Patients use "buddy-system" for hearing health

Dr. Natalee Menge, Audiologist, shared this story about patients with a uniquely proactive approach to hearing healthcare:


"I have an 81-year old patient who always comes to the clinic with her friend, "Ms. Suzie." They attend most of their doctor's appointments together in hopes that if one of them misses what is said, the other one will catch it. They also walk each week and regularly share meals together. As I was making adjustments on her hearing aids, I overheard my patient voice her desires to travel "out west" on a train. "Ms. Suzie" responded simply, "Well, why don't you go." My patient responded that she didn't want to go by herself. "Ms. Suzie" then said, "You just want to drag me along with you." They laughed and made small talk for a few minutes. I returned my patient her hearing aids and checked to make sure they were working well. As they left they were making plans on where they were going to lunch. After they left I found myself hoping that one day I have a girlfriend like "Ms. Suzie" to spend retirement years with."

Student Aide touched by working with BRSHF kids

As you may know, BRSHF relies on a cadre of students from local universities who, overseen by licensed professional staff, assist with and facilitate autism and speech therapy and audiology services here in the clinic. Often, these students go on to pursue post-graduate studies in Speech Pathology, Audiology, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, and Special Education. BRSHF is proud to be one of few clinics in town where these students can get hands-on experience working with children to add to their resumes. One such student, Gina, cited an experience she had working in our program in the personal statement for a grad school application, and she allowed us to share part of it with you:

"I have a unique passion for the field of Speech Pathology. This was made clear to me during my clinical practicum, as I worked with a particular 4-year-old girl. This child, having severe Apraxia, had a very limited vocabulary and repetitive phrases were common. (*Ed. note: Apraxia is a motor planning disorder, which makes it difficult to sequence how to make a sound, or to decide what to say and then say it. Once these children know how to say a word or phrase, they often repeat it because they know they can say it correctly.) One day she replaced a name in one of her regular utterances ("Where Shaun?" - a boy in her class) with my name ("Where Gina?"). The day that she first spoke my name was the day that I became absolutely certain that I wanted to be a part of this field. I look forward to being able to make a difference in people's lives by helping them to conquer their communications deficits and to grow as more social and competent human beings."

This story is an example of common, every-day progress that goes on here at BRSHF. But it is an honor to provide these pivotal learning moments, not just to the children enrolled in our programs, but also to the many student workers who dedicate countless hours to our clinic.

Tricia shares story of hope

Tricia Henderson, supervisor for speech services, shared this story of inspiration from a recent speech evaluation:

"I met an extremely brave person while doing an evaluation a few weeks ago. A beautiful mother of two came in to have her youngest son evaluated for language delay. Her older son was already in our program, diagnosed with autism, and making good progress... saying words he never attempted prior to joining us. The sweet mother smiled as she told me she feared her second son was also autistic; she recently had seen the neurologist who hesitated to diagnose the second boy at 18 months since he had some very appropriate social skills.The mom wanted to get some idea about his language delay and to hear what a speech pathologist thought.

As we did the interview, I was encouraged to see that the baby had many good and promising social behaviors... he laughed, sought the source of voices, played speech-gesture games like "pat a cake", and sought interaction with his brother by crawling up to him to look at his toy. This young one was definitely delayed but did not seem autistic; he was interested in others and responded to language. Only time will tell.

Our plan is to place him in an appropriate language group just as soon as possible since early intervention is the KEY for both autism and for language delay. As the mother left she said, 'I'm pregnant and the neurologist said if it is a girl, the odds go down for autism. We're hoping for the best!' I could not help but offer a silent prayer for the baby to be born....knowing that no matter what, that baby would be loved and cared for by a very brave mother and father."

For Lisa, 50th Anniversary provided inspiration, affirmation

Lisa Sloan-Limmer, speech pathologist, shares a story of affirmation from the 50th Anniversary party:

"As a somewhat new staff member, I found our 50th celebration both educational, heart-felt and a bit of a reaffirmation in my job of choice. Life is a journey, not a destination. We have too few chances to see the end results in the children's lives that we touch. It was so wonderful to see the return of children from past journeys at BRSHF, who are now adults leading lives of their choice and opportunities.

For me, the most heart-felt experience was not the squeals of joy and delight from the children that were enjoying the activities and playground, but the squeals of joy and delight of adults as they reconnected with others who have shared their past. It was so exciting seeing such a powerful connection between former classmates and families, as well as the reconnection between the women who recognized the potential of a special population that was significantly underserved, had a vision, made a plan and jumped into founding this wonderful organization. The bonds that are made through trials and successes such as those that created BRSHF started a great journey. Learning the history behind where I work and meeting those who lived it gives me a better perspective of the journey that we are on now, and that will make a difference for the next 50 years in the lives of the wild and wonderful children that we "chase and pull, coddle and coax" on a journey through the 'Loud and Clear!'"

Current and former staff reflect on BRSHF's history                 Former BRSHF students recreate their groundbreaking photo from 1967

Audiology Mobile Testing Unit impresses at 50th Anniversary

Dr. Natalee Menge, BRSHF's Audiologist, shared this interaction she had with a gentleman at the 50th Anniversary celebration on Sunday, September 12:

"My department has a Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) that we bring to health fairs and group homes around the 10-parish Capital Area United Way service area. We're pretty proud to be the only ones in the Baton Rouge area that provide free hearing screenings as outreach to this area, so we wanted to make sure the MTU was on hand for the 50th Anniversary celebration!

