September 2020 Newsletter
With great respect, we pay tribute to the creation of our nation’s strength, freedom and leadership….the American Workers!!!
Back to school time for our kids!
And….we are getting much closer to Fall! WOO HOO!
Upcoming September Holiday
DiagnosTEX will be closed on Labor Day, Monday September 7.
Please consider this when scheduling your studies. We will operate Tuesday – Friday that week.
Kind of difficult to celebrate the true meaning of Labor Day when so many businesses are shut down in our struggling economy. Our hearts and prayers go out to so many businesses and those unemployed during these difficult times!
This Labor Day, we would like to give a shout out to our office staff, SLP’s, Techs, and MDs. Thank you for all you do and the quality in which you do it! The road to success is through commitment. Thank you for your commitment to DiagnosTEX, our customers and our patients, allowing us to endure the first half of 2020 by continuing to provide the care needed to those who needed us!
Other days to recognize in September: Grandparents Day 13th, Peace Day 21st, First day of Fall 22nd.
New addition to our DTEX family
Bailey and her husband added 2 feet to their home in August. Congratulations!
DiagnosTEX now providing mobile COVID testing
The Trump administration will implement new mandatory federal COVID-19 testing and reporting rules for nursing homes in an effort to prevent the death toll that occurred in New York at the height of the virus, a new report says. “These new rules represent a dramatic ramp-up in our efforts to track and control the spread of COVID-19, especially in nursing homes,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. For congregate care settings, like nursing homes or similar settings, repeated use of rapid point-of-care testing may be superior for overall infection control compared to less frequent, highly sensitive tests with prolonged turnaround times. To help meet the need for more COVID -19 testing, DiagnosTEX is providing mobile testing for COVID with rapid results. We are partnering with Concierge Urgent Care to provide rapid CVOID testing – getting your COVID results within hours instead of days. We will come to you! We can test an entire staff, or groups of patients. We are able to bill Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance or take private pay. Please call us with any questions or to schedule a testing day.
Ampcare ESP local CE
September 19, 2020 in Dennison, Texas. Ampcare will be following all COVID precautions. Register at www.ampcarellc.com. The Ampcare ESP certification course is offered for 0.8 ASHA CEU’s. The training consists of didactic education on the anatomy and physiology of the swallow response, muscle fiber types and recruitment patterns, fundamental principles of electrotherapy, and past and current research. This is followed by a lab with hands on application of the technique while using concurrent therapeutic exercises. For hybrid courses in September and October, go to https://swallowtherapy.com/training/ for more information.
Virtual!
Thank you to the University of St. Augustine for inviting me to speak virtually to your Austin and Dallas classes this month. I love what we do and love sharing it with the students. Look forward to the Fall.
Hospice Foundation of America
Living with Grief® 2020 Guest speakers: Carrie Arnold, PhD, FT, MEd, RSW, CCC; Alua Arthur, JD; John Cagle, PhD, MSW; Kenneth Doka, PhD, MDiv; moderated by Frank Sesno, former CNN correspondent
On September 24th, I have been asked to be a guest panelist at one of their annual educational conferences, now virtual for 2020, to speak on the effects of COVID lock down and Hospice patient. I am a healthcare professional of nearly 30 years; I am also the only child of a dying woman on Hospice in the year 2020. Whom I have been unable to see since March 14, 2020. This is so much more than a health crisis. COVID has had such an impact on humanity as we are social creatures by heavenly design. This is now a human, economic, and social crisis. One of the many cruelties inflicted by the coronavirus is that many of its victims have suffered alone and died alone, scared, lonely, and longing for their loved ones. Ordinarily, a crucial component of good palliative care is close, intimate, tender support of a patient at their bedside. The power of human touch, human presence, cannot be overestimated in conveying compassion, care, and tenderness. But this has all been disregarded in the “lock-down” of healthcare facilities in 2020. I am in healthcare to serve others in their time of need, it was my calling. Our smiles that so many need to see, are now covered by masks but a kind word, a sympathetic response, and a touch on the arm can make someone feel noticed and important. I have always enjoyed being the light in someone’s day, but I can also be the moon in their darkest of hours. Reality is perspective. We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are. Residents at the end of life stage at facilities in lockdown are as close to imprisonment as you can get without being incarcerated for a crime. Most families will remember the absence more the last moments. Those who care for these patients and families need to realize that you cannot change the circumstances, but you can change your perspective, and in that moment, you could change someone’s day. Taking care of a patient means including their family. COVID-19 has raised many issues about how care is being delivered for those with serious illnesses and those at the end of life. We don't know this yet, but I am confident that the separation at the end of life is going to have consequences on many levels.
Alzheimer’s Memory Walk, September-November (www.alz.org)
I will be walking again October. This year instead of a large group gathering, everyone is walking their own community. If anyone would like to donate to our walk, we would appreciate your support to help end this terrible disease, as we all are up close and personal with this professionally and some of us personally. This has been a very difficult year for me as my mom is in the end stages of Alzheimer’s. A cure is obviously the main reason we walk, but the financial burden on a family with Alzheimer’s is huge due to day to day care required for their health and safety. An adult with Alzheimer’s requires as much care as a brand-new baby. The need to be bathed, changed, fed and stimulated is no different, just more difficult due to their adult size. They cannot verbalize their wants, needs, or pains and do not know how to function independently anymore. By participating in the Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's®, we are committed to raising more awareness and funds not just for Alzheimer’s research, but the care and support needed. COVID has not changed this need. Thank you for any amount, no matter how small, that you can afford to donate. Every single penny is another penny closer to a cure and I believe we are closer than ever before. Please go to the website www.alz.org and locate the team called “Heels of Hope” to donate. Thank you so much!!
UPDATE:
The Food and Drug Administration has agreed to review a marketing application submitted by Biogen for aducanumab, its treatment for Alzheimer's disease, the company announced Friday. Biogen and Eisai officially sought FDA review of aducanumab last month, submitting an application of more than 2.5 million pages. The aducanumab application was granted priority review, which means the FDA will render an approval decision no later than March 7, 2021. Biogen said that patients who received aducanumab experienced significant slowing of decline on measures of cognition and functions such as memory, orientation and language. The Alzheimer’s Association welcomed the new development. “This is an important next step in the process, and the Alzheimer’s Association looks forward to the results of the FDA’s review,” said Maria C. Carrillo, the Association’s chief science officer. “If this drug is approved, our primary effort will be to ensure access to the drug for everyone that could benefit from it.”
Celebrate Parkinson Voice Project's 15th Anniversary
By joining our "Global Virtual Choir!" Plan a watch party with your family and friends for Saturday, November 7th at 6:30pm CT to watch the debut of our Global Virtual Choir from our website, Facebook page, or YouTube channel.