Pathology and LIFE Aphasia Academy by visiting DoLIFESpeechPathology.com.
If you have a loved one or know someone with aphasia and want to explore reaching new goals in communication, consider scheduling a FREE Zoom Consult. You can schedule via this calendar link. Consults are also available by calling 512-553-4364. We serve clients across the USA.
Episode Summary
Mary Osborne wants to change the narrative about dementia and support caregivers. Her company YourDementiaTherapist.com is a consulting business in Austin, Texas. She offers comprehensive education and training for caregivers through her course, Caregiver's Guide to Dementia: How to Increase Quality of Life without Drowning in Overwhelm.
Mary is working with dementia, as I am working with stroke survivors with aphasia. To learn more about LIFE's mission, please visit DoLIFESpeechPathology.com.
Get your legal house in order with a will, a Ladybird deed, a living trust, and powers of attorney for finances and medical decisions. Not taking action is a choice. You choose to have the state make decisions for you and your belongings. Make your wishes known and maintain control over your life. Knowledge is power, and action is control. Now is a great day to get your legal house in order.
SUMMARY
Graduate clinician, Sarah Willingham, speaks about strategies for communicating with your loved one with aphasia and her takeaways from Communication Partner Training in Aphasia.
The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) begins October 15 and through December 7th. We are speaking to Dana Lasman, an independent Medicare insurance agent. She's a great resource. I learned so much by interviewing her. Please join us.
EPISODE SUMMARY
Gisela Jaimes talks to us about her experience with Communication Partner Training in Aphasia as a graduate student clinician in speech pathology. Speech therapy after stroke focuses on patient treatment. However, Communication Partner Training is designed specifically for spouses, families, and caregivers to learn how best to communicate with their loved ones.
If you'd like to learn more, grab Gisela's presentation about Communication Partner Training in Aphasia HERE.
Before you go, have you grabbed the TOP TIPS for Communication and Self-Care Guide? Get it HERE.
TRANSCRIPT
E10_Communication Partner Training in Aphasia with Gisela Jaimes
Intro
Gisela: we have to let them or help them understand their patient's language, their communication, and what it looks like because aphasia seems so different in every individual.
Genevieve: Hello again, Gisela.
Gisela: Hi,
Genevieve: Thanks for coming back. I know she's back. She had a few days away after finishing her internship with LIFE Speech Pathology. Now she's back; we got to complete her final evaluation today, and currently, we're recording another podcast. Woohoo.
Gisela: Wooh.
Genevieve: So today, our topic is communication partner training.
How did this come about? Gisela.
Gisela: Well, you asked me to do a project that I felt passionately about, and I was sitting there breaking my brain, trying to think about what I wanted to do. I feel passionate about caregiver support, but you already have—caregiver support groups. So I was like, I can't go down that way. So I thought about Communication partner training because I think outside of treatment as SLPs, we want to treat the whole person.
And so I was thinking, what other ways can we treat the whole person without it being like immediate treatment and support caregiver groups are one example. And I think this is also another example of that. So that's why I ran with it.
Genevieve: Differentiate for us communication partner training. How is that different from what we now offer caregivers when seeing their loved ones for treatment?
Gisela: So, when we see their loved ones for treatment, we are usually treating their loved ones for their communication deficits, whether it's naming, word retrieval comprehension, that kind of stuff. It's straightforward with their loved one or our client versus communication partner training is more so training the caregiver, friends, or family to better communicate with their loved one outside the session.
So how can we ease frustrations that they may be encountering with their loved ones? Because of the lack of education or awareness and how we provide those tools, we can make this bridge communication for both of them and make it easier for them to interact and communicate and want to talk to each other.
Genevieve: I like your term bridge. Being married's already hard enough, somebody that you've known for a long time, and then you throw aphasia on top of it. And it's just; it's just so much more, it's so much more to think about. You must be conscious of the spouse, partner, or significant other with aphasia. It's tough when you're in the moment and feeling frustrated to take a step back out of yourself and understand the message you're communicating, how you put that message together, and how it could be interpreted. It's just a lot more complicated. You think people had to have, you know, potentially marriage counseling before aphasia was the marriage counselors after aphasia, which is just an exciting concept to me. So I'm excited to hear more about communication partner training and to let our folks know that it's out there and this can be something trained separately where it doesn't take away time from the direct treatment to the loved one, the person with aphasia.
Gisela: We don't want it to take time away from the person with aphasia. We want this to be that extra time that the people who love the person with aphasia are willing to put in to help and encourage their loved one to participate in life and get back into the life they used to.
Genevieve: That's right. All right, so let's jump in. So I'm just going to ask a few questions, but we'll let you share your message because you're passionate about this, and it shows. So what is communication partner training? Give us a definition.
Gisela: So, a definition is it is an evidence-based practice. It focuses on indirect treatment through the education of communication partners and how to best support their loved ones in a conversation. So that's the, I think, the best-abbreviated definition of communication partner training. It is evidence-based. So there's a lot of research to show that this is, you know, very enhancing quality of life for both the caregiver and the patient.
Genevieve: So, how do we get there? How do we help? How do we help our caregivers?
Gisela: Well, summarize it or break it into different pieces. We train them, but we have to educate them.
So you have to educate them specifically on their loved one's diagnosis and what their aphasia looks like.
And then, we have to teach them how to enhance their and their loved ones' messages. That's the portion of education. Awareness, you know, being aware of how you're communicating, how you're going to have to change, how you're interpreting a message and being aware and mindful of your patient's goals and needs because every person with aphasia thinks about communication very differently. We have some patients who love it when we give them a word like, oh, is this the word you're referring to? Yes. Thank you. And then we have other patients, like, give me a second. I'm going to get there. Do not give me the word. So you must be aware of those because if you aren't mindful of their goals and their needs, in terms of conversation, it's very likely that you're being offensive or not encouraging, and you're just stepping on their toes.
And so that's where awareness comes in. Then we have practice, and practice makes perfect, right? So we, you, have to practice these strategies. You're not going to get them off the bat because you are changing how you usually communicate with your loved one or how you used to share with your loved one—practicing and encouraging others to use these strategies.
You are also open to practicing alone and in front of an SLP so that they might give you feedback, which brings me to our last part, feedback. You have to be open to criticism, constructive criticism, hopefully. Otherwise, you're not going to grow. So you have to welcome, you know, that feedback, that criticism so that you can change, and you have to be open to different forms of communication.
Sometimes that involves writing and drawing using technology so that they can type out what they want to show you using maps, using visual gestures. The conversation will not be just verbal; that is where that open-mindedness comes in. You have to be open to using different forms, but that's how we get there.
We use these tools, these keys, to help get our message out to our person with aphasia and for them to get their message out to us.
Genevieve: So you brought up a point a minute ago where you said, I'm trying to think of exactly how you put it, but that we train the communication partner based on their loved one's language, where they, where they are functioning. I'm wondering, could we offer and instruct caregivers in general terms? It's different if we're training a communication partner for a client we know very well, but is it still valuable to do communication partner training with someone we may not know their loved one? Could we still do it and do it successfully?
Gisela: If we can do it successfully, what would be an overgeneralization, but I think there's a way to do it that will make a difference, regardless if it's a hundred percent bulletproof, it'll make a difference. Different forms of doing that are by educating broadly and covering all areas.
These are some tools you can use for people with comprehension difficulties. These are some of the expressive challenges. We can touch all bases in a generalized way where you could still communicate with a person with aphasia and probably still have a good conversation. You would think you would have to have marriage counseling before aphasia just because marriage is already complicated. And then throwing in aphasia makes it just that much more complicated.
And so that's the only reason I would say in that sense, you would want to be as detailed as necessary and, you know, touch all bases with that person precisely. Hence, the primary caregiver has all the tools they need to communicate effectively with their partner or loved one. So having those comprehensive tools would go miles and, you know, really make a difference.
Genevieve: We could work with physical and occupational therapists in somebody's face doing therapy. The nurses might be coming to the house. In a home health setting or the nurses that go into the room, there can be a lot of education and training for professionals because I think sometimes professionals get caught up in their job and what has to happen. And they don't have the luxury of time to modify their communication with somebody with aphasia that they have to treat at that moment. But a general education may be helpful so that they can approach it differently when they have a little bit more time.
Gisela: Yeah. And even the general education of aphasia, what is aphasia? It would be huge because I've heard comments about nurses being like, oh, he's just cognitively not there, and that's not accurate, you know, cognitively, you know, clients are still there. Aphasia is just language. And so, differentiating between the two is part of the communication partner training. I mean, that's why we have education, but I think it's foundational and key to beginning that journey.
Genevieve: As we were going through the initial stages of the caregiver, coach aphasia support training that we were doing early on in the semester. You mention that it's super important for our spouses, partners, and loved ones to understand where their person is. So many of these quotes on Facebook, social media, and Pinterest aphasia is a loss of language, not a loss of intellect.
I don't dispute that whatsoever, but we also have to understand that sometimes our folks with aphasia have a hard time conceptualizing their thoughts, and that's completely separate from intellect. So I'm just trying to paint a distinction between the two. If a spouse can identify when her husband, I'm just going to pick a gender, cannot formulate his complete concept, it will be much harder for him to find the words to express it.
So I think if that spouse can identify sooner that the entire concept isn't there, then she can ask inquiring questions to help get him there and keep the conversation moving forward, versus being reactionary, getting frustrated, and then shutting down the communication because believe it or not, those things compound and they can affect a relationship.
Gisela: Definitely. Communication impacts relationships that don't have a person with aphasia, affecting relationships that do. So definitely. I agree with everything you just said.
Genevieve: So, do you have some specific tips you want to give?
Gisela: Yeah. So, here are some general tips; we can start with receptive aphasia. To summarize receptive aphasia, receptive aphasia is a deficit in comprehension. So a person who has aphasia has difficulty or finds it challenging to understand what is being communicated to them.
This is on a spectrum. So some people are, have a higher severity than others. So again, this is just general. But talking at a slower rate is helpful. Obviously, not at a rate that is condescending. We were just talking at a slower pace. It's also beneficial to use multimodal forms of communication. So gestures, pictures, remnants, technology, remnants being an object that you can show somebody that is meaningful, whether it's a baseball or a date that you both went to or a picture, a wedding picture.
That's a remnant. I think using that in conversation can be helpful, much like you mentioned, Genevieve, it's it helps set the concept, especially if they're having difficulty understanding the image or like formulating that concept, holding up that baseball from that first date you guys got like went to, and it got signed.
This is just an example, but it would be very helpful in setting that concept, setting the foundation, setting the setting. So that's just an example of different forms of communication we can use to help them understand what we're talking about—setting context. So then we have to use proper nouns instead of just general nos, you know, instead of that person over there, you would say miss Genevieve, or instead of let's go out to eat to that restaurant around the corner, you would say, let's go to the Chili's off of I - 35, you know, like just being very specific.
The visualization of stuff that's helpful. And then having simple sentences instead of complex sentences. So that would be like sentences such as. That lady is carrying the baby, which is very straightforward and in the correct order. But, you know, the lady is holding the baby versus that baby was carried by the woman. So that's a little more complicated to understand.
Then we have to eliminate distractions. If there is a conversation or you're in a loud restaurant, you will have a more challenging time getting your message across. And I mean, this is, this goes for anybody, right? Like when you're in a busy place with many distractions, it's a little harder to listen in on what this person is saying because a lady is giving the juiciest gossip next door. So that goes for people with aphasia as well. Distractions are enormous, whether it's sounds, conversation, you know, the TV is on in the background, the dog is barking.
If you can't eliminate it, it's also important to be aware that that might impact how they comprehend you. That doesn't mean they're declining; it just means the dog was barking, so that's probably why he couldn't understand my message. And then also be aware of their facial expressions or their body language.
Are they making eye contact? Are they looking at you confused? Are they looking at you blankly? You know, all of that, so you know, how to pivot and modify your message accordingly. And then also be aware of your tone because maybe they're not comprehending the content of the words, but they hear you being sarcastic, which might cause misinterpretation.
So, you know, just be mindful of all of those things. But, again, when speaking to a person with receptive aphasia, those are just general ones that I think you can apply across the board.
Genevieve: I know we ignore location in my own family. We bring up a topic unrelated to what they're doing or what I'm doing. It just happened to be the thought I had at that moment. So I would challenge all the partners who are communicating with someone with aphasia, location matters. If you're helping your husband bathe, don't talk about dinner.
That's not the right time to do it. You need to do it in the context, and sometimes it's a matter of having faith that you'll remember to bring it up at the right time. So context as well as location matters. Eliminating distractions is so important. Going to dinner at a busy restaurant at prime time and sitting near the kitchen where all the noise of the pots, pans, dishes, and the door opening and closing is not the best time if you're trying to get your person to engage in a conversation. You're setting them up for failure if you're in a challenging environment like that. If you need to talk, turn off the TV. When I speak to my husband, I'm almost always interrupting him.
I wait; he pauses the TV, and then we can talk because if he doesn't shift his attention, part of the message will get lost. And if he doesn't turn his attention, something not only important will get lost, but it impacts how I perceive how that interaction went. So I'm challenging all of you to start thinking about how you are talking to your significant other; take a step back as if you were watching a movie and see how that interaction went. And try something different next time. A lot of this is practice and awareness. So thank you for all of those tips. Gisela, keep going. Let's hear about folks that have the more expressive type of aphasia.
Gisela: Yeah, expressive aphasia is aphasia in which the deficits are the challenges. I don't like the word deficits, but I feel like clinically and like in the book, that's the word we use, but if I say deficit, just replace it with challenges. So I think that's a better term to encompass what people with aphasia are going through.
Essentially a person with expressive aphasia faces challenges in getting their message out, finding the right word to use, formulating sentences, and anything that has to do with the verbal output. Not necessarily language expression in general, because there are other ways to communicate.
Sometimes they're good at gestures. They can still have effective expressive language. It's just not going to be always verbal. Some tip when working or communicating with a person with expressive aphasia is to ask for clarification. Did you mean this? Did you mean to say this and repeat the message, or can you restate what you understood?
You know, I understood that you want to do this at this time and, you know, rephrasing it to be answered with a yes or no. Yes. That's what I said. But, no, that's not what I said. Because a lot of the time, they might think they're saying one thing. Once you repeat to them, what they said, they're like, oh, oops, I accidentally had paraphasia, you know, which is replacing one word with another, which now completely changes the message that was being communicated.
So really important to clarify and restate what you understood. Give them enough time; give them time. Wait. And I don't mean wait hesitantly because then that applies pressure, now this person is being pressured, and it's just going to get more complicated. It means waiting with a smile on your face, not tapping your finger, not moving around in your chair. And obviously, don't wait 30 minutes for them to get this one word. This is where you have to, you know, also try to help, but this will look different based on the person that you're speaking to. Figure out what kind of help your loved one is comfortable with. So, ask permission to suggest words. Is it okay if I recommend a comment? You know, sometimes they may get stuck on a dish.
Sometimes they'll start describing the word. For example, if they're trying to explain the sun, they might begin to, you know, " it's round, it's in the sky, it's yellow." That's not an invitation for you to give them that word; you still have to ask permission to provide them with that word. "Oh, is it okay if I guess what you're saying?"
"Yes." "Okay." "Is it the sun?" "Correct." or they'll move on with their conversation. If you are the primary caregiver, the asking for permission might get brushed over, which is fine as long as you know that your person is okay with you not asking for permission. You've set those boundaries. You understand those boundaries.
Suppose you are a healthcare worker and you don't know those boundaries. In that case, you should always ask for permission and then provide them with means of communication, whether technology, a phone, or a computer they can type into or use. Maps on pictures, you know, anything to help enhance their message an AAC device. So this is like maybe a piece of paper with some food options so they can tell you what they want to eat. AAC devices look incredibly different. That was just one example and drawing. So providing them with paper so they can draw or write all those tools makes a huge difference because they might not be able to verbally express what they want to say. Now, they can describe it to you with all of these tools. So, these are just a few very general tips on communicating with people with expressive aphasia. I hope that's helpful.
Genevieve: You got my wheels turning about how we could train spouses differently, possibly with different examples than an adult or even a child, to communicate with a person with aphasia. Training healthcare workers that's a whole other avenue.
Gisela: It's an area we glance over because as we grow up, and we know we move through life, it's straightforward for us to modify based on our communication partner, you know, or for our us neurotypical people, it's like easy to change how we're communicating with others. Introducing these tools, it's going to be different. How do a teenager, an adult, a primary caregiver, and a friend apply them? And also how you teach them. We'll introduce a lot more in-depth stuff to a primary caregiver versus a healthcare giver. Like you just said, detail versus generalized versus what kind of message are you usually going to be giving or trying to express or understand as a child versus as an adult, all things to be considered.
