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Newsletter :: March 2005

Mar 01, 2005 Posted by: Ronda Polanksy Newsletters

 

Monthly Motivator –Honesty

The elegance of honesty needs no adornement!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

and Happy Easter

Deciphering Dysphagia with E-Stim Conference

Wow, thank you so much for your continued follow up emails, cards and letters on how much you enjoyed the conference! The feedback is so wonderful! I do have to apologize for the misprint in the booklet on billing codes and my blubber at the conference. The correct code to bill is 92526. My lack of sleep the night before and reading the presentation off of power point it did not click with me until someone said something, so thank you for allowing me to clarify this! We will be doing this conference again in various cities as we continue our research.

Give Aways from DiagnosTEX – Medication Effects on Dysphagia Reference Sheet

Dr. Baumer and I put together a new educational handout for all of the SLP’s which includes a list of medications and the effects on the patient as it may relate to dysphagia. I know this will be helpful in your job and the treatment of your patients. Be looking for this next time we visit your facility. If you have not received our SLP Reference Sheet, Dysphagia diagrams, or the 2005 Dysphagia Calendar please let us know and we will hand one to you next time we are at your facility.

What Makes DiagnosTEX better than the others?

  1. We have 3 mobile clinics to cover DFW area and work 5 days a week in DFW , with 24-48 hour service.
  2. 4 SLP’s and 4 physicians on staff. Hands on consultation by our physicians on board!
  3. Local office in Bedford, Texas
  4. A detailed PHYSICIAN and SPEECH PATHOLOGIST reports. No checklists.
  5. All physicians have personal malpractice coverage in addition to company’s professional liability coverage.
  6. DiagnosTEX has met JACHO standards when servicing local hospitals.
  7. Preventative equipment available such as suction on board.
  8. Quality Assurance – follow up on all patients we evaluate!
  9. Starbucks! Now that is a neat benefit right?? J
  10. The owners of the company are SLP’s and Physicians and they are also your MBS team!

Give us one try and guarantee you will see the difference!

Frustrated?!

From your calls and emails, I know many of you are very frustrated that area competitors are bypassing the SLP’s and going to Corporate in attempts to obtain business. Just know we are working with the Corporations and doing all possible to make things right again. We hear that you are not getting serviced timely and you are not getting the information you need. I am so sorry, that the other competitors do not realize that SLP’s are the ones that are important in the care of patient allowing you to make the choices! Please contact us if you need any information, would like us to consult on your study, or if we can do anything for you. Lets us support you any way we can!

49th Annual TSHA Convention – March 31-April 2, 2005 Austin, Texas

Warm Cup on us! Have you Chocolate lovers tried the new rich and creamy Chantico yet????

Our Starbucks cards are still available to those who have the patients that meet the following criteria:

  1. Patients up and in a wheel chair waiting in the front by the door on arrival of the mobile clinic (Darren getting them from thier room does not count J)
  2. Vitals ready and chart available to physician

Having the patient ready helps us stay on schedule at your facility and all the facilities we have scheduled that day and we appreciate this more than you know, as do all of the SLP’s waiting on us to arrive, as we know you do when we arrive as scheduled!

Alcohol consumption linked to higher risk of stroke – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard School of Public Health (Annals of Internal Medicine, Jan. 4, 2005)

Beth Israel Deaconess medical Center and the Harvard School of Public health has found that heavy drinkers-men who consume an average of three or more alcoholic beverages per day- are more likely to have an ischemic stroke. During the course of the 14 year study, the authors followed 38,156 participants who are a part of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study based at Harvard School of Public Health. Beginning in 1986 and continuing every 4 years thereafter until 2000. Men who average alcohol intake was 3 or more drinks per day has a 42% higher risk of ischemic stroke, particularly embolic stroke, than abstainers, the findings showed. This may be the association of alcohol with both blood pressure and atrial fibrillation. Light to moderate drinkers who consumed alcohol 3-4 times per week has a modest 32% lower stroke risk than did nondrinkers when drinking frequency was taken into account. Red wine appears to offer slightly more protection than other types of alcohol. Red wine drinkers were found to have a 23% lower risk of ischemic stroke. The intake of one or more glasses per day was linked to 46 percent lower risk. The standard recommendation is that men drink no more than 2 drinks per day. This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Dysphagia Tidbit – Myotonic Dystrophy

Myotonic dystrophy is the most common adult form of muscular dystrophy. It is caused by a defective gene. Unlike any of the other muscular dystrophies, the muscle weakness is accompanied by myotonia (delayed relaxation of muscles after contraction) and by a variety of abnormalities in addition to those of muscle. This disease is also known as Steinert’s disease and dystophia myotonica. Myotonic dystrophy has an early pattern of muscle wasting. The first muscles affected are those of the face, neck, hands, and feet. It can effect tissues and organs of many body systems in addition to voluntary muscle system. It can present itself in a “bewildering variety of ways”. This list includes cardiac disease, respiratory impairment, dysphagia, other gastrointestinal tract involvement, mental disorders, abnormal carbohydrate metabolism and excessive sleeping. Fifty percent of those with the disorder show visible signs by about 20 years of age, but a significant number do not develop clear cut symptoms until after age 50. There is no specific treatment found for muscle weakness and wasting. The more the muscle is used the more it fatigues. The MBSS on a young lady we did showed increased dysphagia and penetration as the evaluation continued. Exercises to fatigue the muscles may cause increased ability to manage own saliva. For more information you can contact the MDA on a wide variety of disorders which may affect muscles, nerves which control muscles and the interaction between the two.