Louisiana Voice and Swallow Solutions | Local Leaders the Podcast #193

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Hey, everyone, and welcome back
to another edition of Local Leaders of the

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podcast. And we have Nicole Williams
from Louisiana Voice and Swallow Solutions here today

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and she's going to tell us all
about her business. First of all,

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welcome to Local Leaders. Thank you. We're excited to have you here in

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folks. When we met initially with
Nicole, and incidentally, Cidy Everton sitting

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in on this podcast, so welcome
Sydney. I don't want to be like

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rude or anything like that. Everybody
already knows you, Cindy. So we

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when we sat down originally with miss
Nicole, I was very interested to learn

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about her business. To be quite
honest, y'all, I didn't know a

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whole lot about it, and that
is actually what led us to where we

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are today. I had a little
bit of experience with that, dealing with

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someone very close in my family that
went through dementia and Alzheimer's and had had

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some issues with that, where what
she does was a kind of a key

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to to a puzzle of of how
to, you know, just swallow the

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simple things like having issues swallowing.
But there's so many things outside of that

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that she does for people and the
value that you bring to the community,

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to be honest with you, because
they your type of business is not on

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every street corner, right, it's
you know, I said, we're going

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to get into all that said.
Before we do, I want you to

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tell me a little bit. I
know you have a large family, you

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have two step sons, and you're
married, happily married by the way she

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put that in her happily. I
love that because look, you there might

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be some people might not put happily
there. So she's happily married. And

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one thing I really love about you
is you uh you have a rescue dog.

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Really you love pets? Is it? Dogs in general? Are just

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all pets, all animals. I
love that love that. I just recently

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got a Dotson and we had lost
ours. We had a dotson for almost

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fifteen years, passed away. And
you know how they are. They're like

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family, right, And you really
don't realize it to you, to you

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lese one at in a late stage
when you've had them extremely long time like

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we did. And so I told
my wife, when you were ready for

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another one, just let me know. And we got another dots and puppy

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last week. And it is like
having a baby again. I mean it

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really is. It is, you
know, eight and a half weeks old

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and yeah, running everywhere everywhere,
just like a baby. And we are

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having an unplanned litter of English Springer
spaniels. So you can have all.

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She doesn't give me ten weeks and
you can have them all. She has

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about ten to twelve a litter.
Oh my god. Wow what birdie rescue

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dog yet? So I do a
man, it's a mix. I do

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have a seventeen year old docs and
oh love that. Yes, yeah he

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has no teeth, yeah, and
yes, but he is healthy and happy.

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Wow seventeen years Wow, that's amazing, very good. Uh you also

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like Crochetian I do. Yeah,
Garden, I do what I have time,

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right, that's the thing with Garden, it's it's the time more than

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anything. And you and you're quite
the baker. The rumor is on the

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street, what's your favorite thing to
bake? Probably homemade cakes? Yeah,

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very good. Send me everything you
like to bake. I love to bake.

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What's your favorite thing? Bake cakes? Yeah? Yeah, I'm a

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brownie guy myself. I like Brownie. The worst decorator do you like to

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decorate? I've taken some courses,
and I actually go to Louisiana Culinary Institute

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and do some of their leisure classes. Interesting. No, when it's done,

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I just slap everything on top.
I have no patience, like the

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sewing. Like with sewing, if
I can't have it sown in thirty minutes,

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I'm not doing it, just immediate
gratification. I did it. So

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I give the things that you do
take take commitment. Yeah, yeah,

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they really do in patience and patience
and with what you do now, which

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we talked about in the in our
little pre meeting, it requires patience,

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and you know, I describe it
as a way. You've got to have

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a way in the healthcare industry.
It not everybody's necessarily made for it,

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and it's a it's an industry in
which people need to feel very comfortable around

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you, especially with what you do
now. You opened your business in November

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of twenty twenty, So the first
question I have for you is before you

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opened your business, what did you
do prior to that? So I mainly

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did home health. I did some
acute care, so in the hospitals,

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and I did some outpatient okay,
very bit of everything, but always with

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adults. Okay, very good and
uh And obviously in November twenty twenty,

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you decided I'm going to open my
own business. Interesting time to decide that.

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With COVID really at that time just
being at the forefront of everybody's mind,

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the whole world kind of changed as
we knew it. And first of

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all, shout out to you for
having the courage. You know, it's

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hard to open up a business when
everything's perfect, perfect and the world is

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just on fire with you know,
the economy up when you chose to do

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it? What led you to that? What? So in twenty twenty,

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In January of twenty twenty, Medicare
had made some changes, so patients weren't

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going to be able to get the
services, the amount of services that they

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were getting before, right, and
so in that speech therapy is normally one

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of the last things that they get, and a lot of my patients they

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didn't get the swallowing assessments that they
needed in order to get adequate treatment.

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Yeah, so I kind of I
just wanted to you felt a calling.