I think it's hard to have a generalized education that is 100% bulletproof and successful. I mean, all teaching and all training, I believe, will be effective and helpful. But there's no guarantee. And especially if you're not practicing or practicing mindfully.
Genevieve: Absolutely. That was great, Gisela. She has put together a presentation and an excellent infographic that we will link to in the show notes. So you guys can get your hands on it, see it. Also, there'll be a transcript available of our ramblings on this podcast. So compare and contrast and, you know, help give you at least a jumping-off point when you're communicating with your significant other with aphasia.
So we're going to wrap up by talking to Gisela a little about how she even got into speech pathology out of all the careers and the world out there. How did you land here?
Gisela: To be fully transparent, I wanted to do fashion merchandising, and my dad said, I don't think so. He said, if I'm paying for you to go to school or if I'm helping out, you need to find something a little more reliable, and you know what, thanks to him, I graduated the year of the pandemic. Had I gone into fashion merchandising, I dont see that it would've been that reliable. So then I started looking around. I knew I didn't want to be a doctor; I didn't want to be a nurse. So I was in the area of healthcare, I was like, I feel like this is reliable.
I know that I love helping people. My aunt and cousin worked as home health nurse managers and therapist managers. And they were like, " you should do speech therapy, you'd be good at it. So why don't you check it out?" And so I started doing some research and seeing what it meant to be a speech therapist at the time. I only realized that it was working with kids and probably at a school, maybe like home health. I didn't know that you could work with adults. I didn't realize you could work at a NICU. I didn't think we did swallowing. I didn't learn any of that until my second year of college. Once I started getting involved, I fell in love with our field. I love working with kids. I love working with adults. I haven't done any swallowing, so I can't say I love swallowing, but I do love what I've gotten to do so far. I realized how important communication was. I think communication is key to everything.
You know, honing these tools and whatnot is essential. Importance to safety, intimacy, and all of that. It's the foundation. And so, in the process of wanting to help people and also falling in love with communication. I am glad. I ended up here, and I love everything we do.
That's a long story short, how I ended up in speech therapy.
Genevieve: That's pretty cool
You have a great future ahead of you, whichever way you want to go. First, you must pick the age group, and then you have a set. So, yeah, there's just a lot of opportunity and choices. Well, Gisela, thank you so much for coming back today and telling us about communication partner training. I want to wish you happy graduation.
Gisela: Thank you. Thank you for having me on once again.
Genevieve: Folks, we'll have her back again. We'll tackle some other subjects. We'll see where her next year takes her because now she has to do a clinical fellowship year, which is about nine months. So I highly recommend you get it done. It's just one of those things. Keep the momentum up, keep going, get in a good placement with a good supervisor, and you'll knock it out of the park.
Gisela: Thank you. I'm going to get her done.
Genevieve: That's right. All right, folks, we'll see you next time.
SUMMARY
This week, I interview Kyle Green of Always Best Care Senior Services. Kyle and his wife own the franchise in Austin. Always Best Care is a national company. Kyle explains the ins and outs of the caregiving industry and key questions to ask when hiring a caregiver. As someone who has had to do this over the last week, I am very well aware of the ins and outs of the process. Finding a reputable company and establishing a relationship is essential.
FREEBIE
Have you hired a caregiving company before? Well, neither had I until very recently. I pulled together the top questions to ask when interviewing home care agencies. Listen to this episode and grab the workbook, too.
Download the workbook I created just for this episode titled HIRING IN-HOME CARE, CONSIDERATIONS + QUESTIONS (when you've never hired an agency before).
📖 I have recent personal experience with the process of finding the right in-home care. I am grateful for Kyle's insight and my recent research and experience so I can share it with you. Let me know how the workbook works for you. 📖
ANOTHER FREEBIE
Have you downloaded your copy of Top Tips for Aphasia Communication and Self Care? Get it HERE.
View the TRANSCRIPT HERE I hope you learned some excellent information from Kyle from AlwaysBestCareAustin.com. If you have questions about caregiving, he's an extraordinary individual, trying to make a difference in the Austin area and caring for people.
Thanks for tuning into today's episode. If you like more information about how we serve persons with stroke and other neurological conditions who have chronic aphasia, check out our website DoLIFESpeechPathology.com.
SUMMARY
Today we are joined by Dee, a resilient spouse who cares, advocates, coaches, and loves her spouse with aphasia and apraxia of speech. Her story is candid and discusses her struggle to find rays of hope even in the most challenging of days. She shares the importance of attending an aphasia support group and surrounding herself with people who understand. She tells us how she celebrates victories and wins and is learning to care for herself. Thank you, Dee, for your insight. If you have words of encouragement for Dee, you are welcome to email me at Hello@DoLIFESpeechPathology.com, and I will get them to her.
One aspect of our mission at LIFE Speech Pathology and LIFE Aphasia Academy is to support families and spouses. To this end, we are launching a private Facebook group where members can interact freely in a safe and supportive environment. If you'd like to join us, email Hello@DoLIFESpeechPathology.com and we'll send you a link.
Before you check out the episode, download the Top Tips for Aphasia Communication + Self-Care Guide. I created this guide to provide a different approach, a new perspective, and some action items to implement to improve your communication with your loved one with aphasia. I'd be grateful to know if you find the content helpful.
TRANSCRIPT
Dee: Everybody says it, and nobody believes it. Everybody says, you know, this could happen. This could happen. And, I think it's human nature not to believe it's going to be you because I think that would be too big of a cloud to live under. Hmm. But, and I will say. You can do things you never thought you could do.
And I have to say; I am eternally grateful. I didn't know beforehand because until you are in that situation, you do not know your strength. You do not know the opportunities you're going to be given or the kindness of others, but yes, a rollercoaster, and it's still a rollercoaster.
WELCOME
Welcome
Genevieve: So Miss Dee, tell us, this has been a heck of a rollercoaster for you guys these three years.
Dee: Whew. That is a good way to put it for someone who hates roller coasters. ‘Cuz I hate roller coasters. I always have. In fact, the last one I was on, I prayed that "God, you get me off of it, and I will never go on another one," I think I was 13, and I meant it - never again. But yes, it has been a roller coaster - and it has been. I've learned so much. I've learned so much about the unexpected.
Everybody says it, and nobody believes it. Everybody says, you know this could happen. This could happen. I think it's human nature not to think it's going to be you because I think that would be too big of a cloud to live under. So I will say you can do things you never thought you could do.
And I have to say I am eternally grateful I didn't know beforehand because until you are in that situation, you do not know the strength that you have. You do not know the opportunities that you're going to be given or the kindness of others, but yes, a rollercoaster, and it's still a rollercoaster.
It's not quite as high. Some days it feels like the beginning, but for the most part, I'm not sure if I'm getting used to the ride or if the ride's getting not quite as scary. I don't know. Probably a combo of both I'd say.
Stroke Roller Coaster
Genevieve: So let's go. Tell us a little bit about this roller coaster. What was life like before, then what happened three years ago, and where are you now?
Dee: Well, I had retired from teaching. I'd been retired for a year, and Glen was looking to retire in one more year. So it would've been that he would work two more years after me. And he was going to take that last year of work and get all of the little things that needed to be done to his body because he worked for the railroad, and you can use that time as sick leave, and you still get paid. It's a great setup. So he had, you know, some shoulder things, and he'd always had a bad knee. In fact, he had it scoped many years ago, so he just went in for routine knee surgery.
It went well. I took him home. We followed the doctor's orders, and the next afternoon we were sitting at home. Our little grandbaby was there with our son and daughter-in-law, and he started making these yawning sounds. Now I know he was trying to get oxygen to his brain. That's what he was trying to do.
But he had a stroke. I knew he had a stroke by a little bit of drool, so we called 911. By the time they got there, which was in just a few minutes, he could speak again. He seemed to be okay. So, you know, we were under the impression that it probably was a minis stroke. What is it? A TIA
Genevieve: Yes, a transient ischemic attack.
Dee: We took him to the local hospital. I was waiting in the waiting room. And when the surgeon said no, the neurologist came out and said he was having a massive stroke. And then I have to say…that was the defining moment before and after.
And then he had to be transferred to a bigger hospital. The surgeon said he can come out the same…he can come out better, but he can come out worse. Now I am very grateful that even though he had had knee surgery, they did give him the clot-busting drug they did. And I was afraid they would not do that because of his recent surgery. Thank God they did.
Because by the time we got to the hospital, he seemed to be perfectly fine. And I will tell you that. I think it is just kind of like a cloud that came over me, that it never dawned on me that he might die. And it truly never dawned on me that he wouldn't be able to speak. I just, I was naïve, probably a little bit numb, but I just had no idea that it would be the worst-case scenario as far as speech and aphasia would go. The worst case, as far as him being able to verbalize.
It took a long time because he was in the hospital in ICU. Then he is in step down. Then he was away for 11 months in a rehab center for brain injuries, three hours away from home. So that meant me picking up and moving so that I could be with him. And it just took a long time because nobody wanted to say, he's not going to speak, and I get it. You don't know, and the brain is such an amazing organ. You don't know. And so you wish, you know, for spontaneity. And then one time he did, he said my name. He went D D D D D, and we were both just so thrilled that you know, that was it. That was the only time he did it.
And you think at the moment, oh, it's coming back. It's all coming back. It's been a ride. We were planning on retiring, had lots of travel plans, and worked hard all our lives, and it really, really felt like we had earned the ride to retirement. You know, he was 60, barely 60. And it is just on the outside looking in. It seems like such a gross injustice, such a terrible injustice, but you know it, really, you can't live that you can't live, that you cannot continue to live.
That it's an injustice…yes, it is. But the world is full of injustices, and this is the one that we have been dealt with. And I will say that you don't know the strength you have through family, through friends, through God, through your spiritual relation, through everything that you…you just grab onto anything you can just to keep going. I remember saying surely he would be able to speak. Or he'll be able to walk. Surely it won't be that he's in a wheelchair and he can't speak. I just couldn't fathom it because he's such a busy person.
His favorite thing to do was work. He loved to work and not just at his job, but he loved to put in air conditioners for people. He would help people. He was at doing things for people at churches or widows that didn't have any money. He put their air in for them and just all kinds of things. And he loved being busy, and it was just amazing. But I have to say, even with all that's happened, his attitude is truly something to be admired, truly something, because he is, he just is, and I'm grateful, grateful, grateful that he still has his personality. I'm so grateful for that.
Genevieve: When I met the two of you, Glen was having issues. Just even stopping talking.
Dee: Mm-hmm
Day to day with aphasia
Genevieve: Tell us a little bit about what that was like to live with.
Dee: Oh, you know how it feels when someone's tapping you on the shoulder, continually tap, tap, tap, tap. That's kind of what it was like. It was kind of like that. And when he first started saying anything, it was, I want to get this right now because it has changed.
It was me: "me God," "me God," "me God," "me God." And I'm like, "are you praying or complaining?" Or is it just, you know, random? And then it went to "Mia," "Mia," "Mia," "Mia." And right now, it's much less than it was, but when he gets frustrated and when he's overstimulated, it's "I know," "I know," and "me know."
Some people think he's expressing, no, I don't want to do that. Or, you know, but honestly, I just think that's what comes out because he can't control it. And there are lots of whistle sounds and swishing noises that go along with it when he is trying to express himself. So we just have to stop and say, wait.
But you're right. When we first met you, it was. Oh, he couldn't stop it. He couldn't stop it.
Genevieve:
It was. And when we really worked on it, we did get him to inhibit all of that. And when he started inhibiting and got him to just close his mouth, don't let anything come out. His comprehension improved.
Oh, so much. His processing improved. He was now hearing, I almost think, for the first time. Now he's hearing you instead of just experiencing almost existence in a bubble, right? Like, I would imagine one of those deep sea diving helmets, or, you know, like the NASA suit.
Dee: Just lost in there and you know, almost in a way locked in…because he wanted so desperately to express something. And now body language. You could tell, sometimes the tone of voice, you could tell, but he couldn't stay mm-hmm or mm-hmm he still had, you know, he, we still have lots of trouble with vowels. And as far as verbalization goes, we are still non-existent as far as him doing anything voluntary.
Yeah. And you know what? I will tell you that the fact that I can say that over three years later, without falling into a puddle of goo and sobbing, just sobbing, is huge to me. It is, it is just huge that I can say that just as a matter of fact, that's just the way it is.
And I anticipate that that's the way it's going to be, but that's why we're working on the other forms of communication. And you know, I had never really thought about that, that I just thought you have to speak.
Communication is king
Genevieve: Well, this is where we have learned how amazing he is - because now, just an eyebrow raise or if he turns his head slightly, you completely see his personality.
Dee: Right.
Genevieve: You know exactly what he's trying to tell you without the words. When I'm working with the two of you, and you're sitting side by side, and he gives you that like side-eye thing. Oh, my word. It speaks volumes. So he has learned the subtle art of communicating without words. Still, with his body language, his facial expression, like you said, his intonation.
How he might pause. I wish if there is anything I could do for that, man, give him his words. It's not for lack of trying on our effort. Absolutely trying every angle we can. But once we pivoted to not torturing him, I joke all the time about torturing people. But once we pivoted to communication, that's really when it all opened up.
Dee: Yes, because that is very stressful for him. And you can see it in his body language. You see, he holds his breath. But see, nobody, as a layperson, you don't know, you don't realize that lack of verbal communication isn't just your words. It's your vocal cords.
It's what you think, but it's your jaw. It's knowing where to put your tongue. It's things that we just take for granted. And we just do…no one thinks about that. You just do it, and everything for him has to be purposeful, everything that he does. And I'm glad we still challenge him to say some sounds and that sort of thing.
But I'm so glad we focus on the communicating part because that is what we need to make any kind of life with each other, to be able to laugh and to, you know, to have moments together.
Genevieve: He's got some strategies and some tasks he can do with his grandkids when they come to visit. We've been very purposeful about that. 'Cause, that's quality of life for him. They don't seem to be put off that he can't speak…not in the least, and they love their Gigi, and it's very important for them. And they boss him around when they need to boss him around. And when he's had enough, he pushes back.
Dee: I can remember distinctly one of them was playing with the cord on a stained glass lamp. And he kept looking. She was probably two and a half at the time. And you know, parents were kind of oblivious to what was going on. And he looked at her, and there was no question…he was saying, get down and leave that alone. And my daughter-in-law said, wow, Gigi, you don't need words to say exactly what you meant.
We all knew that. And that's the truth. That's true. And I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful for every bit of communication we get, and honestly, most of the time, it's not a victory. The first time, I always tell him, oh, we might not get it right now, but we will get it.
And many times I'll take a photo. And if it's something outside that he's pointing out ('cuz he's notorious for pointing out something), I'll take a photo, bring it back in, enlarge it, see if it's in there. If it's not, we'll figure it out one way or the other, even if we have to get in the car and find it.
Genevieve: You guys always, I think you've pretty well solved all of, some of these mysteries that have come up. Because what's so interesting also about him is he is not just in himself. He sees what's going on, and he processes what's going on.
Dee: Yes, he does.
Genevieve: And he's all about problem-solving and telling you how to fix something. But sometimes he leaves out the first two, three steps and jumps to, you know, the concluding paragraph of how you're supposed to fix something.
And it's hard to get context, and that's something we're still working on, but the man thinks outside of himself. If he sees something wrong in the house, he lets you know about it. He's very observant. He's still problem-solving.
Dee: And it, it is heartwarming for me to see that, that he isn't just sitting in his chair watching TV.
He does look for things. We went to get filters today for air conditioning, and I'm like, we just changed our filter. It was not for us. It's for my dad. He knew he knew he knew what he was looking for. I didn't have a clue, you know, it was amazing. It was amazing. And I'm learning to trust that he knows what's right.
He knows what is happening around him.
Dee: He knows. And, I want to be respectful of his opinion and his knowledge and his expertise because we were pretty much straight down the line of I do this and you do that. And I, you know, I don't know all the things that he knows, but he still knows it.
Genevieve: That's right. Yeah. And he's the best passenger seat driver ever.
We don't even have to put him in the back. He tells you what for and how to and when he is displeased.
Dee: And, and we have come to terms, I tease him all the time. I don't know if I'm a better driver or if you just accept that. I'm not a good driver, which I am a good driver, but I will tell you the male ego is alive and well. He just thinks he is the best, so okay.
But I, I had always hated to drive, and he loved to drive so well, it worked out great for us, but that's another one of those things you just have to figure out and the things that you don't think you can do, you can, you can do it. You can do it.
Role change
Genevieve: you made a comment about you doing certain things before, and he did certain things. Talk to us just a little bit about how your role has changed.
