nexus connection june 2012 - Touchstone Neurorecovery Center

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CONGRATULATIONS NEXUS FAMILY GRADUATES! Congratula�ons to Zemarra Singleton. Ms Singleton is the daughter of Deborah Johnson at Touchstone. Zemarra is gradua�ng from Cleveland High School. She will be a�ending Stephen F. Aus�n and studying Psychology. Toney Cummings, Living Skills Advisor at Touchstone,graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Criminal Jus�ce. Toney has been at Touchstone for six years while a�ending college. Touchstone is very proud of him and excited about his accomplishments! Congratula- �ons to Sandra Vargas who is the daughter of Tony and Laura Vargas. Laura is the Central Supply Manager at HealthBridge Houston. Sandra graduated from the College of The Mainland in La- Marque Texas. Sandra will be a�ending community Nursing School in the fall of 2012. Congratula- �ons to Myra Acosta, Staffing Coordinator, at Nexus Specialty. Myra received her Associates Degree from Lone Star College in May 2012. She joined Nexus in December and we are so lucky to have her. Myra accommodates all of the staff members on a daily basis to really ensure they maintain a work-life balance. Congratula- �ons to Jessica Reeves. Jessica is the daughter of James Bogart, Transi�on Program Director at Touchstone. Aside from ge�ng her masters degree from A & M—Kingsville, Jessica she had two State leadership teams she coached at Tomball High School in Wildlife Management. One was an FFA team and one was a 4H team that won first place in State compe- ��ons. These two compe��ons are the most difficult to win and are highly prized contests in Texas. Jessica was also named outstanding High School Teacher and Teacher of the Year for Tomball School District. Congratula�ons to Jessica! Yolander Wilson, Dietary Cook at HBH, is pleased to announce the gradua�on of her son, Milton E. Washington Jr. from Willowridge High School. Milton is currently in training for the United States Marine Corp. Upon receiving his High School Diploma, he will be entering the Military Service. Please join us in congratula�ng Milton! Phillip Arvanetakis is the son of Maureen Arvanetakis, VP of Sales and Marke�ng at Nexus. Phillipgraduates Summa Cum Laude from Cypress Woods High School. A�er gradua�on Phillip will a�end University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business-Honors Program. He plans to obtain a degree in law. Watch for more Nexus graduates in the July edi�on of Nexus Connec�on! Submit your graduates to Human Resources or email Tara Jones, Employment Specialist at tjones@nhsltd.com. June 2012 Nexus Connection Page 2 of 12 S MONTH Transcor�cal motor aphasia Nonfluent speech with preserved repe��on characterize this type of aphasia. The loca- �on of the underlying lesions are not always predictable, but o�en �mes they are more anterior than those found in Broca’s aphasia. This similar loca�on of the lesion lends itself to a presenta�on similar to Broca’s aphasia. However, the differen�a�ng feature is that repe��on is spared. Primary Progressive Aphasia This is a form of demen�a that can occur under the age of 65 and as early at 40. It involves a decline in one or more language func�ons. It is due to brain cell degenera�on. PPA begins gradually and progressively worsens to the point where communica�on is very difficult. Primary refers to the fact that language deficits are the primary symptoms noted and progressive indicates that the disease causes further deteriora�on and cogni�ve decline. This has been defined as a progressive non-fluent aphasia. Other varie�es of aphasia: In addi�on to the foregoing syndromes that are seen repeatedly by speech clinicians, there are many other possible combina- �ons of deficits that do not exactly fit into these categories. Some of the components of a complex aphasia syndrome may also occur in isola�on. This may be the case for disorders of reading (alexia) or disorders affec�ng both reading and wri�ng (alexia and agraphia), following a stroke. Severe impairments of calcula- �on o�en accompany aphasia, yet in some instances pa�ents retain excellent calcula�on in spite of the loss of language. All about Employee Benefits, Health & Wellness Aphasia therapy strives to improve an individual's ability to communicate by helping the person maximize the use of remaining abili- �es, to restore language func�ons as much as possible, to compensate for language problems, and to learn other methods of communica�ng. Treatment may be offered in individual or group basis. Individual therapy focuses on the specific needs of the person. Group therapy offers the opportunity to use new communica�on skills in a comfortable se�ng. Stroke groups, are available in most major ci�es. These groups also offer the opportunity for individuals with aphasia to try new communica�on skills. In addi�on, these groups can help the individual and his or her family adjust to the life changes that accompany stroke and aphasia. Family involvement is o�en a crucial component of aphasia treatment so that family and others who are involved in their care can learn the best way to communicate with them The impact of aphasia on rela�onships may be profound, or only slight. No two people with aphasia are alike with respect to severity, former speech and language skills, or personality. But in all cases it is essen�al for the person to communicate as successfully as possible from the very beginning of the recovery process. Aphasia changes the way in which we communicate with those people most important to us: family, friends, co-workers. Here are some sugges�ons to help communicate with a person with aphasia 1) Have the person's a�en�on before communica�ng. 2) Simplify language by using short, uncomplicated sentences and reduce your rate of speech. 