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Oh yes, I just I've always
wanted to help those that needed help,

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so sort of going outside of my
comfort area. And it wasn't about making

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money. It's just about making sure
my patients are getting the care that they

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need. Yeah, that's just what
I'm talking about with these these people in

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healthcare that you deal with that really
really do it. They don't do it

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for the money. A lot of
times it is for you know, it's

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just calling. It's it's what they
feel like, where they feel like they

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need to be. And so tell
me about what you do. What is

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it? And I'm sure you run
into people and you tell them your profession

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and they're like, what do you
do? What is that? So tell

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us? So okay. So originally, whenever I started my business, I

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wanted to do mobile fees, which
is flexible and dyscopic evaluation of swallowing.

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So it's just another way of assessing
the swallow and it doesn't use radiation,

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so it's really good for head and
neck cancer patients. Interesting, so whenever

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I started that, doctors started sending
me orders for other things other way,

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you know, needing treatment for patients
with dementia, cognitive issues, strokes.

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So some for some reason I was
like, Okay, well, I guess

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if we're doing this and I'm not
getting exactly what I want for the referrals,

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then I'll just open a outpatient clinic. Wow. So and mybile services

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included in that? Is that something
that's pretty unique in your industry? It

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is? Yeah, makes it really
convenient, I would imagine, Well,

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obviously it's going to increase the convenience, but uh, for someone that needs

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your services, and you got to
is it nursing homes and things of that

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nature. So I go to nursing
homes, assisted living facilities, l tax

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if they need swallow assessments, yeah, but as far as if they need

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treatment, So if they've been discharged
from home health and they still have transportation

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issues, I can still I can
go to them and it's still considered outpatient,

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but they don't have to worry about
the transportation. Very interesting, Very

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interesting, and I'm sure is it
something that you were kind of testing or

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you were just committed to from the
beginning, you were just that was going

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to be part of what you did. It was and the reason so the

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reason I did that is probably about
fifteen years ago I realized patients that were

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born with disabilities they had you're given
medicaid, and then so since you never

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work, then you're always going to
have Medicaid. You're not going to have

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anything else. Wow. And so
whenever you have medicaid, a lot of

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places they don't accept it, so
they don't get the amount of services or

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the quality of the services that they
should be getting. Yeah, and so

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that was my biggest thing. I
just wanted to make sure that I was

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seeing people that would normally not be
able to get treatment. I see,

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and do you is it typically off
a referral basis? So it's doctors?

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You know? Do people have to
have a referral to see you? I

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guess it would be my first question. So they don't. Certain insurances do

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not require a referral, and I
think it started about five years ago,

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but you can treat someone with insurance
for thirty days before you have to have

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a doctor's referral. I got you. Is it only dimension all timers and

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those sort of patients that you typically
see or is it run the game?

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And who? I guess If I'm
a patient and I'm having what issues should

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I look for that? Hey?
I probably need to call you to let

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you check that out. Okay,
So as far as just the signs and

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symptoms, it could be difficulty swallowing, you have a hoarse voice, you

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may have a history of reflux.
Yeah, so then your voice is changing.

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But also uncontrolled reflux can turn into
cancer. So that's something that really

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Yes, I did not know that. That's interesting, and so don't ignore

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it. Don't just take ain't acid
for it or something like something like that.

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Miranda's dealing with that, that's what. Yeah. Wow, very scary.

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I didn't know that. Yeah,
that is scary. Yeah, cognitive

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issues just any you know, cognitive
voice swallowing communications. So if someone has

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a stroke and they're not able to
communicate, you know, we can help

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them get communication devices, get them
trained on them. Children that are autistic,

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even if they're teenagers so they're no
longer in the school system, we

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can help them get devices so they're
able to communicate. Yeah, And speaking

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of that, I'm glad you brought
that up, and it leads me kind

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of into what I want to talk
about next. You had shared a story

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with me initially when we met,
and y'all when I when I heard this

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story, I'm like, we definitely
need to say this on the show,

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So I want you to share that
with you. You remember the story and

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told me, okay, share that
with us. So this was a home

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health patient. I had gone out
and I want to sales about two or

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three years ago. It was post
COVID, and so I went out there

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and the lady she had right side
paralysis, which is normally so if the

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right side of the body is affected, it's the left side of the brain

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that was damaged. The left side
of the brain does control language, and

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so whenever I saw her, she
was not able to communicate. She was

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very strong, she was able to
get around even though she was paralyzed on

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one side. She was not able
to make She was able to make one

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sound and it was like, oh
and nothing else. So I had spoken

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with her daughter, and I was
just talking to them to find out how

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long it's been since she's had a
stroke and since she hasn't been able to

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communicate, And she had told meals
nineteen seventy seven, and it will always

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stick with me because that's the year
that I was born. So basically she

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went forty five years without being able
to verbally communicate. She could understand everything

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think people were saying to her,
sure, but she wasn't able to express

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her feelings or what she needed anything
like that. And so we were actually

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able to get her a device and
with within six months she started communicating.