You have a lot of hats.
Dee: In every way. My life has changed in every way. From the moment when he had the stroke, I realized I needed power of attorney…which I'm going to tell you. Don't wait, don't wait, do it, do it while you're healthy, do it all while you're healthy because your mind is so frazzled.
The financial things and getting a bank account with just my name on it, just because…did you know that you cannot take someone off of a bank account unless they're deceased? I could not take his name off of our joint account because he's still my husband, and he's still, you know, present.
So we had to make a new account. With just all these things…all these things, my life has changed in every way, like making decisions about insurance and talking to and fighting with insurance to keep him in rehab. And then them stopping payment. And I'm trying to finagle with the facility. Just things I never did.
He always did all that. He just always did. And also just day to day, things like how we're very blessed that we have someone that takes care of our lawn. But. Spraying for the bugs spraying for weeds, taking care of all the correspondence, all the groceries, all the money, everything that comes into this house is through me.
And I just never, ever, ever thought about being the one in charge of the inside, for the outside. If something breaks, I'm learning how to YouTube it and figure it out myself. And I'm proud of myself for doing that. You know, you just have to do what you have to do. And, now, he'll give his opinion, and I will take it if he knows how to do it, fine. We'll figure it out together…and we have! The doorknob was loose. I couldn't figure it out. He showed me exactly where I needed to put the screwdriver, just little things, but yeah, even down to killing the spider, I was never the spider killer. He always killed the spider.
I've killed a spider. I've killed a snake. You just do what you need to do; just do it. And, and you find out you're more resilient than you ever thought you were.
Genevieve: What a way to find out.
Dee: Yeah. It's not, it's not a good way to find out at all, but you know, I also think that it's easy if it's not you, if you're not in that position, it's easy to think I could never do that, but I truly think it's a God-given strength when you are in it, you do it, you do it. And if there are times when you can't…you find somebody who can, I have found that out a lot. I don't know everything.
I can ask an accountant. I can ask somebody that, you know, a tree trimmer. I can ask whoever because I don't know everything. And, that's outta' of my comfort zone as well. I'd rather be quiet and just do my little thing and not have to do that, but take a chance. Do it.
Coping
Genevieve: How have you learned to cope? What are your mechanisms for taking care of yourself? How is that? Has that evolved over these last years?
Dee: I will tell you at the beginning, I didn't, I didn't. I was on autopilot, moved three hours away with my daughter and my little baby. She was 18 months old when Glen had his stroke. I don't know how I did it. I look back, and I don't know how I did it.
I didn't take care of myself as far as eating. Nope. I cried all the time. I cried I cried, I cried, I cried. And my little granddaughter Karina would go to her daycare center, and I would go back to bed, and I would lay there in bed until I had to get up and get ready to go visit Glen ‘cuz visiting hours were from five to eight, and I basically lived for those three hours. And did what I had to do in between as far as legal work. But I look back on that, and it was absolutely horrible. I didn't take my medication. I didn't; everything was a chore. A shower was a chore. Brushing your teeth was a chore. Figuring out what you were gonna' to wear was a chore. I could not make a decision.
I couldn't do it. It was like brain fog. I ran a stop sign by accident. Had a wreck. I remember being on the side of the road and the police officer was there, and he said, ma'am, are you okay? And I said no. And he said, where are you hurt? And I just looked, I just thought, I don't know. It was, I physically was not hurt, but at that moment, I didn't wanna be there.
I did not wanna be there. The pain was just too much. It was just too much. And then the officer talked to my daughter. I knew they were talking about me. I thought they were going to, and they're going to admit me to the psychiatric unit. And at that moment, you know, I look back, and I probably needed it. I probably did, but it was awful.
And I can't. I can't. I think I started doing a little better when I came back home. I had to come home because of COVID. He was still in long-term treatment. And March the eighth was the last time I saw him until June the nineteenth. And you know, we were in lockdown, so there was no point in me going anywhere.
There was no place to go. So I would try my best to FaceTime him. It was so difficult because he, of course, he can't speak. And I was blessed to be able to talk to the nurses and that sort of thing. But those months gave me some reprieve because I was back home. And that was hard, too, because it's almost like a death.
You're coming into your house. Things are exactly where they were when you when we left. I mean, the pair of pants that he had worn the day before was still, you know, over the chair. It was all coming back to that same scenario, which was difficult. And I still cried every day, but I also started to get a little bit of a bearing on my life.
It's been slow going. I will. It and it is not linear at all. Not at all. There are some days I think we're good. We're doing pretty well. And other days, the grief hits you right between the eyes again. So I would never want anybody to say that you try hard enough and it's gonna be a happy ending.
Find hope, not necessarily a happy ending.
Dee: Hopefully, it's a happy ending, but it's not the happy ending you thought this wanted to be. But I will say that I truly when I joined a support group when I talked to people who understood, which gave me the incentive to go out, start walking and go to therapy. I just realized that if I don't take care of myself, I can't help him. But that was good, what…two years ago?
Genevieve: Wow…time. And time's a flyin' indeed.
Dee: Yeah. So it was quite a while…because you're kind of in yourself, you're in your grief. You don't wanna grieve your family. You don't wanna bother. I never wanted to unburden on my parents, although as parents, they know they're hurting, they hurt for us.
But it was like. I didn't feel like I had anybody that would understand, for one thing. And that I really felt like, geez, everybody has their own stuff. Everybody has their own stuff, and you just don't wanna, you know, you don't wanna unburden on everybody, but the support group was one of the very, very, most important things.
And if I could say anything, join a support group, join a support group. And if it's not the right one, find another one because all of them won't be a good fit.
Genevieve: I mean, we've been blessed. We have a small intimate group, and everybody gets along. Everybody supports each other outside of the group too.
Dee: Yeah. And I find it interesting that we have people that have children still at home. You have people who don't have children at home, or in one case, it's not even a blood relative in the group, but they all come from a place of authenticity. Yes. And I'm telling you, when you can hear people just, just say whatever's on their mind.
I'm just like, wow. Talk about acceptance. That's acceptance. To say, this is the way I feel today, or this is why I think about that. And you're not thinking about what's someone gonna think about me. There's no judgment. There's no judgment. And if you don't have that in your support group, then don't bother…go somewhere else.
Because if it's got to be something that you can't be honest with. You can be who you are. It's, it's almost counter-productive to me because you're just gonna keep that stress in and probably make it worse.
Genevieve: There's been a lot of support, a lot of great problem-solving ideas. One of our members talked to you about the walking group that you eventually started, and yes, it really turned things around for you.
Self-care
Dee: Really, really. And I would say as far as self-care, that was the first thing I did for self-care. And it just started with, okay, just a little 20 minutes. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but I can remember speaking with someone in another support group, and that didn't work out.
It was at the very beginning of Glen's stroke. And I remember this more. Someone was saying, talking about doing something for yourself. The facilitator said, well, what about getting your nails done? And this woman said, well, I got my last time. I did. I do like to get my nails done. The last time I did, it was like two years ago.
And I can remember at that moment in time, thinking two years, why would you wait two years? But at that moment, my husband was still in long-term care. He wasn't at home. I didn't understand that it could be two years, you know? Yeah. You don't know. But it really was. The 20 minutes of walking and Glen's gotten better physically.
I can leave him a few hours. He's fine on his own. He, and he will even point because there's a certain place where I walk, and he'll point down the road asking me if I'm gonna go for my walk because he knows it's good for me. You know...and he'll ask me if I took my medicine or if I'm eating too much bread, he'll shake his head because he knows it bothers my stomach, you know? So, he still attempts to take care of me. He makes sure I fasten my seatbelt. So those are all good things… self-care. It's really, really important, but the support group was the first. It was. It was the first. So thank you.
Genevieve: my pleasure.
Grieving process
Genevieve: So, let's talk a little bit more about the grieving process.
I think a lot of people don't think about, well, your person is still here. He's still here. You get to sleep next to him every night now, you know, what are you grieving? And I think there are a lot of misconceptions. And I also think there's a bit of stigma about it.
Dee: I agree. I agree. And I will tell you something that I truly feel that you can grieve with a person still there.
I think people grieve. If there's any kind of change, I think we tend to think grief is only through death, but grief can even be a good change. Your child is going off to college. There's grief. It's a good change, but it's a change. There's grief.
Of course, if your little animal dies. That's a huge grief. The loss of a house is grief. The loss of anything that was an expectation or something that was dear to you is a grief. But I will say that I have grieved everything. There's not anything that I have…I mean really, there was a time when I would kill the spider and cry.
Not because I didn't wanna kill the spider because that was what he did. You miss that. Or the fact that yes, I get to sleep with him at night, but the way that it just happens to work out, cuz I'm on his affected side. He can't put his arm around me. That's grief!
Genevieve: But we solved that one time.
Dee: We did, but you have to work at it.
Is that as important? Is that on the top of the list? No, but it's a grief—the grief of him not picking out, you know, the clothes that he can wear. Well, the grief that he can't wear, but that he doesn't wear a belt. And jeans are really big grief…that he wears more like sports pants that have elastic, the grief that he didn't have a wallet forever, because where is he going with a wallet.
You know, we've had to evolve over to all of this stuff, the grief that he doesn't drive. The grief of the loss of him not being able to sing to our grandbabies. I mean, or the little things that he did with our kids that he can't do with his grandchildren…you know, the little silly things he would say, or just that the grieving process is day by day and minute by minute.
It really, really is. And some days are worse than others. And there have been days where I have said, Glen, (he'll try to tell me something) and I'll say, is it an emergency? And he'll say no. I said, well, can you please just wait, because if you're in the middle of grief and you're upset, or if you're just despondent, I don't have any more to give. I don't have the brain capacity to try to figure out what he wants, and it's hard. And I will tell you this. I have had to remind myself that we are in grief together because we express this so differently. I've always been expressive and very emotional, and, you know, I just always have been.
And he's really not. He's much more practical. Unless someone else is crying, now, if someone else cries, he will cry with them every single time. And he's upset. He'll look at me like, you know, what's, what's wrong. And I can't really tell him because I can't put my finger on it. It's the whole thing. It's the fact that our life is not what I thought it would be.
And there's that deep disappointment, but the grief process doesn't go away. I will not ever say that it goes away, but it gets better. It gets better. There's always. There's always that sensitive, sensitive spot. It's like a bruise.
As you know, a bruise gets better as long as you don't touch it. It doesn't hurt, but sometimes it's touched, and it hurts. And that bruise is a bruise to your heart and soul. And, and I just told him many times, I wish I could take it from you. I wish it could be me. And I don't say that anymore because he shakes his head no. You know, that upsets him when I say that.
But I'm very blessed that I have a man who is not bitter. He isn't. He's not bitter. No, he doesn't sit and ponder what he can't do anymore. He still goes to his garage, and he'll piddle and sort and moves stuff that I'm surprised. He thinks about it.
He takes his, my goodness, his huge chain of keys. And he can figure out what goes, where, and I just, you know, I can see him, I've got a camera. I can make sure he is okay. But he goes, and he does something. He doesn't just sit around and wait to die, you know, because that's what you could do.
We could do that. We could just roll the carpet in and stay here, but look at the blessings that we would miss out on because it all isn't just you and your stroke. It's not all just you and your illness. I think there's great value in helping your grief by helping somebody else. And I intend to use my experience to help somebody.
If I don't, I feel like I have devalued it. It's holy – it's like a holy thing that I can give to somebody else. It's sacred. It's that important to me that if I can express something that happened to me and that was so difficult for me if I can make it a little easier for somebody else. Now, I will never go so far as to state that it's "worth it."
I won't say that it's worth it, but I will say that it gives it value.
Resilience
Genevieve: I think you're amazingly resilient. Your husband is amazingly resilient. You guys are figuring this out day by day. What I appreciate about each of you is you don't hide from the hard stuff.
You pull up your big girl pants and, you know, hell or high water. And when you need help, you ask for help.
Dee: Yes. And there is water.
Genevieve: You have people that you will reach out to in your community or if you have to find other professionals to help you do things. And I think people just can't hide away. We have to try.
Dee: You have to because even if you hide, you can't run from it. It's still there. It is there. What is it? "Wherever you go…there you are" It's still there. And nothing that you do to numb yourself is going to be beneficial in the long run. You might as well face it. You might as well face it because it's just going to be harder. And you've missed out on something you've missed out. You've missed out on a smile or you've missed out on a laugh from somebody or a moment of connection, or just a deep breath. You've missed out on something if you continue to try to hide it and huddle under the covers.
Wrapping-up
Genevieve: so, any last words, we'll wrap it up for this evening, and I'm grateful to you, Dee. I'm just going to interrupt your thought right there. I'm just grateful to you. I've learned much from our candid conversations in and out of the group.
Dee: Thank you. Because it, I feel like it was, it was not a coincidence that we've found you. Absolutely not. And you've been… you're the bridge. You're the bridge, and we are so thankful and so appreciative every single week. And you are our friend now. You're family now.
Genevieve: Oh, you're family. Yeah, I feel the same.
Dee: It's like, yeah, you're stuck with us. But the only way I know to end is to say don't give up.
Don't give up
Dee: Don't give up. There was a moment in time. I was so despondent that I looked at Glen and I said, are you happy? And he said yes. And Genevieve, I don't know what I would've done if he'd said no. It was the point of desperation. But don't give up because better days are coming. Don't give up… there's hope.
There is. It's not. It's not a happily ever after fairytale. It doesn't mean you're not going to hurt. It doesn't mean you're not going to wish it away. But there is hope. There's hope.
Genevieve: Thank you, Dee.
Dee: You are welcome. Thank you.
Genevieve: My pleasure.
Concluding remarks
Genevieve: So I hope you liked hearing those candid thoughts from Dee. So after I stopped the recording, she and I talked for, oh, I don't know, the last 25 minutes. I just really enjoy my time and talking to her and hearing her insights, but what I wanted to read to you and this is not the most professional way to do it. Still, she sent me an email earlier, and I thought the words were particularly meaningful.
So I just wanted to read them to you as just kind of a wrap-up for this episode. Having hope does not mean the absence of pain. Self-care goes beyond spas, vacations, and massages. Everywhere you go, you still take your burden in grief. Now it's important to do those things. Respite care is vital, but I think it has to be tempered with reality.
To me, self-care involves self-reflection. How do I feel in my body? If I'm off, do I need exercise…a nap? Am I ill? How do I feel in my mind? If I'm troubled, do I need to talk to someone, cry, read inspirational material, do something for another person, maybe therapy; or medication; how do I feel in my spirit?
If I'm despondent, do I need to pray or meditate? Speak with clergy? Make a gratitude list. And all of this together is better. It's tempting to huddle under the covers and pull down the blinds. That's okay for a bit, but it doesn't get to the root of the problem—disappointment, grief, fear of the future, financial issues, legal issues, and medical issues.
You just have to meet wherever, whatever goal you can accomplish, like eating an elephant one bite at a time. While I was thinking of the flooding analogy, I realized that after you grieve for the precious things you can't get back, there may be many to find you don't realize them all at once. It comes back to being grateful for a life saved.
So at the end of the day, you find gratitude in having what's most important. Glen and I had two cool encounters today. One involved a little girl, maybe ten years old, talking to him in the waiting room about a book she was reading. The other adventure involved driving to a commercial supply store Glen often requested for HVAC equipment.
It was amazing to watch him, and the clerk figured out what Glen wanted. Fortunately, they knew each other, and it was a victory.
I just wanted to share those last thoughts with you and thank you again for joining. And I know it was a little long this time. I hope you heard something valuable from Dee, and I look forward to seeing you all next time.
Have a good night.
Summary
We are talking to Anna McMaster, a certified senior advisor and the owner of Care Patrol of Austin. She specializes in guiding families through the process of finding senior living and care options such as assisted living, independent living, and memory care. She has a particular soft spot for seniors diagnosed with dementia-related illnesses as she went through the daunting process of finding care for a loved one with vascular dementia.
Care Patrol has franchises across the USA except for Nevada. Find their website at CarePatrol.com.
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TOP TIPS FOR APHASIA COMMUNICATION + SELF CARE
Articles for More Information from Care Patrol
Beginners Guide to Senior Housing Options AND Tips for Having THE TALK about Senior Housing
TRANSCRIPT
E7_Anna McMaster_Care Patrol Austin
Genevieve: [00:00:00] Today. We are talking to Anna McMaster, who is a certified senior advisor and the owner of Care Patrol of Austin. She specializes in guiding families through the process of finding senior living and care options such as assisted living, independent living and memory care. She has a particular soft spot for seniors diagnosed with dementia related illnesses as she herself went through the daunting process of finding care for a loved one with vascular dementia.
