| Friday, September 3, 2010 | |||
| NEWSRoom | |||
| 11/15/2009 | |||
Q&A with Carla Anderson, Speech-Language Pathologist for Pediatria HealthCare for Kids in Georgia |
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Rate It! Q: What motivated you to become a speech-language pathologist? A: I always knew I wanted to help and teach others, but I wasn't sure how I was going to do that. When I was attending community college, I was working at the Handicapped Development Center in Iowa working with people with profound disabilities. I fed them, bathed them, ran speech therapy and physical therapy programs with them, took them on trips in the community, etc. I really enjoyed working with them and learning their individual personalities along the way. At that time, I worked with a gal who was in graduate school to become a speech-language pathologist. When I told her of my desire to help and teach others, she introduced me to the idea of becoming an SLP. I immediately researched the profession and met with the head of the department at the University of Northern Iowa. After speaking with him, I felt being an SLP was my calling. I switched my major two weeks before classes started and never looked back! Q: How did you decide that you wanted to specialize in pediatrics? A: I worked in skilled nursing facilities for about two years after graduating from college and felt a longing to work with children. Here were these babies and children who had their whole lives in front of them. I wanted to help them while they were young, so they would be more successful through their adult years. Q: What kind of facility is Pediatria HealthCare for Kids? A: Pediatria HealthCare for Kids is a day-health center that currently has approximately 60 infants and toddlers with special medical and developmental needs. The major focus of our center is to provide skilled nursing care combined with therapy services with a focus on addressing the developmental and medical needs of our children in a caring environment. As therapists, we also seek to educate and inform our parents as well as our staff, so that our children have a greater opportunity of reaching their highest potential. Our special service is the uniqueness of our center as far as targeting medically fragile infants and toddlers, having a transportation system for our children, and incorporating therapies and teachers at our center. Q: When and how did you start at Pediatria? A: I started working for Pediatria shortly after it opened over three years ago. Prior to coming on with them, I was working for a larger company specializing in pediatrics and I was becoming overwhelmed with the politics of a public company. I was attracted to working at Pediatria for several reasons; two being I held great respect for the people who started the business and I enjoyed the idea of growing with the company. Q: Typically, what are your day-to-day responsibilities as an SLP? A: As a speech-language pathologist, I provide direct treatment to the children, complete job-related paperwork, communicate with staff, physicians, and/or parents, and I create therapy aids for the children (e.g., a simple communication device). As the Therapy Services Coordinator, I help to hire and train new therapists, create a therapy manual and policies, oversee the therapy department at our various centers in Georgia, Florida, and Pennsylvania, and assist various departments at the corporate office. I see children who were born prematurely and patients diagnosed with diseases, such as BPD, chronic lung disease, dysphagia, aspiration, IVH, Down's syndrome, GERD, developmental delays, tracheostomys, children with heart conditions, feeding aversion, etc. Q: What are the greatest challenges you face working in pediatrics? A: The greatest challenges are communicating effectively between all the children's' physicians, family members, and various staff members, and getting a child with an oral aversion to eat! Q: What do you like the most about working with children in the day-health setting? A: I like working with children in the day-health setting because I get to see them almost every day. Even though I may not be providing speech therapy to a child on a specific day, I can still pop my head in their daycare room and see how he or she is doing with feeding, communicating, etc. Working with children, I get to witness some of their first words and first steps, and that is truly a joy. Q: Do you feel that the role of speech-language pathologists has changed over recent years? A: I think that the role has changed because of how large our caseloads have become due to a shortage of speech therapists and a great need for services in our society. I believe since we cannot typically treat the children directly as much as they probably need, that we really need to step up as educators and informers. I believe that aspect is just as important as providing direct therapy. Q: What do you feel is of the greatest concern to speech therapists today? A: There seem to be less and less therapists, and more and more people to serve. This is a great concern. Q: What is the most rewarding part about being a speech-language pathologist? A: Seeing progress in a child I'm working with or teaching an engaged audience, whether it is a parent or a staff member. I like to see that I'm making an impact in one form or another. Q: What is the most important thing you've learned over the course of your career? A: I've learned several important things over the course of my career. One is that I can only control my actions and reactions and not those of people around me. I've learned a lot about patience and tolerance. I've accepted that I am only one person; that I can't do everything at once, but I can do something at once. On a clinical note, I've learned a tremendous amount about feeding and swallowing issues as it relates to pediatrics, and I have improved my public speaking skills. I have grown a lot as an SLP and strive to continue learning and growing throughout my career. Q: What advice do you have for others thinking about working in pediatrics? A: Make sure you want to work in pediatrics out of a genuine love of children and a strong desire to help others. Children are truly our future. Q: Why is home care such an important part of the healthcare industry? A: Home care is important because people are cared for and treated in their natural environments. This can help for the carry-over of skills, although I see daycares and schools as a child's natural environment as well. Q: How do you think working with children is different than working with adult patients? A: When I worked with the geriatric population in nursing homes, I worked with several people (not all) who were set in their ways or felt too tired at the end of their lives to have much interest in participating in speech therapy sessions. Working with children is completely different. They're almost always excited to come to speech therapy and to learn. Often, when I come to their room, several children will run to me at once, shouting "Can I play!?" It is wonderful to see how motivated they are to participate. I wouldn't say I approach therapy much differently as I did working with the geriatric population. To me, the end goal was always to help each person make progress and to improve the quality of their lives. |
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