3) You don't need to speak louder than normal, but emphasis key words. 4) Repeat the content words or write down key words to clarify meaning as needed. 5) Maintain a natural conversa�onal manner appropriate for an adult. 6) Minimize distrac�ons, such as a blaring radio, whenever possible. 7) Include the person with aphasia in conversa�ons. 8) Ask for and value the opinion of the person with aphasia, especially regarding family ma�ers. 9)Encourage any type of communica- �on, whether it is speech, gesture, poin�ng, or drawing. 10) Avoid correc�ng the individual's speech and insis�ng that each word be produced perfectly. 11) Pay a�en�on to their body language or facial expressions indica�ng whether or not they are comprehending what your saying to them.
The Apple Core: JUNE IS NATIONAL APHASIA AWARENESS Contributed by: Anna Coburn, SLP, Touchstone Neurorecovery Center June is Na�onal Aphasia Awareness Month. The Na�onal Aphasia Associa�on has designated June as a �me to highlight this language disorder faced by approximately 1 million Americans. What is aphasia and what causes it? Aphasia is a language disorder that can impair both recep�ve and expressive language func�ons as well as reading and wri�ng abili�es. It is a language disorder that results from damage to the le� side of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, o�en as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it can occur slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor or demen�a. Aphasia can also co-occur with speech disorders such as apraxia of speech or dysarthria. One-third of all stroke survivors are diagnosed with aphasia, most o�en by speech pathologists and although the condi�on is most common among older people, aphasia can be acquired by people of all ages following severe head and brain trauma. Who has aphasia? Anyone can acquire aphasia, but most people who have aphasia are in their middle to late years. Men and women are equally affected. It is es�mated that approximately 80,000 individuals acquire aphasia each year. About one million persons in the United States currently have aphasia. Are there various types of aphasias? Yes, there are various types of aphasias. Broca’s aphasia Broca's aphasia is characterized by nonfluent speech that is agramma�c as well as telegraphic. For example, a person with Broca’s aphasia may say “boy….fall down!” rather than “the boy is going to fall down” where content words are s�ll present but smaller gramma�cal structures are omi�ed. Individuals with Broca’s aphasia o�en have rela�vely intact recep�ve language. Phonemic paraphasias, which is when some part of the intended word is switched or altered (e.g., “crow” for “cow”), are commonly seen in this type of aphasia. Speech is o�en labored and slow with impaired prosody Wernicke’s aphasia This aphasia is characterized by fluent, non-gramma�cal speech and poor auditory comprehension. Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia o�en have a lack of awareness of their errors, which can lead to frustra- �on. Wernicke’s aphasia characteris�cally reveals an ease in producing connected speech, but with significant difficul�es in the meaning of words, resul�ng in paraphasias (i.e. “den” for pen, “telephone” for computer) or neologisms (“gobben”...a non-word). Transcor�cal sensory aphasia This type of aphasia is similar to Wernicke’s with fluent paraphasic speech but is different in that repe��on is rela�vely intact. However, transcor�cal sensory aphasia and can exhibit echolalia, or the compul- sive repe��on of words. Pa�ents can repeat very long and complicated sentences. Also, automa�c speech is very good and they can produce lengthy chunks of memorized material like prayers and song lyrics if they can be made to understand the task. Conduc�on aphasia This is characterized by intact auditory comprehension, fluent (yet paraphasic) speech produc- �on, but poor speech repe��on. They are fully capable of understanding what they are hearing but they will have difficulty repea�ng what was actually said. When these individuals a�empt to repeat language that is spoken to them, they will o�en produce successive approxima�ons, meaning they will produce phonemic paraphasic errors that are similar to the target word. Pa�ents will display frequent errors during spontaneous speech, subs�tu�ng or transposing sounds. O�en, the individual is able to spell out or write out the word that they cannot retrieve. Global aphasia Global aphasia consists of severe recep�ve and expressive deficits across all language