Anna considers herself passionate about empowering seniors and their families during a time when many emotional and practical issues must be considered. Prior to her career in senior living Anna was an HR and recruitment director, which required excellent interpersonal skills and very often patience. She brings this experience into her work with families.
[00:01:00] Welcome Anna. How are you?
Anna: I'm really good. I'm so happy to be here with you.
Genevieve: This is Anna from Care Patrol. And Anna, tell us a little bit about your company.
Anna: So Care Patrol is one of the largest placement agencies in the country. We help families find senior living options like independent living, assisted living memory care. And it's much like working with a realtor. We tour with our clients. We guide them through the process and it is a free community service.
Care Patrol of Austin
Anna: I own Care Patrol of Austin. So I work anywhere from Georgetown, down to San Marcos. I've owned it for three years now and yeah, that's care control. It's perfect. It's
Genevieve: I'm really excited to be speaking with you today and educating our audience. [00:02:00] What Care Patrol can provide and how many resources and emotional support that you are able to provide to people that need to get into a different living situation.
Cause that's often, it's often a tough thing. It's a, a tough emotionally financially, and I know that you are here to help them do.
Anna: Yes, I am typically brought in when the process is really emotional, really stressful. And my goal is to a guide and a resource and a friend and a good listener and really help people make the right choice so that they can find safe and affordable senior living.
Genevieve: Tell us a little bit about how you got into this business and then we'll get into some more meat about the business.
Anna: Well, my background is corporate HR and [00:03:00] recruitment. I had a, a very good kind of corporate career was climbing the corporate ladder. But my husband and I were thrown into a situation where we had to be long distance caregivers for my father-in-law who had vascular dementia and Alzheimer's, and we knew nothing about the disease.
We knew nothing about caregiving. We knew nothing about facilities, so it was a really, really stressful time and trying to find the right care for him. Took a lot longer than it should have. We did go through the process. We did find him the right place in the end, but Care Patrol kind of fell into my lap.
I was looking around at franchises and trying to break away from the corporate world. And this just really spoke to me. And I immediately got on board with their values and providing this kind of resource for families, just so that no one would ever have to go through what we went through.
Genevieve: interesting how you were thrown into not thrown into, that's not the right [00:04:00] term, how you found your next passion based on your family circumstances to get into this business.
And you have a real mission.
Anna: And it's something that I never really had in my career before finding that kind of, you know, the warm fuzzies that keep you going but nobody knows what it's like to be a caregiver until you have to go through it. And it just made me really want to get out there and educate people and help people. And you know, the bonuses that I have fulfillment in my career as well.
Genevieve: Can you give us, in example maybe the ideal client that would come to you at Care Patrol and maybe somebody that's coming to. To you seeking services that's not an ideal, not that it's not an ideal client, but not an ideal circumstance, right?
Anna: Yeah. So [00:05:00] unfortunately I can't do much with Medicaid and I get a lot of Medicaid calls.
So people who just don't have the money for the private pay facilities Medicare will never cover assisted living. So, which is, unfortunately, I have to tell people that all the time I hate being the voice of do so when it comes to Medicaid I always point people in the right direction, but unfortunately I can't help.
The ideal client for me is somebody who either has the funds for long term care and that may be assets and a house and all of that. Or maybe they're a veteran and they have not tapped into all the benefits that that can entail or maybe they have long term care insurance.
Okay..
Genevieve: What I would imagine you would prefer people to understand families to understand what Care Patrol is before they need it. what would you say about [00:06:00] that?
Anna: Yes. I hear all the time. People are like, I wish I knew about your service three years ago. So my mission is really to get out there and educate people that this resource exists, that you don't have to look for senior living on your own. You can use someone like me and my knowledge and my expertise to help guide you through you know, a myriad of choices.
But my big thing with families is also have the talk early with your loved ones. And what I mean by that is, is not just, you know, wills and power of attorney, but what does your loved one want in the long term? What kind of situation is going to make that person thrive and be engaged? A great example of this is actually my own parents.
My father is an introvert. He loves reading. He is not somebody that wants to get out there and, and be involved with social activity. So he's been very clear about what he wants his care to look like should something happen? My mother on the [00:07:00] other hand is a social butterfly and she loves to get in with groups and she loves to socialize.
So it's kind of having that conversation so that when we get to the point where we need to look for senior living, we have an idea of what's gonna make those people happy.
Genevieve: How can you help a family if let's say grandma accidentally fell down and broke her hip. And now she's in the hospital and she's in a two story home and lives alone and I would imagine you get calls in the middle of the night for a near emergency situations where families are scrambling. .
Anna: Yes, unfortunately, I do. And typically what happens is something exactly like what you said there's a fall or there's a medical incident that required a hospital admission.
I usually will help the family then find a rehab. Medicare is great when after you've had a hospital admission, they will cover 20 days of rehab. So that gives us a little bit of time while grandma is getting PT or OT [00:08:00] or speech or whatever it is. And then in the meantime, we are looking for that long term option.
I have families that sometimes grandma is not ready for the permanent commitment. So we do respite stays. So we look at an assisted living where you go into a lovely, furnished apartment. It's a day rate. You get all your food and activities and nine times outta 10, they figure out that that's actually the safest option.
And then they stay.. But I have other situations where, you know, we need to find assisted living very, very quickly. Admission can be anywhere from two to five days. We can make it happen as quickly as possible. But my service is here are your top options. Here are three options. Let's look at those. Let's target those.
These are the ones that we should look at rather than Googling assisted living. As you're sitting at the hospital at three am.
Genevieve: Imagine, I mean, as much as I love Google for most everything. I would imagine that's a pretty stressful situation for a family member to be in if [00:09:00] you're the adult daughter, and now you've got to start making these decisions.
Cuz as we all know, websites look pretty, but they may not reflect what that facility looks like. And I say facility in general terms, I'm I've in my home health career. I've been in a lot of 'em and some are better than others. Tell us more about how you assess a facility and how can you bridge the gap between what the website looks like and what they say they offer and what the reality is.
Anna: Well, the big thing that I do is the background work. So there are inspection and violation histories available online through the Texas HHS. And I go through all of those. I do that on a pretty regular basis with all the communities that I work with, because it doesn't matter how beautiful they are.
If they've got some [00:10:00] kind of violation history. That's a big deal and that's not something a website is gonna tell you. The other thing, and I always kind of say this with a, a little, a little smirk, but I am a gossip hound, and I love to know what is happening inside the buildings. I keep up with all of my clients who I've placed, because I want them to tell me, what is it like, you know, on a day to day basis?
What kind of care are you getting? And, and really just, you know, what, what does it look like after the sales people have done their big pitch? The other thing is that particularly if you stick your name into a website and it blasts your details out to everybody, you're gonna get a lot of calls from a lot of sales people.
And the last thing you want when you are in a stressful, emotional situation is fending off sales people. So that is another facet of my job, which is to be the kind of middle person between my client and the sales people. Really kind of be respectful of not only their data, but just also their emotional and, and [00:11:00] the state of mind
Genevieve: really just blew my mind with the thought of an adult child is trying to find placement for mom.
She gets on somebody's website and now her data is out there. And she's gonna start getting calls from all these other facilities that is just so creepy to me. Beyond that, but in this adding the emotional stress of the situation, trying to find placement, that's just wrong. Not that you have anything to do with it, but folks, you gotta protect your data.
You gotta get a VPN. Maybe I should.
I mean, not a sponsor.
Anna: Nothing makes my blood boil. Yeah. Let's. Yeah. And people don't realize that. Yeah.
Genevieve: People don't realize that because these are businesses, these assisted living facilities most of the time do all assisted living facilities have different levels of care [00:12:00] where you can go in, like in an apartment, independent living, and then maybe you need a little more help you transition to assisted. And then maybe they also have skilled nursing on the same property.
Independent Living
Anna: Independent living is a community where you're gonna get meals. You're gonna get socialization and activities. Sometimes they offer transport to doctor's appointments or outings. And it's a monthly rate that just includes your utilities and maintenance and all of that. So it's a great option when people don't really need medical care, but they just need to be in a place where they are getting out there and enjoying life.
Assisted Living
Anna: Assisted living is the next step. When you start to need some help with what we call ADLs activities of daily living and that showering, dressing, bathing maybe.
Transferring from bed to a chair or your Walker and all that. And yes, there are, are levels of care. So when you're looking at assisted living, they will do an assessment to determine what level of care goes on top of your monthly [00:13:00] rate. And then memory care is a secured facility. It's typically an all inclusive price for everything including incontinence needs.
And that's really for people who are what we call exit seeking, or they are at risk of causing harm to themselves or others, or they've reached the final stages of dementia, where they need quite a high level of care.
Skilled Nursing
Anna: Skilled nursing is you know, when you need that 24 7 medical care, you need nurses and doctors on site at all times.
There are only a few places here in Austin that actually have all four levels of care. They're called CRCs and they, they work a little bit differently. They typically have a buy-in fee. And the idea is you buy into the community when you're kind of at, independent living level and then you age in place throughout the rest of the, the journey.
We do have a couple of places that are assisted living in [00:14:00] independent living that have a skilled nursing attached. But it's, it's not as as common as you think most of the skilled nursings are standalone facilities.
Genevieve: I worked most of my career in California and they had a lot of what you're describing as the CCR.
There and people would buy into the apartment. Like they'd sell their house, they'd buy into the apartment with a big lump sum. And, you know, I know there's lots of variety out there, and I know that, you know, these facilities here in Austin and can really help guide a family with the education and information. They need to find the right spot.
Anna: Yes, absolutely. When I first started this, I went and visited every single community in my, in my territory. And took lots and lots of pictures, lots and lots of notes, cuz they do start to blur into one another after a while. And I work with over a hundred communities.
So, you know, I am [00:15:00] keeping a very close eye on food activities, staff turnover you know, care levels, nurses, all these kind of things. Those are, those are what I I'm looking out for as opposed to the pretty chandelier and the nice pool. Right?
Genevieve: Yeah. Window dressings. It's it, it it's all window dressing.
It's all about the care.
And when you are in a facility as a, as a clinician, as I was for many, many years, you know, the good facilities and it can be bright and shiny and lovely and inviting on the inside. But then folks are not getting the care they need, or for myself as a clinician, if I needed to work with the staff in the dining room for somebody with a swallowing problem, and we needed to modify diet some facilities, it was really hard to get anybody to take responsibility for that.
Although when my, my patient went into the facility, they were [00:16:00] assured that, oh yes, absolutely. We can take care of that service for you. So I think it's really important to have an advocate for like yourself. For these families that need something specific. Maybe mom had a stroke and she needs a modified diet. Plus she needs help with ADLs and she needs help with getting her laundry done and she needs to get to the doctor, you know, and she's got a whole stable full of doctors. That's, you know, her whole social calendar is built around making these doctor visits. It's important to find the right facility for.
Anna: Yeah. And you know, so many people, particularly the, the older generation have this idea that a senior community looks like a nursing home, and everyone's sitting in a wheelchair watching TV, and that's just not true anymore. And there really are options for, for people that, you know, there's still independent and they wanna be independent.
They just need to have kind of a [00:17:00] cushion of help, you know, and I love, I love when people don't really understand what independent living is and I get to explain that to them and they go, oh my gosh, that's, that's perfect. That's exactly what we need. You know, we need a pendant, we need a concierge, but mom doesn't want somebody to come in and help her base.
She doesn't need that. We just wanna keep them as independent and engaged as, as possible. And going back to you know, taking things at face value. Another thing that I love introducing people to is residential care homes, which is, you know, a, a home in a neighborhood that has been licensed in the same way as a bigger assisted living.
But the, the ratio. From caregiver to resident is much, much better. Typically, maybe eight to 10 residents per house. And you really get an excellent level of care. And in fact, right now I've got somebody in a, in a place where she will eventually go home, but right now it's not safe. She needs kind of a [00:18:00] buffer between the hospital and rehab and home.
And she's gone into this wonderful residential care home where she is getting just doted on and really getting back to strength. So that's another option that people just never think of, but it's a really, it can be a really, really good one.
Genevieve: Those homes are monitored by the state. They have lots of rules and regulations.
This is not like if I wanted to convert my home to it, it's not something that can just happen. I just want the audience to understand that this is fully regulated vetted. Everybody has background checks and the facility, you know, you have your wheelchair access and you know, all of the boxes are checked for these residential care homes.
Anna: Absolutely. It is quite an undertaking to transform a home into a residential care home. It really is. And what I find particularly here in Austin, a lot of the owners of these places are actually physical [00:19:00] therapists and they have a really great eye for setting up the house so that it is, it is safe. So a lot of people who are fall risk residential care home can be such a great option, particularly if, if it's run by a a PT.
Genevieve: I'm pretty sure when I was doing home health in California, none of the residential care homes were owned by a PT, but I can absolutely see how that can make a difference because it's all about mobility.
Everything seems to flow. Once mobility's taken care of and safety is taken care of, then we can work on our speech. Then we can work on our ADLs. So me being a, a transdisciplinary multidisciplinary clinician all these years, I love that because I love working as a team. That just, it's another great option for, for folks that need it.
So let's walk through real quick. Walk us through what it would look like. A family contacts you and what are next [00:20:00] steps? What are, what is the process they might expect?
Anna: Well, the first thing that I do is a, is a care discovery. So that's a meeting either with the adult children or the senior, or all the, you know, the stakeholders who are involved. And it's really important that this meeting that I understand medical needs, financial needs, geographical needs but also, you know, social.
And kind of spiritual, those kind of needs as well. I wanna get a holistic picture of, of this senior it nine times outta 10 it's with the adult child. But I have been in all sorts of situations for care discoveries. It's been at the, you know, bedside at a hospital. I've done zooms where we've had five siblings.
So it really depends, but it's very important for me to get all that information. After that I'm gonna put together a short list of my recommended communities. I don't like to overwhelm people particularly when they are in that stressful situation. [00:21:00] So I usually only give maybe three to four top options.
I'll send it over with prices and pictures and further information about care. And then I will set up tours for the family. The tours. You know, it's not a requirement that I come, but a lot of people find that it's useful because again, going back to being, you know, stressed and being emotional, absolutely.
They forget to ask questions. And so I am there to just be like, Hey, wait back up, let's talk about this. And when they choose the the facility, I will help them negotiate contracts. I will help them arrange assessments, get the paperwork done, whatever we need to do to make sure that that that person is admitted as quickly as possible.
Genevieve: So you brought up a point that I wanted to, to just touch on. I've been, and it's all on me, but I've been talking about seniors that need you that need your services or adult children that are seeking your services. , but there's also a [00:22:00] circumstance where you can have a working age person who possibly had a stroke, has some kind of neurologic condition going on broke his knee, broke his hip and he needs something temporary just because you need something temporary doesn't mean they can't contact you.
This is not, you're not committing to a lifetime by working with Care Patrol to get into a facility, this can be as temporary as it needs to be. Let somebody help you make these decisions.
Anna: Absolutely. And look, I've been contacted by parents who have children that have intellectual disabilities or physical disabilities and, and I'm talking about children in their thirties and forties and they need to find a place. I've had people who have been injured at, at work. And they do need that rehabilitation and respite. Typically with the senior living communities, there is an age minimum you know, so [00:23:00] those, those are, are, it's really arbitrary.
It's it's like 62. But there are other options out there for younger people working people that you might not find on Google. Absolutely.
Genevieve: I would imagine a family might not even know what to put in the search bar in Google. They don't even know what to ask for, unless somebody has, unless they're in the industry in some way, or they're getting coached, you know, by the social worker or the discharge planner, whatever the case may be.
Yeah. I, I can just see so much value for families and to just help them with this transition. All right. So we're about to wrap up. What is your goal for families to know before they need to seek your services?
Anna: Well, going back to what I said at the beginning, it's, it's never too early to have talk. It's so important. You know, we [00:24:00] have to normalize these conversations around long term plans, and we really have to think about what are we gonna do in an emergency. And people don't like to think about that, but you have to, because there's a good chance that you will find yourself in that situation and you wanna know what are the needs, what are the wants of your loved one?
Also I'm a big advocate of, of getting things in place, getting wills in place, powers of attorney talk to a good elder care lawyer. really get those things in place. I can't tell you how stressful it is for people, particularly if they have a loved one who, who has dementia, if towards the, the, the end of that disease, they don't have these things in place.
It's so important to have that conversation and you know, going back to, to what do they need or want, what are the special things? You know, and I recently came across it's it's kind of a [00:25:00] Swedish theory that we don't need to hold onto all of the things in our life. So what, what are the most important things?
Right. And I was up at my parents' house and we were going through their house and they were saying, these are the important things. This is what you're gonna get. This is what your sister is gonna get. And it's not a morbid conversation. It's actually very much, you know, these are our wishes. And let's talk about this now rather than in an emergency situation.
