Submitted by Lisa Brook, PT/DOR, St. Joseph Villa, Salt Lake City, UT
Susan Roubian, Hannah Allen, Katie Paulsen and Taylor Schweitzer comprise the St. Joseph Villa Speech Therapy team. This program has grown significantly, going from 1 1/2 SLPs to four full-time SLPs over the last two years! These SLPs have made an effort to collaborate with interdisciplinary teams in our facility to change the way we care for our residents and improve their therapy and quality of life. We have been developing programs in the areas of AmpCare, Think Thin!, Oral Care, Speak Out!, Abilities Care, and high-level cognitive groups for our residents with mild cognitive impairment.
During our COVID outbreaks, our SLPs played a crucial role in managing change in condition and aspiration risk and significantly changed our outcomes. They are now utilizing The Breather with our Respiratory Muscle Strength Training program to meet the growing needs of post-COVID respiratory insufficiency impacting communication and swallowing.
We have also been developing programs to improve outreach to our ALF, ILF and outpatients from the community! Beginning in June, we will begin FEES training in preparation for an in-house FEES program, increasing access to instrumental evaluations by the treating therapists. Our trained SLPs will be facilitating mentorship of others seeking to be FEES certified in our market.
Our SLP team is recognized by our IDT team for their outstanding clinical outcomes, their care of our residents, and their outstanding communication with providers. This team of exceptional therapists are dedicated to providing high-quality care to our residents and are excited to keep expanding and optimizing care for those we serve!