modali�es, some�mes to the point where the individual cannot understand or produce almost any language. Global aphasia is nonfluent and o�en restricted to one to two word u�erances. Some�mes those u�erances are non-words (e.g., “tadada”). Some individuals may present with global aphasia immediately a�er a stroke has occurred, but over �me morph into what appears to be more like Broca’s aphasia. June 2012 Nexus Connection Page 10 of 12 H.E.L.P. Hello Everyone, Let’s Play! Contributed by: Allan Komarek, CEO at HealthBridge Orange The etymology of the word, “help” is from the Old English meaning, “to support, succor; benefit, do good to, cure, amend.” That is what each and everyone one of us could and should be doing every day when we walk into our organiza�ons. There isn’t one of us whose job isn’t to help (support, provide succor, be of benefit to, to do good to, to cure, and even to amend the bad into the good) every moment of the day. Theory Y of the X&Y Theory of Leadership says that work is as natural as play. Those who believe in Theory Y believe that employees are naturally ambi- �ous and self-mo�vated to do a good job and that employees possess the ability for crea�ve problem solving though managers underu�lize their talents. Le� to their own devices, employees want to do a good job and have a sense of accomplishment when they do. By Ann Dela Rosa, Director of Provider Rela- �ons, Touchstone I was having a spontaneous conversa- �on with several direct care staff members at Touchstone and it prompted me; this is my moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work! Our census has been very high for a sustained length of �me, and this is only possible by the commitment of our direct caregivers. This is where my analogy of the iceberg comes in! You see, most of the �me people only see the “�p” and don’t realize the majes�c beauty, strength and size of what’s hidden underneath. I think that is true of many of our staff at Touchstone. We are a fortunate team at Touchstone in that each staff member has our special role, yet we also rely on each other. One of the most humbling experiences I have had at Touchstone was during hurricane Ike. It was When we take away one’s ability to be crea�ve and/or underu�lize their talents (which we do all too o�en by not valuing everyone’s input), we are, in essence, making them helpless. We are taking away their natural desire to support, to provide succor, to benefit, to do good to, to cure and to amend the bad into the good. Then we wonder why employees are not mo�vated. And it is just not management that does this, but employees do it to each other in an a�empt to feel important… to feel special… to ensure that their voice is heard. It becomes a vicious circle with everyone becoming more and more egocentric just to be heard. It is a circle that can be stopped at any �me by just taking the �me to listen, and value each other for their input. Each of us is special and unique. And when we combine our talents we, as a group become even more special and even more unique because it becomes so much larger than just one person… it all hands on deck. Some of our staff were at Six Pines and the rest of us hunkered down at Touchstone. I got to be a direct caregiver again. I was working side by side with our LSA’s and other onsite managers to help keep pa�ents safe, entertained, and fed. I even helped provide 1:1 care for a short �me. I realized, it is a wonderful thing to step outside the “usual” role and help co-workers, “walking a mile in their shoes” and be a part of their rou�ne. If you haven’t had the opportunity lately, maybe you should try it! We are all valuable and needed to achieve the end result. We must not becomes a community dedicated to suppor�ng, providing succor, to benefi�ng, to doing good to, to curing and to amending the bad into the good. It becomes play, and fun, and soul enriching… it truly translates into, Hello Everyone, Let’s Play!!! It is interes�ng to think that when we are lying on our death beds, it isn’t the cars, or the houses, or the money in the bank that means a thing to us because we cannot take any of that with us… it is the people that we have helped or who have helped us; the people that have enriched our lives, and the love we have shared that has the most meaning. At the end of our lives it is those feelings of being helpful and not helpless that we take with us and that carries us into the next world. SOURCES: http://www.etymonline.com/ http://www.businessballs.com/mcgregor.htmi Special Message to the Teams at Touchstone and Nexus take each other for granted. So, here’s to that group I recently had the chance to visit with...THANK YOU for ALL you do! Of course, I also want to shout out a big THANK YOU to all the other unsung heroes that come to work every day with their “A” game. All of our facili- �es at Nexus reflect the iceberg. We are each uniquely special. Your caring, joy, enthusiasm and willingness to do what it takes are appreciated by your coworkers! It makes Nexus special. Our Nexus Health Systems reputa- �on for customer service and quality care comes from your hard work and dedica�on!
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