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That is unbelievable. I mean,
it's it's sad, it really is.

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It's ultra sad. But it also
shows the need for people like you on

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the other side of that. And
that's the that's the part of that story.

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Uh, that's most important, I
guess for me, and the one

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that had the most impact on me
is that had you not done what you

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did, she still wouldn't be communicating, I know. And that's what I

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try to teach, you know,
future therapist whenever they're going through school,

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if they don't know who they need
a contact in order to get the resources

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that they need, they need to
find other therapists and ask them, you

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know, what's available. Yeah.
Yeah, that's what sticks out to me

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the most in our pre meeting and
then just thinking about it afterwards or you

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know, reading on your website the
and like I said in the pre meeting,

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when I was so frustrated, because
why don't families just reach out and

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do people just accept it? You
know? And where I said, well,

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why don't you just keep fighting fighting
for that answer? Because not everybody

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is like you that's going to advocate
for them and So that's if I can

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get anything out on this podcast today, it's find someone, like you just

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said, find someone else to give
you answers, you know, if that

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person doesn't answer, or find another
person exactly you know. I mean because

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the stories that you told, you
told the story about the vet the veteran,

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the vet veteran, and that really
stuck out to me how you were

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able to get him services and way
beyond your scope of you know, and

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all how all that came in to
be. So it's just so interesting what

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you've done and how you've just taken
it on too much of a broader scope

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than just voice. And yeah,
and you mentioned that, and people are

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gonna be like, well, I
want to hear that story. Do you

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mind sharing that? Not at all. So I have a friend who is

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a smoking cessation officer at Aushner.
Now she is a speech therapist. She

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was basically tired of the system,
so she stopped practicing and whenever she had

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met a new patient that she had, he had a peg tube and so

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she was talking about the nicotine issues. But she found out he had a

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peg tube and so she wanted to
see, Okay, well what's going on?

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How can we help, and he
hadn't eaten in three years, and

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so he had gone to a bunch
of doctors. He went to surgeons.

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There was one surgeon that wanted to
really try to help him, but they

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said there was really nothing that they
could do. And so my friend gave

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him a business card, and he
didn't do anything with a business card.

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And so my mom passed away a
few months ago, but she ran an

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assisted living center and whenever, so
his father in law was admitted into my

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mom's assisted living facility, and so
my mom started talking to his wife,

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and his wife was telling her how
her husband was having problems, and Mom

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said, well, if anybody can
help, it's my daughter. I just

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I don't quit with anything like I
just have to go and I just I

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just I don't know why. I
just want to make sure people get better

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and they get the things that they
need. So his wife brought the card

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home and he said, oh,
well that's the second time I've seen this

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card. And she said, okay, well this is like God, you

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know, sending us a message.
We need to do something about it.

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And so they called me and I'm
actually helping do training courses for fees now

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and then so a person that I
met at one of the courses is a

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rep for an electrical stimulation company,
and so I was explaining what was going

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on with a man and he said, well, you know, I think

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this would work for him. And
so I went back to my patient and

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I said, Okay, well,
you're going to be a guinea pig.

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I said, but you know,
if it doesn't work, then we're going

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to try something else, and we'll
keep on trying something until it does work

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right. And we didn't go up
on the intensity as much as we probably

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should have in the beginning, but
within a five month period, we had

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him eating a regular diet and he
no longer has a peg tube. That's

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hug yes, aase bumps, I
mean, that's yeah. Yeah. And

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then also though me being a veteran, I always find out, okay,

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have you served in the military,
and if you served in the military,

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and all of the medical issues he
was having, you know, I'm trying

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to figure out are those associated with
your military service? And in his case

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it was so I actually was able
to get him connected to somebody and we

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were able to get him one hundred
percent service connected disability. Yeah. Wow,

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that's amazing. I can't get that
story out of my head. And

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and the fact that you served in
First of all, thank you for that

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service military, your military service,
and I'm sure you were like that your

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whole life. You didn't have any
quo in you. But it's it's great

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when we have former military that did
not have quit in them, whether it

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was before or during, some people
learn in that military service. That's one

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of the things they developed. Just
depends. But thank God for you that

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you you crossed paths and uh,
just an amazing story. You mentioned mother,

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and I asked you a question in
your question that was who had a

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big influence in your life and why? And you you said, mama.

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And she was a nurse. Yes, so growing up she worked in nursing

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hall. Yeah, and so on
weekends and holidays we would always go to

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the nursing homes and spend time with
the patients. Yeah. And then later

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on she became a director of an
assisted living center. And so whenever I

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was actually going through school, whenever
people had different things that they were diagnosed

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with, my mom would always say, Okay, well you see this person,

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so if they have these these signs, then you know that's what they

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have. Yeah, so, and
she went above and beyond helping people,

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and I just wanted to do the
thing. I wanted to do the same

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thing that she was doing. Yeah, yeah, well you certainly are and

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and apples don't fall far from trees, right. I had a professor say

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that, Yeah, well, it's
very true. It's very true. And

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sometimes things are in the blood.
And you're obviously a very empathetic person and

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that runs in families. I believe
that you know. Another thing with you

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that's kind of a separator, you
know, for you is your experience.