Genevieve: Absolutely. When you can be clear minded versus emotional, because as many of mm-hmm the clients that I work with every day for speech pathology, once that emotion starts creeping up, or that stress creeps up, your thinking mind goes down, it's an inverse relationship as I think of it. So we wanna get people thinking ahead of time planning, be proactive, have those key conversations.
As much as we can. So let's lighten the mood just for a second. So we know a little more about you because I think you're a dynamic woman. You have a mission, you are [00:26:00] passionate about what you do. I love what you do for. For people for mankind for Austin. So tell me, is there something interesting in your refrigerator right now that you can tell us about?
I just think I love these just general random questions. Go
Anna: ahead. Yeah. So I have a bottle of pisco in my refrigerator, chilling in my refrigerator. A client said she wanted to pay for my services. And I always say my services are totally free for clients, but you can pay me in Google reviews or alcohol.
And she brought over all of the ingredients for Pico sours, and now I'm completely obsessed with that cocktail. So it's like I have to have a bottle in there at all times, especially with the Texas heat. It is fantastic. It's it's, it's the
Genevieve: cocktail. I'm going to have 105 next week. Yay.
Anna: It it's gonna be, it's gonna be a long, hot summer.
[00:27:00] Yeah.
Genevieve: So let's wrap up and let everybody know that you have some materials that they're gonna be able to download to help them start thinking about next steps, especially adult children.
Care Patrol.com for Resources
Anna: Yes, absolutely. So, first of all, my my website Care Patrol.com is a really great resource.
We have blogs, we have lots of posts. We have videos. There's tons of resources on there. My Facebook page as well. If you just look at Care Patrol of south Austin, you will find me. I am very regular on there about posting resources and not just like medical resources. I like to post things like.
Tour Checklist
Anna: You know, today there is a link for online book clubs, nice through the Austin public library. So things like that. I also have some documents, including my favorite, which is the tour checklist, which is things to ask on tours. It is four pages long, [00:28:00] and I've had clients that have literally gone through it one by one, but they're really, really important questions to ask to help.
Decide, what is the best? Terrific
Genevieve: for your loved one? I'm so grateful to you. I'm so grateful that we were introduced. This is terrific. So this podcast will be transcribed eventually, and we'll have some show notes and definitely links to all of Anna's social media, her website, and the ability to go to her website and download tour checkoff list, which I think is amazing. I'm all about the tools. And absolutely. Even if any of you need services from Care Patrol, you heard her say they are available across the USA, except for Nevada. You are always welcome to reach out to Anna first and she can introduce you to the office that is near you and, or, you know, give her some love, give her some [00:29:00] feedback for coming on and telling us about her company and her mission.
Anna: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad we met as well. It's been a pleasure to to talk to you about Care Patrol. Obviously you could tell I very passionate about it and please feel free anyone out there listening.
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Let's explore how we can help you reach your communication goals. Schedule a complimentary consultation HERE.
Learn more about LIFE Speech Pathology + LIFE Aphasia Academy at our WEBSITE.
E6_LIFE Speech Pathology Origin Story
I wanted to share the story about how LIFE speech pathology got started. It was one year ago yesterday (in July 2022). And I didn't realize it until last night that LIFE was born last summer.
Download our TOP TIPS for Aphasia Communication + Self Care
Genevieve: [00:00:00] We had the most amazing rainbow, and I took it as another sign that I was on the right path. I still hadn't figured out exactly what I was doing yet, but I knew something was changing.
[00:01:00]
Genevieve: Hi there. I wanted to share with you the origin story of LIFE Speech Pathology + LIFE Aphasia Academy. It has been an interesting year. I realized last night that one year ago that I changed my career path and hopefully the path for many of the folks I work with, whether it's clients or their families.
First, I'll start with where I am right now. I am currently in west Texas in the town of Amarillo. My youngest daughter is here at vet camp. West Texas A&M, so I'm staying nearby cuz it was an eight-hour drive from Austin. But last year, I was in Houston, which is a three-hour drive from Austin, with my oldest daughter while she was at a [00:02:00] leadership camp.
It was last year in Houston, hanging in my hotel room, working, and seeing clients, that everything changed. And as of last night, it was the first anniversary of the beginning of that change. I had been soul-searching because I was not satisfied with what I was doing with my career. I didn't feel like I was reaching as many people.
And I'm passionate about what I do. I enjoy working with my clients. I know them; they know me. We're family. But I knew that there was something more that needed to happen. So I won't bore you with too many details. Let's see if I can give you some cliff notes. So I'm in Houston. So I leave my hotel. And we have this sudden rainstorm, I mean, cats and dogs [00:03:00] rainstorm as I'm driving back to south Houston, and there was this most amazing rainbow over the freeway.
Had it been safe, I would've pulled over and taken a picture of it. It never rains in Texas in the summertime. So I thought that was interesting. I got back to my hotel room and was just really trying to keep my mind open and connect with the universe. I know that sounds so corny, but something needed to change, and consciously I wasn't getting there.
Over the next two days, just one thing after another kept popping up in thoughts I was having, I had two more rainbow sightings while I was in Houston, which is, I can't tell you how odd that is. I got home from Houston, and my friends from California were staying with us for a few days, and they knew all about [00:04:00] the stress I was under, well, what I was self-imposed stress because I was trying to soul search and figure out what is my next part of my career.
We're out to dinner, and we're sitting on under a covered patio. It just suddenly starts raining cats and dogs, and rain was not in the forecast.
We had the most amazing rainbow, and I took it as another sign that I was on the right path. I still hadn't figured out exactly what I was doing yet, but I knew something was changing. My friends leave town, and maybe two days after they leave town, I'm hanging out with my husband; he's outside trimming trees, and he turns to me, and he says, so what are you going to do? He just says this out of the blue, we're not talking about my career or job or anything like that. We were just talking about probably just [00:05:00] house stuff. And he says, what are you gonna do? And I said I'm gonna start a practice. And he's like, okay, do it. Wow. That was easy. I hadn't made a decision until just that minute about what my path was going to be.
I had already interviewed with a couple of home health agencies, and they were interested in bringing me on; I would've had to have done a lot more driving because where I live tends to be more young people, it's newer housing developments. I was probably going to have to, you know, work in like assisted living facilities, that kind of thing.
And I was open to. So that's really where I thought I was going. But when my husband asked me that question, it was clear what I needed to do. So I walk into the house, sit at my computer, and within 15 minutes, I registered LIFE Speech [00:06:00] Pathology with The federal government and got my employer ID number.
I got my credit card, got on legal zoom, and ordered my corporate documents. Within 30 minutes. LIFE Speech Pathology was born.
Oh, I forgot one of the best parts. This whole rainbow is my lovely rainbow that's sitting behind me. This is a rainbow that was in my front yard. This was the day my husband asked me what I wanted to do. I had been working at the computer. Of course, that's usually where he can find me at my house.
My husband calls himself the "Apple Widower" since I have an apple computer (and that is where I spend all of my time). So it was the day before my husband asked me that question. And I was working on something that was all heads down and really focused on. And my youngest had a friend over, and she runs in the house and is [00:07:00] dragging me away from the computer.
She's like, "mom, you have to come outside. You gotta see this. This is important. Stop what you're doing." Cuz I was resisting. I wasn't wanting to stop where my train of thought was going, and she pulls me outside to show me this rainbow. What is so incredible about my family is we are super tight. We are close.
The girls knew exactly, you know, what I had been going through in Houston and thinking about my career and what I wanted to do and who I wanted to serve. They knew all of it. And that my youngest, I guess was still 14 at the time, pulls me outside to show me this incredible rainbow. She knew the connection I'd had with these rainbows over the past ten days.
It was just amazing. So that is my origin story. That is how LIFE Speech Pathology came to be.
So [00:08:00] I had a friend introduce me to her networking group. And I joined that networking group later in that year. And it was an excellent decision.
So I started LIFE Speech in August 2021. I didn't get off the ground until November, when I joined this networking group. And it wasn't long after that, that LIFE Aphasia Academy came to mind. It came to me in a dream. And I have a dream. So anyway, LIFE Aphasia Academy was born, and things just fell into place again.
That business is for spouses and families, and support and resources are still working on the content. I've got a lot of great stuff that will come out if I say so myself. Still, the point is it's about working with families, helping them understand aphasia, [00:09:00] how language works in the brain, and where it breaks down what to do about it from a family and communication perspective.
I want my clients and their families to live full and happy life, even if there is aphasia. So I have two businesses. Life speech pathology, where I will do the direct treatment. I'm taking on grad students, I'm working with spouses to help improve their life. Improve communication for folks with chronic aphasia and aphasia is not just from strokes.
You can have it from brain tumors. You can have any host neurologic conditions that can bring on aphasia. I've been doing this for 28 years. I am prepared. I'm educated. I have a passion for it. So that's why I am here. [00:10:00] So LIFE Aphasia Academy will be for the spouses there. I have courses I'm developing; I've already done one course for two spouses and a client who wants to be an aphasia coach.
So many exciting things are coming From LIFE Aphasia Academy, and as I'm committing to putting this video out there, I'm announcing, Listen for LIFE Podcast (listenforlifepodcast.com). I have eight episodes recorded. Five of them are up, but none of you know about them. Cause it's really hard to put yourself out there. I'll tell you that right now.
I've had these podcasts; I've had four of the eight podcasts recorded since the beginning of May, and it is the middle of July; putting yourself out there is hard. So I'm hoping my message resonates that I'm coming to you from a place of sincerity. This is not about making money, [00:11:00] although the money would be nice.
I'm not gonna kid you about it. You have to have money to build content to reach more people. So I'm hoping to reach as many clients as possible through LIFE Speech Pathology and positively support and impact families and spouses to live their best lives with aphasia. That's it, folks. That's, that's all I got.
That's my origin story. I am looking forward to hearing your feedback. I need words of encouragement, but mostly I wanna partner with you. I wanna build a village of support and community. There are many support groups out there, but I hope to do it differently. I'm all about chronic conditions.
More than the three months of spontaneous recovery or [00:12:00] six months folks that have been discharged, they've been told they've reached a plateau. Maybe they have, maybe they haven't, maybe they just haven't worked with a therapist or clinician with the experience and skills. I can reach people across the US.
I'm a specialist in telepractice. I've been doing it for more than eight years. I'm in 12 states; help me help you. Let me know what you need. Let me know what you wanna know and who you wanna know it from. Let's do this together. Have an incredible day. Thank you.
I hope you enjoyed my story about how LIFE Speech Pathology got started. Before you go, I wanted to bring your attention to two things.
First, I produced. [00:13:00] A guide for top tips for aphasia communication and self-care. My idea behind this guide was to give caregivers and spouses a different perspective on communication.
To help you take a step back. Assess how you communicate with your person and how that message is sent and received. And some tips about what you can do to make it better. The second part of the guide is about self-care tips. Caregivers are a hard-working bunch of folks. And I see you. I see how hard you work. I know how passionate you are.
And I know you are self-sacrificing yourself to take care of your person. You need to take care of yourself too. I encourage each of you to check out this guide and download it. Share it and give me feedback. If [00:14:00] there's. Other information you think should be in there, or if some of the tips don't work, I wanna know.
Second item. If you have a loved one, that could be six or more months after a stroke, brain tumor, or other neurologic condition. And he, or she. He wants to communicate better. They want to reach some goals. They wanna be able to talk to their garden club on Mondays when they go have their meeting at the public library.
They want to be able to read to their grandkid when he comes to visit. I'm the clinician for you. Let's explore. Let's see what we can do to help you reach your goals.
Schedule a complimentary consultation. You can go to DoLIFESpeechPathology.com and schedule it there. Or there will be a link below the transcription in the show notes. Schedule a complimentary consultation HERE.
I hope to see you all on my calendar. Otherwise, give me a call. Reach out by email, reach out on social media.
I am here for you. Have a wonderful day.
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Let's explore how we can help you reach your communication goals. Schedule a complimentary consultation HERE.
Learn more about LIFE Speech Pathology + LIFE Aphasia Academy at our WEBSITE.
SUMMARY
Sacred Stories is a legacy film production company. We specialize in video biographies. My background I've done a lot of work in ministry. I've done work in memory care and felt this gentle nudge to pursue this work as a personal historian.
BIO
Whitney Myers has lived in Austin for the past 22 years. She is married & has two sons (15 & 11). Whitney loves people of all ages and very recently found herself working alongside those with memory loss in a south Austin assisted living facility. She's currently the owner of Sacred Stories - a
legacy film production company that records people's life stories on video. She is a member of the International Center for Life Story Innovation & Practice and is a graduate of the certificate program in Life Story & Practice and Research at the University of Connecticut. She is a self-described "connector of people" & loves to discover ways that the stories of our lives are intertwined.
Get started asking questions of your loved one with Whitney’s guide Just Between Us” Questions to Ask Your Loved One Grab a copy of our eBook Top Tips for Aphasia Communication + Self-Care TRANSCRIPT
Hello, Whitney. Hello. Thank you for joining me this evening.
Thanks for having me.
So I wanted to introduce Whitney Myer. She is with SacredStoriesFilms.com, and I wanted Whitney to come on today to share with you her mission and why she started her business because it's pretty cool. So Whitney, without further ado.
Tell us a little bit about Sacred Stories.
Sure. Well, Sacred Stories is a legacy film production company. We specialize in video biographies. My background I've done a lot of work in ministry. I've done work in memory care and felt this gentle nudge to pursue this work as a personal historian.
It gives me chills every time you say that to me because I got into this business; I got into speech pathology for the same reason I wanted to help people share their stories. So you and I are kindred spirits.
Yes.
Wow. Okay. So tell us, what was your path to getting here? Because you've been in business just under a year?.
Yeah. No, I've been in business three years, I guess, March. Yep. And I got started in this work the way that a lot of personal historians get started doing this. I had already been thinking about the work and learning more about just this, this worldwide network of personal historians.
And in 2017. So five years ago, I decided I was going to interview my husband's grandmother and her name is Betty. I took a friend with me who was studying film in Austin. I interviewed Betty, and my friend recorded the interview on film. And I, we made a special trip down there. Cause I knew like I wanted this to be an intentional kind of time.
That was set apart. I knew we couldn't do it at just a holiday gathering. And I walked away that day just knowing that this is something I want to do, I need to do. I experienced just a deep sense of joy and connection. And I felt like. Walked away experiencing that too. And I saw how much our family loved the film.
And I just thought to myself; I want to do this for other people. And there is a network of people doing this kind of work. And I just started studying and researching how to go about doing it. I also love biography shows on TV and you know, celebrities and politicians and world leaders who get interviewed.
And I watched those and I was watching those at the time that I had interviewed Betty. And I just thought I want people, average people, everyday people to have something like this. And so, I've been working to create that ever since.
I love it. I love your mission and your passion for it.
Thank you.
So Betty was your first. Betty was my first and one of my favorites. Well, of course, it helps to a little bit of a family connection. That's right now, you just graduated. You took a course. Is it a course? Is it a degree? What would you call it?
I call it a graduate program.
It's a certificate program in life story, practice, and research through the University of Connecticut. And, and yes, I just completed all of my coursework, and it was a year long.
Wow. I love that. So what were the big takeaways from that program?
Yeah, it Was a wonderful program. I loved it, and I loved being a part of it.
I met some wonderful people, again, more connections, just all around the world. I got to do a deep dive. I feel like into why people tell stories, how we tell stories. How we listen, how to go about listening to other people, and how story-sharing is beneficial in so many aspects of our lives, from sales and marketing to caring for older adults to the group, group work.
And there was all kind of things I knew, but I got to. You know, delve into the research that supports that and just why stories matter in our world today. And I love the program and it really solidified and supported the work that I'm doing now.
Were there many programs to choose from?
No, no. This is a one-of-a-kind program. There are other certificates in, in storytelling and the art and craft of storytelling, you know, all over the country and world. This was a unique program and I just fell in love with what they were offering. Wow.
So tell us a little bit about the process. Who hires you, who seeks out your services, and what it's like to go through the process?
Well, an individual contact me. That's the first step of the project and I find out what they're looking for and what they're hoping to capture and what they want to do with the film. And then I give them a quote. And the next step is we schedule the interview and the interviews usually take about two to three hours.
From there, we add pictures, kind of clean it up, condense it down much as you'll do with this podcast, I guess, and do a little editing. Add pictures. We add music and we make a mini-movie featuring the stories of the loved one.
I would imagine it's a little disconcerting, just like when I started doing this (the podcast) and when the rest of the world started zooming, you know, two years ago with a pandemic, it's a little disconcerting to be in front of the camera to see yourself as you're talking. How do you get somebody comfortable?
