Better Speech and Hearing Month Feature: Anna Way, CCC-SLP

Anna Way, CCC-SLP is a speech language pathologist at Yalobusha General Hospital and Nursing Home in Water Valley, Mississippi. She graduated from Cleveland High School and went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree from The University of Mississippi. She completed her graduate degree from Jackson State University.

Anna’s favorite patients to treat are those suffering from dysphagia because of the fulfilling life change she can help them achieve through therapy. Whether her patients are having swallowing difficulties due to a stroke, cancer, or degenerative neurological conditions, it brings Anna joy to help her patients get back to eating their favorite foods - like french fries!

Anna’s more challenging cases lately have been geriatric post-COVID patients. Because of the way the virus attacks the nervous system, many patients have very specific and diversified complications ranging from cognitive, swallowing impairments, and even psychological changes. In a field where face-to-face communication is so integral, helping patients while fully masked and in personal protection equipment was the largest challenge so far in Anna’s career.

We want to sincerely thank all of our therapists at Mid South Rehab, specifically our speech therapists. Speech therapy is all about communication, and it requires a level of closeness that is of paramount importance. We appreciate the incredible work of our speech therapists like Anna who have found a way to share their skills with love and help patients live and do so comfortably and safely.

#BHSM #BuildingConnections #ASHA

Better Hearing & Speech Month Feature: Katie Allement, CCC-SLP

Katie Allement is a speech language pathologist at Greenbriar Nursing Center in D’Iberville, Mississippi. She attended Chalmette High School in Chalmette, Louisiana, and she went on to obtain her undergraduate and masters degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Katie is VitalStim certified.

Katie truly enjoys all of her patients, but she has a special interest in CVA (stroke) patients because of the life-changing advancements that speech therapy can cause in patients. Katie enjoys helping her patients make progress in communicating with family again and returning to their prior level of function in swallowing. Patients who are unable to swallow are considered NPO patients, which is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase “nothing by mouth.” Katie takes pride in helping her patients shed the NPO status for good.

Katie finds patients suffering from dementia to be most challenging because of the teamwork and united approach a therapy staff and nursing staff must use to treat them effectively. Mid South takes pride in offering “Dementia Capable Care,” our program for skilled nursing facilities that is dedicated to ensuring our dementia patients thrive at their highest possible functional levels. In addition to training our own employees, Mid South offers this educational program to all employees at our partner facilities.

For more information about Mid South’s Dementia Capable Care Program, visit our website here.

#BetterHearingandSpeechMonth #ASHA #BHSM #BuildingConnections

Better Hearing & Speech Month Feature: Shellie Webb, CCC-SLP

Shellie Webb is a speech language pathologist at The Arbor and The Rose Garden in Ridgeland, Mississippi. She attended Salem Attendance Center in Tylertown, Mississippi as a high school student, and she went on to obtain her undergraduate and masters degrees from The University of Mississippi. Shellie is also VitalStim certified, and she would like to also pursue certification in LSVT (Lee Silverman Voice Treatment) in the future.

The Arbor is a skilled nursing facility, and The Rose Garden is a newly-built, state-of-the-art 52 bed dementia care center. Because of these populations, most of the work Shellie does involves geriatrics. She spends much of her time dealing with her favorite disorder to treat - dysphagia. Dysphagia is a swallowing disorder that can affect adults, causing them malnutrition, dehydration, aspiration pneumonia, and chronic lung disease. It very commonly causes embarrassment and fear of eating because of choking, but it can be more serious and cause major health concerns. Signs of dysphagia can be drooling, pain, leaking, or the feeling of food “sticking” in the mouth or throat.

Shellie’s job is to spot these signs and keep an eye out for dysphagia patients. Once a dysphagia patient is identified, Shellie works with them to pinpoint the issues with swallowing. She not only educates the patient, but the nursing staff at the facility as well in order to ensure the patient eats, drinks, and swallows safely.

For so many of us, eating is a time of social engagement. It is a time to relax and enjoy the food before us. For dysphagia patients, the loss of social interaction and the stress of worrying about choking can make life miserable. For the residents of The Arbor and The Rose Garden, Shellie is the answer to safely enjoying a meal.

Thank you so much for all you do, Shellie! Your team appreciates you so much, and your residents all the more.

#BetterHearingandSpeechMonth #ASHA #BHSM #BuildingConnections