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You have a master's degree and we've
already mentioned you've been in the military.

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I think those things are huge just
for businesses and your community. Minded you're

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on this show, and that shows
that you're wanting to make a positive impact

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on your community and and you certainly
are doing that. Let me ask you

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this. So you have a website
I do, and people can go to

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that website and of course they can
learn obviously more about what you do.

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But we discussed a little bit of
do you need a referral and you said

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no, not necessarily. You don't
have to have a referral. If someone

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is having an issue with either communication
or swallowing, and they just want you

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to kind of check that out for
them or see what's going on, because

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if they have that issue, something's
going on. Is there do you have

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to call? Or is there a
book form on the website or how does

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that work? So they do need
a call, once they are an established

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patient, you can schedule online.
You can fill all the paperwork out online.

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I do have people that call whenever
they have issues, and I never

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actually see them as patients. I
was on the phone with a girl Valentine's

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Day and she was having issues.
She was in Bosuer City and she was

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having a whole bunch of issues swallowing, and nobody was listening to her,

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and so I kind of just gave
her all of the information that she needed

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to get the help. You know
where she's located. I love that,

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And you know, you're kind of
a here's the thing. I call it

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doctor Google. But even like she's
like, because yeah, now it is.

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But people get sick, okay,
just an illness in general, whatever

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it is, and the first thing
they're doing is googling symptoms and then it'll

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come up with this is what's wrong
with you? And they go by that,

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and it may or may not be
accurate. But what makes you unique

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is even if you're let's say you're
a nurse and uh, you've got some

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medical training and experience, you don't
specialize in like swallowing issues. You don't

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specialize in voice issues. And that
is why you're so important because you're specific

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to that. You know, I
don't want a heart surgeon delivering my my

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wife's well, my wife's baby.
I can't do that, Cindia, but

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I don't want you know what I
mean? Like, you want someone that

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specializes in exactly what you're dealing with. And you are a specialist in your

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field something that oh it could be
this or it could be that. And

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you know, your friend that's a
nurse at X y Z hospital might say,

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guess what, she probably knows that
answer right off the top of her

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head, uh, and can tell
you exactly what you need to do to

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start working on fixing that issue.
My my major question along those lines,

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though, is before you get to
a fixing point, is there any preventative

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Let's say, in Jem's father in
law's case of dementia, or if someone

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has als or something, you know, is there anything preventatively to work muscles,

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to train them. You know,
once a diagnosis, it's not it's

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not preventative, but it just basically
it can slow the progression down. People

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with als, you want to make
sure that they know how to use a

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communication device that they you know,
that you have like the eye tracking system

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and everything together before they're going to
lose their voice. Right, People with

301
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Parkinson's, as long as you do
exercises to continue to maintain that strength,

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you know, you do prolong their
ability to eat mm hm, I mean

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they're eventually going to have issues.
One patient that I had, he actually

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had him eating safely with Parkinson's and
Louis body dementia until he passed, but

305
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his body's stopped absorbing the nutrients.
Okay, So I mean there are things

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that you can do m ms.
I mean basically anything that there is.

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You're able to do things to educate
the family to make it easier on them,

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to make it to where they're able
to ensure that they're communicating the best

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that they can, or that they're
eating as safe as they can even if

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they're having issues. Right, and
you've probably already answered this, but is

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there any like certain like Let's say
right now, I feel like I'm producing

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a lot of saliva, and it's
probably because I'm sitting next to you and

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I'm focusing on swallowing, you know
what I mean. So there are certain

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illnesses where people do produce too much
sliva and they can call it can cause

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a lot of drooling. So als
is one of them, blu Gerrig's disease,

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Parkinson's multisystems atrophy. They have a
lot of those. And so there

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are things that you can do to
decrease the amount of saliva that's being produced,

318
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okay. So and that's normally a
scapalamine patch which is ordered by a

319
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:04.720
doctor. It's basically a dramamine patch, okay. And then there are if

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people have dry mouth, there are
artificial saliva sprays and different types of dental

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products that basically decrease the amount of
dry mouth that you have. Okay.

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Interesting, there you go. And
so look, you move along in your

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business. Twenty twenty comes and goes, and you're still out there rocking and

324
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rolling. I found something interesting in
the next question that I asked you,

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which was what was the most difficult
thing that you kind of had to deal

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with to get your business going as
business owners when you first open, and

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everybody in this room's a business owner. That's the nerve racking part for you.

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Is Okay, now that I'm open, how do I get people here?

329
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Right? And I found it extremely
interesting in your case that it seems

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like you you did everything the right
way. You were you were focusing on

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referral sources that would attract clients.
Look, everybody you know should know what

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00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:15.279
you do for a business and how
you can help people in need, right

333
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whatever whatever business it is. Uh. Word of mouth is also one of

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the best referrals you can ever get. People trust what their friends tell them.