That is, I mean, a big part of it is giving people, you know, the expectations of what we're going to be doing. And, and just having the skills to make a person feel comfortable allowing the person, you know, the space to know that they don't have to answer every question this space to think about the answers to their questions. And it's, you'd be surprised how the camera just seems to disappear once we get going. But yeah, it takes a little, it takes a little warming up. It takes a little breaking the ice and helping people just feel comfortable with the process and comfortable with me because a lot of times these people are complete strangers to me when I show up at their home to do the interview.
You've had contact with them previously.
I've had contact with the family.
Way back before the pandemic, before we were all zooming, I've been in telepractice for seven years. So I'm pretty used to it, but even getting on zoom with my parents, like they're like looking around the room, it's like, mom, I'm here eye contact. So I would imagine you have to do a little bit of coaching yes. With your folks, but that also is real life and not, everybody's used to being in front of a camera. They're not broadcast journalists.
That's right. And not everybody's used to doing a podcast. So yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's helping people feel comfortable with the, with the medium that we're using. And you know, we have to do some, some appearance things too, and one want the folks to look their very best on camera and, you know, they want that. And so do I for them. And so we do some shifting around, throughout we take breaks. And I really try to follow the person's lead as we're going through the process.
You're a natural at it. I mean, I'm just sitting here talking to you. Like we'd just be talking on Zoom cause I can see you. We're talking it's terrific. I'm visualizing the setup, whether it's inside or outside and you've got a camera angle and. I just think it's super fun. It's gotta be fun for the person to go through it once they get past that original nervousness.
And the big question everybody wants to know before we start is what questions am I going to be asking? So like when I do talk with the person before I interview them, that's the question they want to know, what are you going to ask? Because I don't want to be caught off guard and. I like to give categories of questions.
I try not to give the actual questions because I really do want it to be natural and, and organic to use your word that you used with me earlier, but just, I love that. I want it to be a conversation. And me just being naturally curious and asking the person questions about their life. But I try to give them some guidance on what we're going to be talking about.
And then again, when we start, I make sure they understand, you know, anything, this is your interview. This is, this is your time. And if there's anything you don't want to answer, you don't have to. And certainly, when we get to the end, I say, you know, is there anything else you want to share or any other thoughts that we didn't cover that you want to talk about?
I love it.
Can you give us an example of somebody you interviewed that was particularly interesting or fun or unexpected? Like you expected them to be one way in front of the camera and maybe they just turned out to be a total comedian. Do you have a story you can share with us?
Oh goodness.
You probably have lots and lots to choose from.
Yeah. I mean, every, every story, every interview that I do is interesting to me. That's why this work means so much, and every interview surprises me and teaches me something. I mean, I don't know if I have a particular example to give you right now, but just, I walk away with, I walk away considering and pondering.
My own life story and through the lens of these wonderful people, different ages, but you know, through the lens of these wonderful people, being vulnerable with me and sharing their stories and, you know, I walk away, you know, we laugh, we cry. I hear about adventures. I hear about trauma. I hear about, you know, joyful moments in people's lives. Just the combination of it all. And I definitely, I walk away changed every single time.
That's so impactful. I just love the stories. I'm just, so I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to meet you, that we had a mutual friend connect us to share your story and how you came to do this work. If someone doesn't live in Austin, can they still work with you?
Absolutely. Yes, it doesn't have to be in person. I've done a few virtual films and those are quite nice. The quality of the image and sound I tell people will only be as good as that person's equipment, but, but it works and it's, it's still a method of capturing the stories and.
I'll travel outside of Austin too. So I, I tell people, you know, start with a phone call and then we'll go from there and we'll figure out how to make it work best for that particular person or family. But yeah, definitely the virtual interviews I've done are really really special,
It's better to have the stories. Perfection is not what we're after.
That's right.
Good is good enough. And preserving the stories is what is most important, not a full movie production.
Yeah, I actually interviewed in December I interviewed a couple out of state on virtually and we had a great time. And then the family decided to hire me to interview the children and the grandchildren. It was 17 people, in total, and three different states, I think, or three different two in Texas and one out of state. But we did it all virtually just to be consistent. And we made a video for the grandparents and it was like a 45-minute greeting card with each of the people. I interviewed in short snippets, it was, it was a different flavor. It was my client's idea. And I absolutely loved it and loved, I want to do more, but sharing memories of their grandparents or parents sharing, just warm sentiments, kind of back the other direction. And it was, it was really, really special. The grandparents loved it. They said, you know, the best gift they've ever gotten.
So it's one of those, it's one of those gifts, that money can't buy.
That's right. That's right.
Because it's priceless. I surprised my dad on his 60th birthday with a surprise party and the whole setup behind it was, it was my oldest daughter's first and so we had her birthday in the afternoon and he's out hanging out with the neighbors. And in the meantime, we set up a surprise birthday for him that evening with his long, some of his longtime friends that showed up. And we had a videographer there and they made a movie out of it and he still watches it to this day.
I love that. I love that.
So it's the same thing. So I have personal experience with what you're describing and I'm thinking as my folks come out to visit me this summer, we might have to work something out.
I'd love that I'd love to work with you with your parents.
Let's talk a little bit about if someone is not looking to have a film, but they really want to talk to their, the person they have in mind in their family. Do you have any tips on how to coax out a story? How to really listen? What would you say about that?
Sure. I guess, you know, it starts with good questions and so I'd say. Be prepared with some good questions and I'd be happy to, I'd be happy to share those. We might put in the show notes, I'll link to some good questions that people can use. And I'll from time to time share those on my blog or social media. I love hunting for good questions. And I feel like for my, for my legacy film interviews I've crafted a pretty good set of questions, but I also like hearing from, from other people, new questions to you. So your listeners can share those with me too. But, but two examples may be of questions that I like to use that would be useful for people asking their loved ones.
One question I love is, you know, tell me a major turning point in your life or describe, a major turning point moment in your life.
And I love to ask about transition moments. That is, that is something in these legacy films. That comes out a lot because we remember those moments of our lives, you know, happy ones and hard ones. There's always a good story there and they shape us. So I would say, you know, that's a great question that someone could ask their loved one what's a major turning point in your life or a Rite of passage moment, I guess.
And then another good question I love is. You know, what was happening in your life when you were say 10 years old? And someone asked me that question once in a group setting. And I actually, stole that question because I liked it so much and I've added to add it to my list of good questions. So instead of asking a person, you know, tell me what life was like for a kid, or what did you do for fun saying, tell me about what you were doing when you were.
Or 13 or 20 that takes a person back to a specific time and gives imagery and descriptive language for the memory. And so I feel like that kind of question is really full. And then another, then another tip I have that I love to share with people. I have, I have some free conversation starters on my website and we can link to those in your show notes.
And I specifically developed these with different generations in mind, and my hope is that families would use them. People would use them with their friends, with coworkers, just as a get to know you. But I love little games like that because it can lead to deeper sharing. So some of the questions are really simple and fun and lighthearted, but it sort of warms the person up and then can lead to maybe some of those deeper, deeper sharing, deeper moments that people want to convey to their loved ones.
So, you know, a game makes it more fun and I would invite people to try those out if you haven't already,
And even downloading them and trying them out at the next holiday gathering, you know, the next time you're sitting around for Thanksgiving and there's that awkward silence, or maybe everybody's yelling and you ask a simple question to somebody and then it brings everybody kind of into the conversation, back to the table. I can see lots of uses.
And I, and I say, you know, it takes a little, it takes a little awkwardness. Maybe like it, sometimes it's awkward to be the person to say, let's play a conversation game at our holiday meal or be the person that says, I want to interview you. I'd like to interview your uncle so-and-so or whatever.
But that's the first step and we just, we kind of have to put ourselves out there a little bit. Yeah. Maybe be a little goofy and open, open up the process a little bit. So yeah. And then, and then I guess you asked for tips and if you're going deeper into an interview or deeper with someone, you know, helping that person feel comfortable, we've talked a little bit about that, but especially for older adults, just making sure the setting is right chair is comfortable, the temperature in the room, the lighting, you know, not shining in their eyes the time of day that they're well-rested. And, and just being willing to give the time that it takes. And that is that's the biggest thing making time.
Yes. I'm with you I'm processing it. Yes. It takes time because you're also making that connection.
That's right.
And showing them that they are valued.
Yep. And a little time goes a long way and quality time and a little connection go a long way. And you know, people, people can tell when we don't really care or don't want to hear. What do they want to share their stories? And so, you know, just being present, making eye contact just being engaged with the person, and really showing it really being present. Those, are the best tips I can give and what I try to, what I try to bring to the work that I do.
They sound simple, but they're hard. Especially nowadays 2022 it's a pretty busy time. There are a lot of distractions, a lot of things. We're all processing. But stopping to smell the roses and to hear a story. I think is important. I learned from my dad a long time ago, that he can talk to anybody. I always say pop can be in a room and he can talk the flowers off of wallpaper because my dad always has something he can talk to with somebody. About anything and it could be about the weather and it's still interesting. We've all channeled my dad, you know, we, we've learned from the best.
I was just now thinking back to, you know, the holidays, and maybe instead of making a big deal about, oh, let's interview uncle Joey. Maybe a question is put on a note card and it goes under everybody's plate and you just, you just have somebody start, oh, I put something under your plate. Can you read it to us? And let's all start thinking about how we can get these stories out of the people we love.
And share them and share them. And we participate too, and we play along and we share our stories because that's important work too.
It is. It definitely is. Well, I love this Whitney. What else would you like to tell us? Anything we didn't cover anything burning that you need to share with us, your favorite cheesecake recipe? Maybe
I just, I love stories. I love what I'm so passionate about it. About story and stories are everywhere and they're part of our lives. They make our lives and, and, and you know, this to Genevieve in the work that you do, stories heal. They, heal divisions between people and the sharing our stories and listening. It teaches us about ourselves and about the world around us. And that's why I named my business sacred stories because that word for me represents all those other words. I just said there's something really special to me that happens when stories are shared.
And when I do these sacred stories interviews that that's hard to put into words. I, I said earlier that many of the people are strangers and we walk away. You know these are, these are new friends that I have. And I walk away just with, with new truths, I guess, about our human experience coming to light for me. And that's an amazing thing. And, and all I'm really doing is just listening. I'm not, you know, in these interviews, I'm not saying a whole lot and that, that is the power of this work and story sharing and listening. And I think, I think it makes a better world. So I'm all for it.
It's terrific. Please tell us the name of your website.
Sure. It's sacred stories, films.com. And I'm also on social, social media, SacredStories films is where you can find me.
Terrific. Folks, we will link all of her social and her website and get you some tips so that you can help your family share their stories. Thank you. And don't wait till Thanksgiving, everybody.
That's right. This has been fun. Thank you for having me.
Start now. Absolutely my pleasure. We'll definitely talk again.
Sounds good. Thanks.
SUMMARY
I would want someone to do for my family, what I am doing to help theirs. We believe in whole person, whole family recovery.
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Hi there. I'm Genevieve Richardson, LIFE Speech Pathology, LIFE Aphasia Academy. Helping people takes a village. This is my why. These are my girls, 17 and 15. I would want someone to do for my family, what I am doing to help theirs. We believe in whole person, whole family recovery.
Aphasia impacts speaking, listening, reading, writing, and thinking.
Someone could have trouble talking, getting their words out of their mouth. They may have trouble with the muscles of their mouth and coordination. They could have trouble understanding the simplest of phrases. What would you like for dinner? Do you want to go to sleep? Shall we go out to dinner? They may not be able to read their emails or text messages.
"Well, it's a meander place and it has two, two of them. For dreaming and pending after supper and up and down four of down and three of up."
Think about a time when you were so tired or perhaps sick and you just couldn't pull your thoughts together to say something to your wife.
What if she interrupted you by trying to be helpful? By trying to help you find your words and you just lost your train of thought. What if this feeling, this frustration impacted you every day?
Could you go back to work if this is how you spoke? Would your friends react to you talking to them at a barbecue? And what, if you couldn't tell jokes like you used to. Would your boss let you come back to work? Could you do your job?
Aphasia. It impacts all ages. It can take away your dreams, and your career. It can ruin your self-confidence. It can rob you of friends and family and relationships. It's isolating and lonely, but it doesn't have to be that way.
So my company. We serve survivors. Who have gone through a stroke and have residual effects. Impacting their speech, their language, and their thinking. We also are about building community. Life aphasia academy is about supporting spouses and families and partners and loved ones of survivors of stroke as well as other conditions.
Neurologic conditions can impact your ability to communicate whether it's Parkinson's disease, primary, progressive aphasia, a traumatic brain injury, or other condition.
Action. Plus intention equals manifestation. That's why I'm here today, recording this video, trying to convey what life is all about.
It's about building community. I am actively building courses for spouses soon to be released. I want spouses to be able to communicate more effectively with their loved ones. I want their loved ones to be back in the community, doing the things that they want to do. I'm working to mentor grad students. I've had the honor of working with some students at the University of Texas health system down in San Antonio, the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
I started a podcast. Whoo. Listen for life. Soon to be released. The trailer is up now on Spotify and Apple podcasts. And wherever you listen to your podcasts soon to be released. But I have a challenge.
I am not waiting around. Every day, not only am I treating clients, talking to their spouses, and building programs. I am connecting with members of my community. I'm reaching out to professionals. Through. Um, mutual connections here in my community. I'm talking to my spouses and their families and getting connected with the people in their community.
But I need help. I cannot do this alone. How can you help? First. This is not an eating challenge. And it's definitely not getting in shape challenge. But I need to know who, you know, I need to know what you need to know. I have a pretty good idea of what spouses and survivors need to know to live their best life.
Whether it's getting therapy, or getting hooked up with the right professionals. Making connections in their community.
I want to thank you for your time. Thank you for sitting through my video. This is a QR code with contact information for the business. If you'd like grab your QR reader and snap a picture, otherwise it'll be on my website. Thank you so much for listening. Have a fabulous day.
Introducing, Angelique, a stroke survivor who is educating and advocating for stroke survivors and their families through her work at ARCH, Aphasia Resources Collaboration Hub. She has a lot to say...I hope you'll listen to her story.
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On Friday, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Angelique. Angelique is the president of the board of directors for ARCH known as Aphasia Resources Collaboration Hub. I was scheduled to join the monthly ARCH meeting, but I failed to convert the time difference between East Coast and Central time zones. And I logged into the ARCH meeting 59 minutes late.
Oops. That was not the way to make a first impression. However, I had the opportunity to speak with Angie, and she, and I set up a phone call for later that day. She and I chatted for 45 minutes. Rather, I should say she talked and I listened. She graciously agreed to let me share what I heard her say.
She talked and I transcribed. I used to be quite the typist back in high school and not long after high school. And I'll tell ya, she even challenged me. () Angie is a dynamo and she will talk the flowers off of wallpaper. But what's so important is her insights about her journey as a stroke survivor.
She had so much to say. We covered many topics for which she shared great insight. The bullet points and quotes below that you'll see in the show notes are both chronological and organized by topic. The words in bold are some of my takeaways from her story. Again, you'll see that in the show notes.
Here's Angie’s stroke story
Her stroke was in May 2017. She worked as a finance manager for the largest car dealership in the country.
Numbers and talking were very important for her job. For any of you that have ever bought a car, you know what the finance manager does.
She believes her innate ability to pivot conversation and use analogies has assisted her in her stroke recovery. Her stroke occurred in the evening after a day of work. She was relaxing at home playing X-Box. She went to reach for a glass and couldn't pick it up. She described her speech as nonsense. She knew it was wrong.
Quote, "I tried to mentally record everything I was feeling to determine what was wrong. Just my hand and my speech."
Her husband called 9 1 1 and the young man, the paramedic arrived. And Angie recalls that he "thought I was having a panic attack" and said that it was up to me, whether or not I wanted to go to the hospital." Looking back, she said "that really bothered me." She goes on to say "our assumption is that a paramedic is trained and they should know what is wrong. Especially when I'm not speaking and that I was much different than having just a panic attack." She had two strokes that night and was discharged relatively soon from the hospital.
Aphasia in the early days
Angie describes the early days as feeling like I was in a cavern or underwater. "What I heard was unclear and fragments, the words were overlaying each other in different voices, like a montage. "
She goes on to say, "I didn't realize what I couldn't do until I tried to do it. My husband was concerned and I went into lockdown." She slept a lot in the early days and said she didn't know how bad it was until she went to church and she could not say communion. She couldn't say the words that she knew to say.
Everything she intended to say, didn't come out. Angie went on to describe her aphasia as. "I know where the information drawer is, but it's empty. When I look in the drawer I see through to the floor." She lives with this daily, but she's used to it now,. she says. Neuro-fog. That's her term.
