This year, National Rehabilitation Awareness Week is September 18th through September 24th. The National Rehabilitation Awareness Foundation advocates for this dedicated week every year to recognize the benefits of treatment through all forms of rehabilitation.
This year’s focus is the “Power of Medical Rehab” through the dissemination of useful materials to support our patients’ journeys to recovery. One important way that Carolina Speech Pathology strives to support our customers and patients is through the Resources page on our website. Here you can find and refer others to swallowing-related recorded in-services, links to dysphagia journal citations, a dysphagia imaging decision tree, patient education handouts, and more.
The “Power of Medical Rehab” theme also encourages rehab providers to share patient outcome stories. One of our favorite patient testimonials, Joe’s Story, can be found here. Joe was living a full independent life prior to his stroke, which left him dependent for many aspects of his care, including eating. His severe dysphagia required the placement of a feeding tube for nutrition. CSP first met Joe not long after his post-acute rehabilitation admission in 2016. Over the course of years, we worked collaboratively with his wonderful primary SLP and completed multiple FEES until Joe was able to safely return to eating all of his favorite foods. Throughout his recovery, which included multiple FEES over multiple years, Joe remained motivated to continue his rehabilitation. His positive outlook and interest in understanding his body after the stroke were integral to his rehabilitative success. During each FEES, Joe actively participated in not only the assessment process, but also biofeedback and diagnostic therapy to successfully plan his next steps.
Along with Joe’s Story, Carolina Speech Pathology’s Resources page includes educational videos such as “How to Administer the Yale Swallow Protocol,” dysphagia research updates, swallow study billing and reimbursement guidelines, and details regarding FEES training and competency. When it comes to dysphagia rehabilitation, we are proud to serve as the premier provider of endoscopic swallow imaging and are here to support our patients and colleagues with prompt on-site service, continuing education opportunities, mentorship, and up-to-date resources.
If you have an idea for a helpful resource, video, or handout you would like to see Carolina Speech offer in the future, we want to know! Contact us – we look forward to hearing from you!