335
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If they say go to you,
they're gonna go to you, uh,

336
00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:32.200
because their friend is kind of vouching
for you. And y'all. Y'all

337
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:36.079
have survived a lot on word of
mouth as well as other other sources,

338
00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:40.119
which tells me you do a really
good job and people are referring you to

339
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friends and family. Uh. That's
a great thing. Now. Uh.

340
00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:47.839
Another thing that you said in there, because I don't want to I don't

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00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:49.799
want to go verbate them on it, but you said that it was very

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00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:56.000
important to educate the community, and
that's what we're doing today. A lot

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00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:00.279
of that is just telling them what
you do. And you chose who Gonzales

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00:26:00.440 --> 00:26:06.119
area as your is it Prairieville,
Gonzal? Okay, so you it's actually

345
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:08.799
good? Yeah, Burnside, So
that's writing Gonzales. You chose that area

346
00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:15.440
and you're actually a very well trafficked
location. But how hard was that decision

347
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:18.640
to make? Like, I'm sure
you were like, do I want to

348
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open in Baton Rage or do I
want to open in Gonzales or do I

349
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want to open in Living Parish?
Where do I want to go? Well,

350
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I mean my five year goal is
to have another clinic, even Laffyet

351
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:33.119
or Lake Charles, But for now, I think just Gonzalez. My mom

352
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:38.160
was raised there. I live in
Santamal And basically there is not a freestanding

353
00:26:38.359 --> 00:26:44.759
adult speech therapy clinic in Ascension Parish. They have that's unbelievable to it is

354
00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:48.680
they have physical therapy clinics, a
few of them that do offer speech therapy

355
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services, and the speech therapist normally
has to work at multiple jobs in different

356
00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:56.680
locations because you can't get a large
enough caseload. Yeah, but I just

357
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wanted something that focuses strictly on adults. I don't know how I came up

358
00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:06.880
with a name of it. Yeah, and I did just take a shot

359
00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.480
in the dark, and I think
I got it. So I think you

360
00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:15.720
did too. And look, I
mean that area has been growing for years.

361
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It's obviously still growing with your plants
and all of those sorts of businesses

362
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out there. I mean, Gazalees
has been grown for twenty years. So

363
00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:29.880
it was a good call. And
a lot of people now moving out that

364
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:33.640
way from that marriage. So I
can just only see you building. And

365
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:40.319
you said your five year goal was
to have several locations. Very good and

366
00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:44.240
laugh. You had another good call, grown area, Lake Charles another grown

367
00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:52.079
area. So look this, she
knows a little bit about business. Hey,

368
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:56.640
y'all, there's a reason that I
podcast indoors. I don't want to

369
00:27:56.680 --> 00:28:00.640
be outside in the hot summer heat
or even in the whole winners in South

370
00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:07.200
Louisiana, And that's why I let
Landscape King handle all my landscape needs.

371
00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:12.839
They understand that a beautiful landscape is
not just about aesthetics, but also about

372
00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:19.279
creating a space that reflects the client's
vision and meets their specific needs. From

373
00:28:19.319 --> 00:28:26.240
the initial consultation to the final touches. Landscape King ensures that every step in

374
00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:30.599
the process is tailored to what I
want. They believe that every project is

375
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:37.119
an opportunity to create something extraordinary,
and they pour their heart and soul into

376
00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.440
every single detail. And let me
tell you about the owner, Joseph King.

377
00:28:41.799 --> 00:28:45.160
He loves guard me. As the
founder of Landscape King, Joseph takes

378
00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:51.960
immense pride and the exceptional workers company
has accomplished over the years. They serve

379
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:57.440
customers in Baton Ridge, Prairieville and
all the surrounding areas including Livingston Parish and

380
00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:04.839
Landscape King has been comes synonymous with
top notch landscape services. So give Landscape

381
00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.039
King a call today and tell him
I sent you, and get a free

382
00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:15.440
consult and mock up of your landscape
project at two two five three z W

383
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four two four nine to nine.
That's two two five three ZE four two

384
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:26.720
four nine to nine and mention local
Leaders for your free consult and mock up

385
00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:33.359
of your landscape space. Landscape King
a local leaders of podcast fairy Fy partner

386
00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:42.160
of the show. I asked you
about leadership because you're someone that would know

387
00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:48.240
a lot about it. You're not
only in uh An industry where you own

388
00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:52.559
your business, and that's a form
of leadership. But you also served in

389
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:55.480
the military, as we've talked about, and you learn a little bit about

390
00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:59.160
leadership there as well. And I
ask you how you would define it,

391
00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:03.920
and you set a person that leads
by example yet ensures their employees are always

392
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:08.839
taken care of before they are.
In the military, I was always taught

393
00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:14.920
to lead by example. You know, It's funny the majority of business owners

394
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:17.880
that I see, and I sit
down with hundreds of them in here,

395
00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:22.279
most of the successful ones, it's
always their employees they're concerned with first.