She describes aphasia within itself. "I have to pick words out of a stream of thought". Let me say that again. "I have to pick words out of a stream of thought to make a sentence. Not necessarily saying what I wanted to say. I haven't said what I want to say in years."
"I got to the point in the last six months. I was doing work at Temple University. And when I didn't go, my language production dropped by 30%. If you don't use it, you lose it", she says. "Before my stroke, I had a wardrobe box full of words. We all have a wardrobe box. Now I have a shoe box and I have to navigate with what I have."
Now she goes on to say, "I have an Amazon box, you know, the size of a box you get when you're fired from a job and you have to clean out your desk." How does she know that by the way? "Now I have a file box like that."
"A person with primary progressive aphasia, she says only has a ring box. As my box gets bigger and what I haven't figured out it's about the brain damage and how much you work at getting it back. Sometimes that's a total loss. It depends on the capacity if you get it back. My strokes were smaller."
Inspiration
One of the people that inspired Angie was Dr. Jill, a neuroscientist who had a stroke. I included the link to Dr. Jill's Ted talk in the show notes.
"I came home, Angie says, and I got on YouTube Khan academy. I looked up what I could on aphasia. But Dr. Jill described something to me. She had aphasia, but she was up there talking. My counterparts weren't having her type of success. Why did she have success? I got involved in research at Temple University."
"If she could do it about her situation and she couldn't talk at all, she had real problems." That's in quotes. Angie's goal is to do a Ted Talk.
Founder of ARCH
Angie is the visionary and co-founder of ARCH and works with the other Musketeers, Dr. Nadine Martin, and Julie Slessinger. Julie keeps ARCH running. I've included a link to ARCH in the show notes. ARCH is about, and I took this word for word from the website, "Imagine if there was a place to look on a trusted website to print out a flyer for support group clinics or research opportunities in the area. People with aphasia could learn about choirs and exercise groups and chat groups that can then grow while people with aphasia get more friends through the needed outlet, as well as a place to learn." Angie speaking my language. "Researchers can share information breakthroughs and have a place to notify people with aphasia about research opportunities. Clinicians could have a reliable source in which to direct their clients so they could find out about everything available to them, as well as have a way to engage with other clinicians in the area. ARCH, Aphasia Resource Collaboration Hub is a landing pad for everyone to realize resources."
Tuned in
Angie says that she and her husband are tuned into each other. They recognize that not all survivors and their spouses are tuned in together. She understands those blockages. How do we help spouses get tuned into their person with aphasia?
About the box
I have mastered my box. Outside of my box, I'm a train wreck. She says "there is a physical disconnect from my brain to my mouth." Outside of the box refers to when she talks about less familiar topics, she attributes her sales experience to helping her gloss over and BS her way in an unfamiliar or unpracticed conversation.
She describes her aphasia as recognizing the people and places around her, but that it seems like she is on another planet and her. Quote "communication device doesn't work on this planet."
Aphasia and intelligence
Angie acknowledges that intelligence isn't directly impacted by aphasia. She goes on to say. "But if I can't tie my shoe or add. Did I lose my intelligence? She says people don't judge you by what you know but by what you can prove, you know. If I can't produce, what's my worth?", she asked. "I did have every intention of going back to work as a finance manager but I couldn't do the math. She describes going to Five and Below (the discount store) and purchasing a fourth-grade math book. "It looked like Arabic, she says., "Eventually, I settled on a pre-K math book and it still worked. I didn't know what I didn't know. It was such a drop in the bucket that much worse. It was much worse than I thought."
Her husband
Her best friend never left her side. She says, "I am married to the pick of the litter. He is everything smart, and handsome. He's got all his teeth and smells good. I really do have a great husband."
Thank you Angie for spending the time with me today and for sharing your candid story. Honestly, I could have spoken to Angie for hours. She is smart, witty, insightful, and gracious with her time. I look forward to our next interaction. During our time together Angie acknowledges the work yet to be done to help her fellow Aphasians.
Angie. I think your Ted Talk can be titled "To my fellow aphasia. And those who love them."
I hope you find some insight and nuggets of wisdom from Angie's words. I know that I did. Learn more about the work we have before us at LIFE Aphasia Academy. I look forward to working with Angie and ARCH to support survivors and their families. If you liked this podcast, please subscribe. Share it with a friend.
We are all about building the village to support those who live with aphasia and neurologic conditions. If you're interested head over to ListenforLIFEpodcast.com. And there you will be able to find this episode and the show notes for which the episode is transcribed. Additionally, you'll be able to download the guide of Top Tips for Communication and Self Care.
It's a guide I put together not only for improving communication in some easy, actionable steps but also, to help the caregiver find some self-care for themselves. Thank you very much for listening. Have a fabulous day.
SUMMARY
There are many roles each of us plays. We wear a different hat depending on the task, often changing our hat multiple times throughout the day. These hats reflect responsibilities, scheduling, managing people, and circumstance planning. Other times I need to anticipate life or be a referee, advocate, or problem solver. We get caught up in our parts, and when something disrupts our existence, something significant happens that shakes the ground we walk on, causing fissures and cracks.
You are not alone. I see you.
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Wearing many hats, many of us have a different hat for each role. We play in our lives for me, I'm a wife, I'm a mom, I'm a neighbor, a friend, a colleague. I was an employee, but now I'm a boss, a supervisor, a business owner, and an entrepreneur. Isn't that a big fancy word?.
There are lots of roles each of us plays, we wear a different hat depending on the task at hand, often changing our hat multiple times throughout the day. These hats reflect responsibilities, scheduling, managing people in circumstances, planning, anticipating being a referee, and sometimes being an advocate, and a problem solver.
And then there's just the daily activities we have to do from getting ready in the morning to preparing a meal, to getting the trash out on trash day. We all have a lot of roles. We get caught up in our roles and then something happens to disrupt our existence or something significant happens that shakes the ground.
We walk on causing fishers and cracks in the ground. And we just hope we can keep our balance and stay upright while we keep moving forward. For some, they may slip or fall into the crack and find themselves holding on for dear life, just by the tips of their fingers. Through my years of working with stroke survivors and their families, I knew the family unit needed support.
as a clinician, I have spent my career being a better clinician, better at diagnosing, better at treating, thinking outside the box, and taking different angles, but it's not enough just to focus on the treatment for the survivor, with some family training thrown in here and there, you know, just the important information they need to know right now.
Or, you know, please do this homework with your loved ones. The family needs and deserves to receive the same care and consideration as a survivor. My frustration looking back is that the medical model pays clinicians and their employers to support the survivor. They don't pay for caregiver training, but the caregiver training.
Is, what's so important for the whole family unit. It's not just one-sided. The survivor and the family needs help, as a young star eye clinician, I thought I knew best what my patients and families needed. I had the training, I did the research, I had the knowledge and I definitely had the enthusiasm and looking back. I see myself therapizing, my patients, educating them, but still telling them what to do. Like I know best do this. We don't have a lot of time. Let's get it done, not to defend my approach or how I did things in my early days. But when you have a limited amount of time and you meet a survivor or someone with a chronic condition, and there are multiple things that need to be worked on whether it's language cognition, or swallowing, we have to make priorities as clinicians.
To take care of the big rocks. First, we can't worry about the little rocks. And unfortunately, I think families get put in that little rock pile and they don't get the support they need either.
I acknowledge that a spouse or partner may be in triage mode when their loved one is discharged from. Just to review the rehabilitation process. If one has had a stroke, you often go to the hospital, get medically stabilized, and stay a couple of days in the acute ward. And then you often get moved or discharged to an inpatient rehab facility, whether it's in your same hospital or transferred to a different location altogether.
After that, the survivor may go home with their family and then home health comes in. And again, that's kind of triage. Situation the therapists or the nurse is coming in. You might have help from a home health aid, but again, it's a triage it's taking care of the big rocks, not the little rocks. Yes. We have to do training, but do we know that our caregivers are in a mental, emotional, or physical condition to receive that?
After home healthcare, often that survivor, if it's a stroke is sent to outpatient rehab, it could be at the near ho nearest hospital, or it could be at a private practice speech pathology setting or private practice, physical therapy, occupational therapy setting. So now that somebody is home from rehab, maybe home health is done and they're transitioning to outpatient, or even maybe they've been discharged from outpatient.
That's when the reality starts to sit in for these caregivers have to figure out a new routine, add new roles, new hats, and new responsibilities to what they did before because now your loved one needs more assistance.
I wanna help spouses and families get the support they need wherever they are in the rehabilitation journey. FAIA academy was created to meet caregivers where they are and to provide them with a village of support and information I'll share with you, one of my husband's quotes, he often says "I see the future so clearly that time is yet to catch up." This quote is so meaningful to me and resonates deeply within the person and clinician that I am. I see a future where survivors and their families receive support and information. They need to navigate their journey with aphasia, or if they have another neurologic condition, I want you to live your best life.
And I understand that things have to fall into place, levels of support things you need to know to help you get to that place where you can receive and process information that you're getting from the professionals around you. I wanna thank you for listening to today's episode might have been a little heavy, not intended, but I needed you all to know where I'm coming from and where I'm trying to go with this podcast.
If you'd like to see the transcript of this show, check out our show notes at listenforlifepodcast.com while you're there. We have a guide I would love for you to download called TOP TIPS FOR APHASIA COMMUNICATION AND SELF-CARE.
This guide was designed to give you actionable steps to improve the giving and receiving of messages. With your loved one with aphasia, just as important, you need to take care of yourself. Anyone can read this guide. You don't need to have had a stroke or have the after-effects of a stroke to benefit from this guide.
Self-care is for everyone. Stopping to smell. The roses are more important than ever. Having a sense of gratitude is more important than ever. And those are future topics that we will tackle together. We hope this guide will help you communicate better with your loved one and help you take care of yourself too because you are important.
Have a fabulous day.
Thanks for tuning in to the listen for life podcast. We hope you feel empowered and supported head over to listen for life podcast.com to see the show notes with links and information from today's episode, do you have a topic, a resource to share, or a guest recommendation, inquiring minds want to know?
Let us know in the comments section wishing you a fabulous week.
SUMMARY
Today, we're pulling back the curtain about speech pathology, and graduate student training. We'll hear from my current student, Gisela, about her training at UT Health San Antonio. Her experience working with clients with LIFE Speech Pathology and what it's like to work with clients via telepractice. I think you'll find her insights interesting. Let's jump in.
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Hello everybody. Thank you for joining us today. This is my first interview officially with Gisela Jaimes. She is my current graduate student. She is at the University of Texas Health Science campus in San Antonio, Texas. Welcome, Gisela.
Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
So what you all don't know is this is like our sixth take, because I just can't seem to get this tech figured out. But anyway, so I am the wizard behind the curtain and the curtain is wide open. You all get to see it. Well, hear it as it goes. So I thought we'd start today and talk just a little bit about how one becomes a speech pathologist.
So in general, and then we're gonna get Gisela's take on it. You have to get a bachelor's degree. It's typically in the area of Communication Disorders. At least that's what my degree's in. What is yours in?
Correct. Mine's also in Communication. If you have another degree, you can also level and go back and just take those courses that you need and level.
There you go. Great advice. And I remember when I was in school, there were several people that did that.
Then you catch up and you all can go to graduate school together. So as a condition of graduating with your master's, you have to complete at least one internship. I did two because I did an internship in the schools and then I also wanted a medical internship. Were you required to do two internships?
Not technically, we just had to do four hours of clinical work, 400, not four, 400 hours of clinical work. We did a total of two, although I know other universities do more than that, depending if you're online, virtual, or in person, or if your college or university has a clinic or not.
Gotcha.
So we know that you need a master's in speech pathology, you can work with kids, you can work with adults, and then there are tons of other ways you can work with kids with adults, or you can work in the corporate field. There are lots of ways you can go.
So how I got to meet you, and she's heard this story a hundred times, but you all get to hear it, hopefully for the first time, I really wanted to have a student from Texas. My kid is going to UT San Antonio in the fall. There are like 20 different speech pathology programs in Texas. I wrote I did the research. I wrote 'em all down and I'm like, okay, which one? Well, when UT San Antonio came up on my list, I'm like, ding, ding, ding. That's where I'm gonna start. Little did I know that down in San Antonio, you are part of the UT Health program versus UT San Antonio, which is part of the University of Texas, just the university system.
Is that a big deal? I mean, UT Health system, I mean that's statewide and Texas is huge.
Yeah, I think UT Health definitely treats it as a big deal. They've always really expressed like we're not part of U T S A we're our own system because I think UT Health itself is more medically-based. And I think they wanted to distinguish that by like saying we're not UT S A we're UT health in San Antonio.
So I think it's just the emphasis on like medicine and a lot more medically center ed education.
Oh, well, it's a wonderful program. I've had interactions with a couple of different instructors, and the professors there at the program. And I couldn't be happier with the quality of students. UT Health is putting out, so woohoo.
Thank you. I'm gonna take that as a compliment. And, but I also loved how their program works. I mean, I got a literal, huge variety of courses all the way from pediatric feeding to traumatic brain injuries and cultural competence. I mean, it was amazing the coursework that they provided.
Nice. So it was just meant to be that I found Gisela because I wanted a student in Texas and she needed an internship. And actually, she was kind of waiting around for an internship where her fellow students were already placed and doing such, you know, they were already doing the work for at least a week before I contacted the school and got ahold of Dr. Kennedy and next thing we knew Gisela is on and, and she's jumping in with both feet.
Yeah. And so one of the reasons I was just sitting around waiting was because I was really advocating for myself. I really wanted an adult placement. I really wanted to work with adults. So I was like, I refused to be placed with kids again, put me with adults. And so that's why she, she had me on hold. And luckily you came around and I got to be placed with LIFE Speech Pathology.
So I have a cat, her name is Kismet and kismet means fate. It's like, karma. Well, her brother is called Karma, so I have two cats, Kismet and Karma. But when I met Kizzy it was like, she was waiting for me, which is how their names came to be.
And I feel like this situation was kismet. So that's my word of the day. Kismet spells it, everybody K I S M E T. It's it's all good. So we've had a great semester. We've gotten a lot of work done. Gisela has been great at building rapport with all the folks. So let's jump into her self-assessment. So what I like is for all my students to do a self-assessment right before I get to write up their final assessment. Which helps give them their grade. So first, thanks. First. I'd love to know what you've learned about yourself as a clinician, going through this internship experience.
Yeah. So I feel like I got to learn a lot about myself as a clinician because especially when you are going through your grad program, you're just like reading the books.
You're like neck-deep and all of this terminology and all of this treatment, how you're gonna apply it. But it's not till you really start doing the work that you start learning how style is as a clinician and whatnot. And so as I got to work with your clients or my clients, our clients, I learned that one of my favorite parts about being, doing speech pathology or speech therapy is I love building relationships with our clients.
I think it's the core of our therapy. If you don't have patient rapport, I don't think you have, you're really gonna make any improvements. I think it trump's data. It trumps treatment. You have to have that connection with them in order to like see improvement. I think I saw how well you got along with them and how your rapport looked with them which is why it made it so easy for me to jump in and, you know, get to know them because you got along with them so well, and I mean, you knew all of their family and all of them, their history where they had lived and all of that. And I saw how big of a difference it made. And it just taught me that
I love an environment where I get to like flourish and explore my relationship with my clients. I also learned that I'm super passionate about communication partner training because Ms. Genevieve asked me to do a project this semester and it was, and I decided to do communication partner training and I just didn't realize how important I thought it was until I started doing everything.
And I was like, no, I do absolutely love this. And I think this is crucial to the work we do with our clients because we teach, we treat the whole person and not just the aphasia, you know? And so as a clinician, I think I learned about myself that I want to continue to treat the whole person, just how you do and not just the diagnosis.
That's awesome. Folks, my work here is done. Mic drop. Now, if I can just get another 50 of Gisela's before I retire, then my work will be done. So I digress. Onto question two to tell me how your understanding of aphasia kind of developed or evolved from the book learning to in-person.
So before starting my spring externship, which is where I'm at right now with you, I had only treated PPA, which is Primary Progressive Aphasia, it's progressive and, looks a lot different than the typical aphasia. So I had very little experience with aphasia, meaning I had to kind of develop what the book told me. And I felt like that was very black and white, you know, clear, cut, defined, all of these labels, you know, you have Trancortical, you have Broca's, you have Wernicke's and it's fluent, or it's not fluent or it's they have good comprehension or they don't.
And realistically it does not look like that. Like labels do not do anything for us and comprehension, even comprehension is on a spectrum. It's, you know, they might understand this or they might understand with these cues and so on.
