Southland Snapshot: May 2017- Farewell to Physical Therapist Sarah Melroy

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Farewell to Physical Therapist Sarah Melroy:

Sarah has many years experience with pediatric patients and has been with Southland since September of 2011. She is trained in Infant Massage, Myofascial Release and Pediatric Kinesio Taping. She also worked at Memorial Hospital and has touched many lives during her years working in the Savannah area. “She was the first Physical Therapist to work in our Savannah clinic,“ said Southland owner Dee Dee Mesaros. “She has had so many families request her specifically and is an advocate for each and every patient.” Sarah was a champion for her patients and made sure that any child who deserved an Amtrak tricycle received one. She had a fabulous relationship with Ambucs and changed many lives for the better. “We are sad to see her go, she has been an amazing addition to our Southland team and will be greatly missed by all,” Mesaros continued. We wish her and her family much luck as they transition to their new home in North Carolina and are excited to hear of all the successes she will have! Good luck Sarah!

Dear Southland Staff and Families,

I have been working at Southland for almost 7 years, and I am thankful to have met so many wonderful therapists, staff and families. I enjoyed working with all of you, and I have learned from each of you. To the families I have worked with- thank you so much for letting me be a part of your child's journey! To the staff, thanks for being a great support system so I could focus on therapy. And to all the therapists who worked alongside me, thanks for teaching and listening and problem solving so we could achieve the best outcomes for our kiddos. I leave you with a verse of one of my favorite poems, I believe it applies so much to the work that we do-

It Couldn’t Be Done

By: Edgar Albert Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done

But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Sincerely,

Sarah Melroy, PT

Dana Braswell:

I graduated in 1999 with a Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Georgia. I enjoy working with children who have Apraxia of Speech, Articulation disorders and oral-motor based feedings disorders. I work at Memorial on the outpatient/ inpatient feeding team. I also treat children in the natural environment through BabyNet services in South Carolina. I have have worked in the pediatrics field my entire career and truly love what I do. I am Georgia and South Carolina licensed and ASHA certified. I live in the Savannah area and am married with three daughters.

Jacqueline Schafer:

Jacqueline graduated from Duquesne University in 2002 with a Masters in Occupational Therapy. She worked in the public school system for a couple of years and has primarily worked with children her whole career. She treats children through BabyNet services in South Carolina and is NBCOT certified.

On August 4th, 2017 Jacqueline has been asked to present at the 2017 Champions for Young Children Symposium in Columbia, South Carolina. Southland is excited for her to be apart of such an amazing event and are very proud to have her on our team! Way to go Jacqueline!

MAY IS:

Better Speech & Hearing Month:

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that approximately 43,000,000 people in the United States suffer from a speech, voice, language, or hearing impairment. Almost 28,000,000 suffer from a hearing loss. Approximately 10% of children have moderate to severe communication impairments, including speech production/articulation, stuttering, and language-learning difficulties. Children with speech and language impairments are 4 to 5 times more likely than their peers to experience other language-learning disabilities to include significant reading problems. Approximately 1,000,000 people in the United States have aphasia – a language disorder resulting from brain damage caused by a stroke.

www.nidcd.nih.gov & heatherspeechtherapy.com

UPDATES:

Monday May 29th: Our office will be closed in observation of Memorial Day.

Please double check with your therapist if you normally have Monday appointments.

Southland Snapshot- April 2017 – Mustache Dash Success!

Mustache Dash Success:

On April 1st, Physical Therapist Katie Osborne and Outreach Coordinator Laura Leech participated in the Armstrong Physical Therapy Club’s Annual Mustache Dash. Southland Therapy was happy to sponsor this event to help support the success of future Physical Therapists. Aside from the sand gnats coming out in full force, the participants seemed to enjoy the event.

UPDATES:

Saturday April 22nd: We will be participating/ sponsoring both the Walk for Autism Speaks U Armstrong at Lake Mayer and the Kidsfest at HAAF. It will be a busy day for Southland so keep an eye out for us at both events!

We want to welcome a new Georgia Therapist to our team!

Marjory Taylor, SLP

APRIL IS:

Month of the Military Child:

Kids Serve Too: There are 1.82 Million Military Children serving alongside their military parent or sponsor. “The average child in a military family will move six to nine times during a school career.“

- www.defense.gov

Child Abuse and Prevention Month:

Georgia is 42^nd in the nation for child wellbeing. A statistic that is not good for our state’s and community’s children. In the state FY2015, 2,691 reports of child abuse or neglect were made in Chatham county.“

- Mary Sullivan- Lutheran Services of Savannah

Occupational Therapy Month:

Occupational Therapy was founded in 1917. Occupational therapists were called 'reconstruction aides' during WWI. There are now at least 117,000 OTs practicing in the United States.

Autism Awareness & Acceptance Month:

It is estimated that up to 1 out of every 68 children born today has some form of ASD. Evidence suggests that the prevalence rate in Georgia is even higher than the national average, at 1 in 64.

- Autism Society Georgia

Katie Osborne:

I graduated with my BS in Exercise Science from Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, GA and then went on to receive my DPT from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in St. Augustine, Florida. I have been a PT for 5 years, with 4 of those being in the field of pediatrics. I love the daily challenge of thinking outside the box to get kids to work towards their therapy goals in a way that feels like fun and games for them. Helping a child learn and grow is one of the most rewarding feelings and makes for a wonderful job.

Megan Valdivieso:

I graduated with my Master in Health Science in Occupational Therapy from Georgia Regents University in 2015. I have been working as an OT for 2 years. I also work at Memorial Hospital. I was recently certified as a feeding therapist and really enjoy the new challenge. My favorite part of the job is getting to know the kids and their families and seeing how I can help them progress over time. My hobbies include exploring new places and spending time outdoors. I'm originally from Chicago and have a miniature dachshund named Teddy.

Hannah Hood:

I graduated in 2010 with a MS in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Armstrong Atlantic State University. I enjoy working with children who have expressive and receptive language disorders, articulation/phonological disorders, disfluencies, oral motor deficits, autism, and other communication difficulties. I have experience working with families in the home environment as well as the clinic setting. I am GA licensed and ASHA certified. I am from the Savannah area and have been with Southland since 2010.

“Let’s Talk autism” Event:

The event, held on April 8, 2017, was a success! Not only were there participants in our office, the event was also broadcasted live on our Southland Therapy Facebook page. If you missed it, please visit and “like” our Facebook page, and watch the videos. Southland Speech Therapist Cindy Green and Occupational Therapist Tyneise Seaborough, presenters at the event, were excited to deliver hope to the attendees in the form of strategies! OT Tyneise continued, “Parents left empowered with tools and strategies in their hands to assist with smoother transitions and decrease some of the challenging behaviors that they encounter on a daily basis. The attendees created individual social stories that were meaningful to them in order to deal with a pressing situation that they were currently facing. Upon seeing the completed product, they felt accomplished and were very grateful!” Thank you to all who attended and viewed the event. We are eager to share more events like this with you in the future.

Find us online: www.facebook.com/SouthlandPediatricTherapy