396
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:27.000
Yeah, they'll pay themselves last.
Everybody else gets paid first. And so

397
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:30.920
no one led you to put that. You just put that, and that's

398
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:36.880
that's typical of leaders Well, what
things. So whenever I was in the

399
00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:40.200
military at I was an officer,
yep, so we were always told,

400
00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:42.599
you know that your soldiers have to
eat before you do. Yeah. So

401
00:30:44.279 --> 00:30:48.440
yeah, that pretty much explains it. That's good stuff. Now, something

402
00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:53.240
that people may not understand about your
business one hundred percent is what do you

403
00:30:53.279 --> 00:31:00.759
do right when you came in here
and you said you were a speech therapist.

404
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:04.039
The first thing I'm thinking of is
at school when you go to speech,

405
00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:07.359
right, and they teach you,
you know, when you're in elementary

406
00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:11.440
school when you have to go to
that speech, deal with the speech there.

407
00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:14.119
That's what I'm thinking, you know, off the top of my head

408
00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:18.799
as to what you do. You
run into that pretty often, very often.

409
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:22.079
Yeah, are they just the same. You're a nurse and you can

410
00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:25.920
call me anything they want. Yeah, as long as I'm able to help

411
00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:29.839
them. I love that. I
love that. That's awesome. I love

412
00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:33.680
that. Social media. How important
has that been to your business? I

413
00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:37.200
think it's been extremely important. We're
doing a lot of social media. We

414
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:41.680
do a lot of giveaways. I
think that helps some. Yeah, I

415
00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:45.400
do to Yeah, yeah, you
brought us T shirts today. I did

416
00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:48.640
in a whole mug of goodies.
That's right. Yeah. And it's funny

417
00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:53.119
though, because whenever I run into
past patients, they're always like they're wearing

418
00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:56.839
the shirts and they're like, I'm
representing yes and yeah. And I even

419
00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:01.400
I had somebody that went to a
Lie's Club event and there was somebody that

420
00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:05.759
needed speech and they're like, oh, look at that shirt, and yeah,

421
00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:09.039
so there's a referral. That's right, And I tell people all the

422
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:14.200
time. That's probably the best form
advertising you can ever do is give out

423
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:16.960
T shirts because people wear those every
they cut the grass in them, they

424
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:21.160
get a Walmart in them, they
get you know, not Walmart, but

425
00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:28.119
of course a local family owned store
like Corse. Who are you? What

426
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:30.640
did you do a jump? They
did? They wear them out in the

427
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:36.279
community and people see that, and
that's like almost like a walking billboard for

428
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.359
you. But also if people are
willing to wear that and fly your colors,

429
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:45.799
it means they had a good experience
typically, so so shout out for

430
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:52.079
that, and we're gonna wear ours
proudly. I asked you about promotions and

431
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:59.319
h you said, you're going to
be at the Alzheimer's Services Educational Conference on

432
00:32:59.559 --> 00:33:04.319
April seventeenth at the Crown Plaza.
Pretty big, pretty big conference there.

433
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:07.279
And is it like both say set
up and in these big shows. I

434
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:09.839
guess you could call it, well, you just have to exhibit hall and

435
00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:14.880
then you have the training session.
Yeah, yeah, very good and CEU

436
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:22.000
critit's continuing education important to facts like
you. I would imagine medical stuff changes

437
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:27.559
constantly, constantly, yeah, and
very important. Yeah, that's one of

438
00:33:27.559 --> 00:33:30.000
the things that I do want to
say something that was something that really stuck

439
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:35.160
out to me. And the answering
of your questions is how important it is

440
00:33:35.160 --> 00:33:39.519
for you to stay up to date
on technology. And when people look at

441
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:45.119
you as just thinking you are a
speech therapist, what would just for the

442
00:33:45.119 --> 00:33:49.880
general public to understand because my both
of my sons had to go to therapy

443
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:53.519
at school. One you know,
they both one had a horrendous speech impediment

444
00:33:53.559 --> 00:33:58.880
calls by ear issues that we talked
about, and the other one was just

445
00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:04.200
just he couldn't say so and sounds
and a squirrel he couldn't say and and

446
00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:06.640
he ended up getting it in the
end. You know, he's just a

447
00:34:06.680 --> 00:34:13.280
little bit older. But what is
the difference with someone going to school for

448
00:34:13.400 --> 00:34:16.519
therapy and then finally reaching out to
you, maybe they're not having success,

449
00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:20.199
Like where's that where? I know
it's got to be like on some type

450
00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:25.000
of spectrum if it's I think just
whenever you're in the school system, it's

451
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:32.320
basically speech production and then you're looking
at comprehension and expression and then as and

452
00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:36.960
they can have swallowing issues. If
you have somebody with cerebral palsy or anything

453
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:40.119
like that, you know, that
can be causing some swallowing issues. But