And so getting to work with aphasia now, I'm thinking of it as a characteristic. So it's way more gray, way more muddled, way more blurry and murky aphasia is like something you treat, but it's also something you modify and you adjust. And I mean, if you choose to label things, aphasia will never just be Global.
You know, once you start treating and working with this client, it it's transient. It can change to whatever other label you wanna give it, but it's just a characteristic. That this person, has, I think we know so many people that don't have strokes or TBIs and they don't listen to you when you talk, or they're not good at expressing their feelings.
You know we all treat our communication as a characteristic. And I think that that's how we should treat aphasia as well as a characteristic in how they communicate rather than like a diagnosis or, or an overall umbrella of diagnosis if that makes sense.
I really think it does. I've never been a fan of labels because I never met someone with aphasia that I could put in one of those boxes.
I never really liked it. I always fought against it. And I think the other point that you bring up is this is a person. This person does not need to be defined now with their speech and language characteristics, like you said, it's a characteristic, not a label. And our job is to help them in every way we can to improve their communication, improve how they communicate with their families, their spouses, their kids, and their neighbors.
It is the whole person.
I agree. And that also kind of leads me into communication partner training. You know, we also wanna help train their part, their partners, their neighbors, and their friends to also communicate with them, you know, like treating the whole person, like you said, is, is it takes two to tango, as you wanted, it's the whole community and that's just gonna come with education.
And I think that's why I got so passionate about it as I was working on this project. Cuz it's so true and resonates when you're treating a person with aphasia that it's beyond them and their diagnosis. And it's about community.
It is. See folks, she drank the punch
So we serve clients. We, I kind of define it in two different groups of folks. So I wanted to get Giselle's take on the folks and I'm just gonna give a broad category of the folks that are working either there, early in their career. And they have a stroke or it's through their working years up until retirement.
And then my second group is those folks that have probably retired or are very close to retiring. And they're kind of in a different phase of theirs. Can you talk to us, Gisela, just general impressions of like the working-age group versus the retirement age group, what are their needs and what are their spouses and families need, maybe it's the same, but I'd like to hear your take on that.
Yeah. I think that if we remove the aphasia and we look at these populations just as populations. Our working age is their life participation, you know, which is how they're involved. What they're doing at bedtime looks a lot different than somebody who's retired. Somebody who's, you know, the peak of their career working is highly like motivated and like still has all of these goals and things that they wanna reach.
Not saying the people who are retired don't, I'm just saying that the goals look different. Mm-hmm, they're a lot more goal, like goal-oriented, and require a lot more discipline and resilience and commitment. Versus the goals that you have when you're retired, which might look generally speaking, like hanging out with your kids, who you now get to commit time to, hanging out with your grandchildren, or taking that trip.
You never got to take, you know, it's more about getting to focus on yourself and the people you love, where I think that younger age or younger group looks more like hanging out with your friends and committing time to others and the goals that you've set so that you can eventually get to that time where you get to look or work on yourself and focus more on yourself.
If that makes sense. So I think that when you add aphasia those characteristics are still going to be there. A person who had a stroke and now has aphasia, but was at the peak of their career is gonna be way more motivated to get back into the workforce. And so their goals are gonna look different than a person who's retired and who, who the main goal is to be able to communicate with their partner and read a book to their grandchildren. You know, being able to give a speech at work or being able to give orders or type an email is gonna, you know, require different amounts of work and a different amount of resilience and discipline and self-motivation than, you know, functional communication, which is, I mean, both are functional.
What I mean is simpler, not simpler. I don't like any of those words. I know. I just feel like the verbiage that you use is so like impactful and for retired people, it's a lot more family-oriented or self-focused. And so those are gonna be slower-paced than those of like, well, I have a job interview tomorrow.
If that makes sense, both require self-motivation, discipline, and commitment. I just think that they're going to come out. They're gonna present differently. Because the goals are different.
Yeah. And again, I am not about labeling people, but sometimes you have to acknowledge that depending on where you are in life your goals are going to fluctuate. And we really, really try to meet each person where they are with their goals. So it's just, it is just a little different. So I agree with everything you said there. Now,, what about their spouses and families? Is there a difference between what spouses and families need? If you have a working-age person like your husband who had a stroke versus retirement age. Do the spouses need something different?
Not, I don't think that they do because I think grief has experienced regardless of age or the goals that the client's gonna have for themselves. I think as the spouse or the family or the friend or the caregiver, it's going to be really hard to return that independence to them, even though you want to trust and know that they're gonna be okay with that independence, it's hard to, to not want to over nurture and over care in both situations. And you're still also in both situations gonna grieve the person that you knew prior to the accident, whether it's a stroke, whether it's a traumatic brain injury.
And I think you'll continue to live in this may be consistent fear of like, it might happen again or look for those signs of, of concern. So I think that they both require self-care and prioritization of themselves. You know, I think they both require a commitment to their loved ones and acceptance and discipline.
Like these are all characteristics. I think caregivers and loved ones will share. I don't think that one spouse will have any different needs from the other spouse that I can think of off the top of my head.
That makes sense.
How about, how about you, do you think that there are some things that might defer between the two populations?
I actually don't think so. I've really been noodling this the last couple of days. One thing that's come up in our caregiver support group that we run is the theme of grieving. And I think that's a whole other ginormous, yes, that's my word, ginormous topic that needs to be addressed by all spouses, regardless of age, because we can grieve when there's a change of what our expectations are.
So to be continued on that. And I actually have a couple of great folks that I intend to interview to help give you all, some more information about that. Some strategies, some actionable items. All right. So let we're gonna get to wrap this up shortly, but the one thing that's unique about our practice is we are 100% telepractice.
So we're on Zoom. And I specifically chose Zoom because we have a whiteboard and all the capabilities of what we can do on the computer with our folks that I think unless you're in a clinic where you have everything at your fingertips. It's just a little different having the whole internet and Google.
Dr. Google, Google images, Google maps, whatever the case may be. You have it at your fingertips. So Gisela,, I'd like you to tell us a little bit about what you think you were going to come up against with telepractice? Well, let's start there, and then we'll dig in just a little bit.
Okay. So I am a post-pandemic grad student.
So means that in my senior year of undergrad. My bachelor's degree COVID hit. So everything went virtual. Prior to that, I had zero experience with virtual classes, virtual anything. And I started grad school virtually. I mean the whole first year of grad school was via Zoom. And I think along with the rest of the world, we were exploring Zoom together.
I mean, my professors, me, my cohort, we were all exploring Zoom. I think that I came in not knowing what to expect because all I had experienced was being the student, not the person who teaches via Zoom. So I came in completely clueless. Luckily, I had a great teacher because you've been doing this far before COVID hit.
And you had a lot more experience. You taught you. I didn't even know what a whiteboard was and none of my professors had ever used the whiteboard. Yay. Yeah, exactly. And we had, I didn't even know you could share your remotes, like with you're the person you were Zooming with? There were just a lot of things I didn't know you could do.
So I came in completely clueless, about all of it. And I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna do this because all I've ever been taught is in person, you know, body language, eye contact hand, we don't do hand over hand, but that's like, you know how things used to be done and cueing and all of that, but in person so I was a little panicked to come in. But to answer your question, I had zero ideas how it was gonna go.
It is different in a lot of ways. I love it. I remember back in my home health days, the only supplies I had at hand were those that I carried into the house in my ginormous bag or what I could obtain in the client's house for function and work.
It didn't matter what we were working on, but I had their whole house available to me. And that's fun and interesting too, but I, I just think in this day and age COVID changed everything. Even, you know, if my grandmother were still alive, she would've been on Zoom, and also folks, a big part of what we do at LIFE Speech Pathology is working on verbs. So Zoom used to be a noun. And now it's a verb you're Zooming with people or I Zoomed with Gisela yesterday, you know, mm-hmm anyway, work under your conjugation, everybody. So let's talk about real quick telepractice. Advantages and disadvantages with the aphasia population.
Yeah. So I think one of the natural advantages of virtual or teletherapy with our aphasia clients is it kind of lends itself to constraint-induced by nature. I mean, constraint-induced being that it, it forces or requires our clients to use whatever modality that is called for in this case, it's verbal. It requires them to be verbally expressive because a lot of our clients aren't tech-savvy or can't type, or just face different barriers that kind of by nature.
Again, forces them to use the verbal expression. I think that's an advantage because I think that within speech therapy specifically, you want them to do that, obviously, depending on their goals, in this case, most of our clients have the goal of being verbally expressive. So I think that's a plus, especially when they can't rely on other things or pointing and pointing at things around their room, the way you can in person.
I think it allows everyone to have access to treatment regardless of their living situation. You know, we have some of our clients who live in a very small town in the middle of some huge state and we get to treat them, regardless of where they're at and they don't have to drive an hour to treatment. And I think that's fantastic it also makes it easier for others to join the session as well. I talked about communication partner treatment. And for example, if somebody's friend who lives 30 minutes away and can't, you know, leave work or whatever to come to join our session, but has a lunch break. They'd be able to jump on a Zoom and get communication partner training, just that easy and I think that's great because it allows more opportunity to educate people who wouldn't normally drive to a clinic for this, this small of a, of an education if you are training. I think that it emphasizes turn-taking because on Zoom when you talk at the same time, you don't hear what's going on the way you do in person.
So you really have to practice turn-taking, which is huge for our clients with aphasia but mainly our clients with traumatic brain injury. And lastly evaluations, technically are limited as they cannot be like, like do physical tasks. But I think that that in itself is a benefit because it, forces us to be way more dynamic and you're not constricted to this like a standardized exam. If that makes sense. I think that's my motto today. I keep asking if that makes sense, but I think those are the benefits that we get to see in telepractice. And I have some challenges too. I dunno if you want me to share those as well. Yeah, sure.
Do it. I think it's a little harder to do multimodal stuff, which is, you know, again, cuz it's a con by nature it's constraint-induced so our clients who do have a harder time communicating can't do like gestures as clearly or drawing or, you know, showing us stuff on their phone because the camera doesn't get it.
Although if they're tech-savvy, they can jump on Google and share their screen. So that's still awesome. Oh, that's another benefit. I forgot to mention. It's so easy to pivot when you are doing teletherapy. It's so easy to pivot because if some, if they're not gathering what you're saying, I can be on the side, Googling already a picture of what we're working on and I can just pull it up, show it to them, and then we can move back over to what we were doing.
You know, we can use videos. We can use gifs, we can use pictures, and apps. So many tools, all in one session without requiring, like you said, have like this big old tub of tools or equipment that we have to use. So it's so easy to pivot and modify according to your client and their goals, which I think is a huge benefit that is harder to do in person, because it's so easy to get flustered and be like, oh, hold on, let me get this and, and lemme get that and gimme one-second cause they're watching you do all of this, you know. Versus via zoom you can still keep that eye contact while doing the same stuff. But back to my challenges, it's not always user-friendly. As some of our clients are not experienced with tech. It's a little harder to read body language.
You know, if they're sh I can read facial expressions really well, but not the body language. I think that in-person obviously is better for evaluations in the sense that they're standardized, not in the sense that they're dynamic. And I do think that eye contact is easier to monitor in person cuz although I might be making eye contact with my client and I think they're making eye contact with me there's no way to verify that they're doing so and things like personal space is easier in person for traumatic brain injury patients or anybody with like social or pragmatic goals. The personal space obviously is like non-negotiable when working via Zoom, but that's really it. I think there are a lot of benefits and I think it's really great for clients who are willing to put in the work.
I love it for mental flexibility, not only for us as clinicians, but also for our clients. I have one gentleman that he was, he had a flip phone when he had his stroke three years ago and he was in a very important job, but he did not use a smartphone. He had never used a laptop and he has learned to log on and log off. He can annotate on the whiteboard. He can draw on the whiteboard. And now for some reason, the Zoom link doesn't come in he calls me on the telephone to tell me, to send him the link. So this is all about initiation, mental flexibility, and stick-to-it-of-ness. So I think there are advantages. You brought up an interesting point about the disadvantage of evaluations.
I've never been a huge fan of standardized, mostly because I don't wanna keep my head in a protocol. But with that being said, dynamic and formative assessment, whichever you wanna call it, it's where you take your clinical judgment, you take your knowledge of the evidence and treatment, and what is this subtest trying to get at.
And again, you can pivot and you can manipulate it and really see where is their language breaking down. So it depends on how you wanna look at it. If you are with an insurance company and you absolutely have to be giving a full test, full battery, and standardized scores this is gonna be really hard. Many of our test manufacturers have also pivoted with the pandemic and have availed their products to be telepractice friendly.
So that's wonderful. We're all learning here, folks. We're all doing the very best we can. Of course all with the best intentions. All right, so we're gonna wrap it up with Gisela. Wow. We've been talking for 31 minutes already.
I know time flies when you're having that conversation.
I know not like we don't talk to each other all day every day. So let's wrap up your final question today. What are your final thoughts for clinicians that are going come the fall through the UT health system? What do they need to know? What do they need to think about? What characteristics do they need to have in themselves to be successful in an internship, working with adults?
I won't speak about kids cuz I don't have any knowledge of that. So we're keeping it with the adult clients.
Okay. Well, I think that I just would wanna share with other grad students that your relationship with your client is one of the, if not the most important factor during treatment it's so important to make time to get to know your client and for them to get to know you.
You know, you have to build that trust. Cause without it, they're not gonna trust your treatment plan or they're not gonna trust your, like feedback and so on. I think it's one of the necessary components to succeed. Not only in your externship and internship but just in general with your clients.
I think it's also important to be open-minded. Take feedback from both your clients and your supervisor. You know, we do not know at all. You definitely do not know at all. If you are in your externship slash internship, you have to be open-minded to feedback and you have to take it well, I mean, I've heard horror stories where it's a constant, like, battle of like, well, I did that because of this and this and like, you know, arguing.
I mean, I hope I took my, feedback. Well, I feel like I did, but I think it's necessary to be open and welcome criticism and whatnot so that we can glow grow, not glow grow explanations. And don't be afraid to try new things and rethink goals and treatment plans and how you're approaching a situation.
It's really easy to be like, well, I already set this goal. So this is what we're sticking to. If it's not working for your client and you're not seeing a progression, it's, it's really important to pivot and just how it's important to be flexible for our clients to be flexible. It's important for us to be flexible.
Because we don't know all be all and each person is so different and so unique that we have to be able to try new things and, and think outside the box for each person.
I think that's great advice. Yeah. You can't get so caught up in like you said, you've set this goal and you work so hard to write that evaluation and one thing I've, I've learned in working in so many different settings, you have to be flexible. I guess that's one of the keywords, flexible, think outside the box, be creative, but have that relationship with the people you work with, the clients, and their families. It's all been great. Well, it's been great having you, Gisela.
So we're going to have a second podcast with Gisela where we can really kind of dig into Communication Partner Training, cuz she's really put some nice work into this. We'll have an infographic for you. I just really want you all, to hear what she's come up with and be able to apply it to your communication with your loved one.
Definitely and I look forward to that. I think I'm, I definitely think it's important to educate where it's possible and I can't wait to do so with you.
Awesome. Okay. Any last words?
I think we should name this episode. What is it? Kismet and flexible.
Kismet and flexible. Okay. That's gonna be, yeah, we, we have to have some keyword, so that's what we're gonna go with.
Yeah. All right. That was our, that was our theme. I think it was okay. Terrific. All right, folks, we'll see you next time. Well, you'll hear me next time.
Thanks.
SUMMARY
If you know the word aphasia then you are in the right place. If you know of or have personal experience with stroke, head injury, Parkinson’s Disease, Primary Progressive Aphasia, or other neurological events, then keep listening. This podcast is for you. Learn about stroke recovery and living your best life. Welcome to your village.
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Welcome to the listen for life podcast. If you know the word aphasia, then you are in the right place. If you know of or have personal experience with stroke, head injury, Parkinson's disease. Primary progressive aphasia or other neurological events, then keep listening. This podcast is for you. You are not alone.
I'm Genevieve Richardson. I'm the owner and chief bottle washer at LIFE Speech Pathology and LIFE Aphasia Academy. It is my calling to serve the spouses, families, and persons living with aphasia. I will be your tour guide on this journey. Learn from others who walk every day in your shoes each week, we'll tackle a different topic and tie it all into stroke recovery.
We'll seek a balance between the information you need to know to navigate this journey successfully, but let's have some fun too. It's about community and living your best life. We'll keep the episode short and sweet and get you on your way. We've got lots of ground to cover. So find your comfy chair and grab your favorite beverage.
Give yourself a minute to unwind and find your happy place. Breathe better yet. Grab your earphones and take a walk because your health is important too. Welcome two, welcome to your village. This is the Listen for LIFE Podcast.