I knew that the MTU was provided by members of the Sertoma Club of Baton Rouge, who found an abandoned hearing booth in a field and converted it into the mobile unit that I use today, thanks to funds from the local chapters of Quota Club and Delta Zeta. Well, while I was explaining the uses of the MTU during the celebration, a man walked up and introduced himself as the Sertoma member who built the trailer! It was so great to get to meet him and hear about the process of finding and building the unit. He was very excited to see it and to know that it was still in use, providing services to community members who might not know about or have access to hearing healthcare otherwise."

Sertoma and Quota Club members furnishing and presenting MTU, 2003

Tricia sees former client's success at 50th Anniversary

Tricia Henderson, Supervisor for Speech Services, has worked at BRSHF for many years. She shared this experience that touched her at our 50th Anniversary celebration earlier this fall:

"A young man in his 20s walked into the clinic carrying a ziploc bag and asked if a former therapist still worked here. I said 'no,' but told him she still lived in Baton Rouge, happened to be a neighbor of mine, but was now working in another field. He held up the ziploc and within were lots of memorabilia from his days at BRSHF some 20+ years ago! His mother had saved them all and, in one picture, there he was on top of the slide smiling ... an adorable 3 year old. That young man is now a manager of a car repair shop. As he spoke I could not help but be amazed at how mature and well spoken he is as an adult....another ordinary miracle at BRSHF!

(And by the way, I dropped a copy of the photo off at his former therapist's house. She was thrilled to hear of his success! That's the deal here....we carry our clients in our hearts long after they leave BRSHF!)"

                              






Former clients, parents, and staff reflect and catch up at the 50th Anniversary Party

Current clients helped celebrate 50th Anniversary

Irina Kochergin, speech pathologist, had this update to share about the 50th Anniversary celebration, held at BRSHF on September 12:

"As we've been preparing for the 50th Anniversary party, a lot of the focus has been on the history of the Foundation - getting former clients, staff, and friends to come back & celebrate the work of this outstanding organization over 5 decades. But the celebration was just as much for them as it was for our current clients and patients, who are a part of the amazing work we're doing here and now! This was proven by one young child, a current speech client, who was so excited to come to the clinic's birthday party, that he and his mother baked and decorated a birthday cupcake. He brought it with him to the party and shared it with his friends, along with the other food and treats available. It's moments like this that prove we are making an impact in these kids' lives, and I'm proud to be associated with BRSHF at such an exciting time!"

Lisa shares a story of Halloween progress

Lisa Sloan-Limmer, speech therapist, conducted groups around the theme of halloween, carving pumpkins and making pictures of trick-or-treat candy, as many of our therapists have this week! One student exhibited major progress through these activities:

"We had a major Halloween break-through in class today.  One student has had a difficult time with the theme of halloween - everything is scary!  Mom reports even shopping in stores right now is hard.  We have been working on aleviating those fears in class with stories, touching, making halloween sounds, etc.  Today we carved a pumpkin.  This student was able to touch the bumpy outside, put her hands in the pumpkin and pull out "slimely seeds," and even poke her fingers through the eye holes.  She did start to tear-up at one point, but it wasn't because she was afraid of the jack-o-lantern anymore.  She was sad because Mrs. Lisa might hurt the pumpkin when I cut it!"

Another tale of promise from Tricia

Tricia Henderson, Director of Speech Services, as well as other speech therapists,  often conduct speech evaluations to diagnose a child's specific speech needs, and to determine placement in our programs. She shares another recent story of encouragement:

"The young child came in with his grandmother and case manager since he was a ward of the state, having been removed from his home. Both adults discussed the deprivation and chaos in the home. He was now residing with the grandmother and would stay with her for at least the next 11 months. Both the social worker for the state and the grandmother reported that he did not use any words, could not imitate words and had not really been exposed to books.

As the evaluation began, he played very quietly on the floor with several truck making no sounds at all. As the interview continued, the evaluator asked him to sit in a chair by her and he eagerly climbed up. When a book was opened, he was THRILLED to point to objects named. When a flashlight was used as a bribe (every child's delight), he eagerly imitated most consonant sounds and even repeated words. He smiled and laughed, eager to do his work, in exchange for a turn with the blocks, truck or FLASHLIGHT! As they left, the grandmother said, 'He never did that before. I didn't know he knew so much or that he would imitate you!' We discussed that he showed great promise and we would try to place him immediately in a language group. The young boy smiled and repeated "Bye bye" when the evaluator told him goodbye. He then turned and ran back to hug her around the legs with a big laugh.

How thrilling to know this one child's future will be very bright because of what we can and will do for him in the next 11 months!"

Tricia tells how our history lends credibility

Tricia Henderson is Director of Speech Services, and has been employed at BRSHF for 27 years. As part of her job, she (along with the other speech therapists) conducts speech evaluations to diagnose a child's specific speech needs, and to determine placement in our programs. She has this recent story to share:

"The child came in with three people, the father, the mother, and the stepmother. They were quite serious about the evaluation of their small son and as we walked down the hall, the father, a policeman, asked quite seriously: "So how long has this clinic been here?" I happily replied: "Oh, we just had a birthday party celebrating our 50th year!" He looked totally surprised and said, "Well, then, I guess you know what you are doing!" I laughed and said, "Yes, we've been at it longer than anyone else in Baton Rouge. We were the very first speech and hearing clinic in town. We know very well what we are doing. You came to the right place!"

As I said this, I felt very proud of our history.....50 years.....loud and clear!"