454
00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:50.400
as you get older, basically the
focus is cognition, some communication speech if

455
00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:54.400
they had a stroke and they're having
like slurred speech. But basically a lot

456
00:34:54.440 --> 00:35:01.079
of swallowing swallowing difficulties or dyspasia is
actually a normal part of aging. People

457
00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:07.320
don't realize that, and so that
is one big huge thing I think,

458
00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:12.000
right that people I've had so many
people in the past that their family members

459
00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:16.639
have died of aspiration, pneumonia or
just you know, Alzheimer's and they just

460
00:35:16.679 --> 00:35:21.159
didn't know that there was help that
they could get right, and so they

461
00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:22.599
passed. And they're just like,
I wish I would have known that you

462
00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:25.800
were here twenty years ago, right, And I think that's kind of the

463
00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:30.119
ultimate question that I had, is
I was blessed that both of my boys

464
00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:34.679
grew out of it or once you
know, my youngest had tubes, he

465
00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:37.599
was fine, But I could be
in a much different place, you know,

466
00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:42.000
So they would this be like,
if let's say they were thirteen and

467
00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:45.199
twenty two still having issues, would
you be someone that I would go to

468
00:35:45.400 --> 00:35:51.320
just for speech? Yes, okay, okay? And what about like constant

469
00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:54.360
clearing of the throat. Is that
something you know? You get the people

470
00:35:54.400 --> 00:36:00.639
that sometimes they'll say it's just habit
they all the time, but sometimes there

471
00:36:00.719 --> 00:36:05.800
might be an underlying issue, would
you agree, Yes, So that normally

472
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:09.800
would be either post nasal drip or
acid reflux. And so whenever a person

473
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:15.719
has acid reflux, it basically you
have acid from the stomach that burns the

474
00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:20.000
lining of the esophagus and it can
actually burn the vocal cords. And so

475
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:22.920
a lot of times whenever people have
reflux, they'll just have constant throat clearing.

476
00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:30.039
And that's definitely something that needs to
be looked at because it might not

477
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.880
be anything. It might just be
a habit, but it could be something

478
00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:37.880
a lot worse. Would that be
something you would definitely look at. It's

479
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:40.559
something that I would look at,
and if I saw things that I would

480
00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:44.480
just refer them to the doctor that
they needed to in order to get treated.

481
00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:46.920
Gotcha, Okay, yeah, because
I know someone that does that,

482
00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:54.079
and they're listening right now, so
it's not me. It's not Sunday,

483
00:36:54.159 --> 00:37:01.960
but they know who they are.
And what about like coughing constantly, just

484
00:37:02.199 --> 00:37:07.880
constant coughing. I noticed that with
a lot of our older crowd, it

485
00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:12.360
seems like charts or something like that. They'll cough a lot and they might

486
00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:16.760
just be sick a lot of them. But again is something management of secretions.

487
00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:21.559
So if you can't manage your secretions, and this sounds crazy, but

488
00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:23.639
if you're not able to manage your
secretions, most likely you're not going to

489
00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:28.079
be able to manage you know,
food or liquids. And so you can

490
00:37:28.119 --> 00:37:31.559
get your swallow assessed and then we
can basically say, okay, well,

491
00:37:31.639 --> 00:37:37.400
you know you'd benefit from exercises.
We have to exercise the muscles in the

492
00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:39.599
throat like we have to do with
the legs in the arms. But it

493
00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:46.039
could be just compensatory strategies tucking the
chin, or just modifying the diet,

494
00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:51.199
maybe thickening the liquids a little bit, chopping up the food. And that

495
00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:54.000
doesn't mean that it has to be
permanent, but just until we can get

496
00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:58.440
the muscles strong enough in order for
them to be able to go back to

497
00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:02.599
where they need to be. Yeah, and there's actually supplement I don't know

498
00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:08.679
what you would call, but it's
thicking it that you can add to foods

499
00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:13.719
and things like that that will make
it thicker. For people with that issue,

500
00:38:13.800 --> 00:38:16.119
yes, And a lot of people
though they don't like that one because

501
00:38:16.119 --> 00:38:21.639
it's extremely grainy. Yes, so
they don't want to follow the diet that

502
00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:27.000
they're prescribed. They do have a
gel thickener. It's called simply thick and

503
00:38:27.599 --> 00:38:31.599
you put the smallest amount in it
and it doesn't make it grainy. I

504
00:38:31.599 --> 00:38:36.280
always want to try the things that
I'm giving my patience. And if you

505
00:38:36.400 --> 00:38:38.960
do like the thicken it or whatever, they have one in a yellow can.

506
00:38:39.400 --> 00:38:43.440
And if you put a little bit
in and you drink it, it

507
00:38:43.559 --> 00:38:47.960
basically tastes like sandy water. Yeah, and you're more thirsty after you drink

508
00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:52.480
it than before. Well, there
you go. But they have a gel

509
00:38:52.519 --> 00:38:57.440
one, So you have an option
out there other than other than that now.

