Changes

I've recently been taking some personal time to re-evaluate all aspects of my life: my health, my happiness, my attitude, and my career. When I say "career" I am not second guessing my decision to become a speech-language pathologist (my parents would kill me and probably make me start paying back all the tuition!) yet rather if the placement is optimal at this time in my life. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE working at AVC but like all situations in life it has its pros and cons. My heart melts every time I see one of my babies being cradled by his/her mom or dad, a toddler taking 10 minutes to walk to my therapy room because they fall every couple of steps as they're learning how to walk, and even with my preschoolers who think that lions, tigers, and bears (oh my! - cheesy joke) are the funniest thing on the planet. I've had the pleasure to become a part of each of these families as well as them making an enormous impact in my life. From the very beginning of hearing that his/her young baby is not able to hear, to receiving hearing aids or cochlear implants, to having the child learn his/her mother's voice, saying his/her's first word, and learning to speak just like everyone else his/her age, I've been through it all. I would never ever give back what I've been taught at AVC, having met my precious families, or sharing tears of joy when their child has better language abilities then most kids their age.

Now for the ultimate news...I've thought long and hard about how my current position fits within my life as well as all of the changes that are occurring and have decided to switch gears and go back into adult stroke/traumatic brain injury rehab. Yes, I've accepted a position with a company called Aegis Therapies in which I will be working on dysphagia (swallowing disorders), cognition, speech-language, and dysarthria (motor speech disorders) starting October 31. The facility is called Golden Living Centers - Northside located near Northside and St. Joseph's Hospitals. It is a 240 bed facility that have adults aged 18+ for both long and short care rehabilitation. Although this has been an extremely tough decision for me, I am also very excited for the new chapter in my life. When coming to terms with turning in my letter of resignation to AVC, I had to keep reminding myself that the reason I became a SLP was to help people no matter the age, gender, race, etc. Therefore, I want to thank all of my families at AVC, my own personal family, and fantastic friends for all of the love and support!

Yes, I even bought an Auburn ID holder for the new position :)