510
00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:00.199
And I don't know if back when
I was free with that, if

511
00:39:00.440 --> 00:39:06.760
if that even existed. Very interesting
now. We talked about social media a

512
00:39:06.840 --> 00:39:10.119
little a little earlier in the podcast. But how do so you have a

513
00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:14.559
Facebook, you have an Instagram,
all these sorts of things. I'm sure

514
00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:16.320
if they search your name, it's
gonna pop it up. But we're gonna

515
00:39:16.320 --> 00:39:20.679
make it even easier than that for
you. What we're gonna do is in

516
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:27.159
the description of this podcast. We're
gonna link your Facebook and Instagram whatever whatever

517
00:39:27.239 --> 00:39:30.360
else you have out there. But
the most important thing is your website.

518
00:39:30.599 --> 00:39:34.480
Yes, because it is a we
went and looked at the websites, very

519
00:39:34.599 --> 00:39:38.599
nice and easy to follow. Explains
definitely you know in detail what you do

520
00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:43.840
and and those sorts of things.
Uh So we'll also link that. So

521
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:45.239
if you're driving right now and you
listen to this, no worries. We're

522
00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:52.039
gonna link in the description. And
Sinny, you got some fun facts I

523
00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:59.039
think for our favorite podcast here,
So let's go through them. You ready,

524
00:40:00.039 --> 00:40:06.800
If you purchased a yacht, what
would you name it? Slow and

525
00:40:06.880 --> 00:40:12.639
Steady? And that reason is because
I love turtles. So whatever I'm driving

526
00:40:12.679 --> 00:40:14.960
on the road and I see a
turtle, I have to stop to move

527
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:19.599
it over. You Really, every
single turtle that is awesome. And I

528
00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:23.000
have taken some turtles to l Ashue
that have had crack shells and they fixed

529
00:40:23.039 --> 00:40:25.920
them and they let you go bring
them back where you found them. Really

530
00:40:27.280 --> 00:40:30.239
interesting. So on that there you
go, turtle folks out there, But

531
00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:37.800
you didn't know that. Now we'll
be stopping at every turtle. I'm serious.

532
00:40:37.840 --> 00:40:42.400
I like turtles to I love turtles, which brings me to a fun

533
00:40:42.440 --> 00:40:46.119
fact that's not on here. But
what did you want to be prior to

534
00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:50.239
what you are doing now? Because
I love this story? Okay, Yes,

535
00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:52.960
so I wanted to be a veterinarian
whenever I went to Lshue when I

536
00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:58.440
was in an undergrad I wanted to
be a veterinarian. But I could never

537
00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:04.039
see myself putting an animal to sleep
if so, therefore I just needed to

538
00:41:04.039 --> 00:41:07.960
find something else to do that.
Well, you knew that will be required

539
00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:12.079
at some point, yes, And
the last question is if you could travel

540
00:41:12.119 --> 00:41:14.880
anywhere in the world, where would
it be. Okay, so this is

541
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:21.360
a fun fun fact Lancashire, England, because my maiden name is Townly and

542
00:41:21.400 --> 00:41:27.000
there's actually a Townly castle there.
Oh wow, I think you're related about

543
00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:31.679
twelve You have to be just about
twelve generations, Matt, I'm your cousin

544
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:36.039
and I KNEI there had to be
a story to that one because you were

545
00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:39.920
so specific. You didn't say anylan
you set up a specific place in England

546
00:41:40.679 --> 00:41:45.239
and U. Yeah, well,
I'll have to check that out because every

547
00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:49.719
time people do that particular fun fact
if I'm not familiar with it. I

548
00:41:49.719 --> 00:41:52.599
gotta check it out and look that
out. I've seen a lot of beautiful

549
00:41:52.599 --> 00:41:57.000
places that people have come up with
that way, So very cool. All

550
00:41:57.119 --> 00:42:00.079
right, Well, I guess that
about wraps up another one advertise. I

551
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:04.760
think. So I just wanted to
again thank you for your service, but

552
00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:08.079
I also didn't want to interrupt Jim
at the beginning of the show. But

553
00:42:08.239 --> 00:42:13.440
I love your focus on the elderly
and that your mom influenced that in you,

554
00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:17.119
because this is a segment of society
that's lost and they don't have a

555
00:42:17.239 --> 00:42:21.440
voice. And that's why, I
mean, they don't have a voice.

556
00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:24.000
A lot of times, even if
they still have a voice, they just

557
00:42:24.039 --> 00:42:28.960
give up, pushed aside, not
you know, respected, They're taken for

558
00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:32.559
granted, left alone sometimes, you
know. And so I am, I

559
00:42:32.800 --> 00:42:38.000
honestly christ saying it. I feel
better knowing that there's somebody like you in

560
00:42:38.039 --> 00:42:43.840
this world because I know if I
need someone, I'm just calling you,

561
00:42:43.840 --> 00:42:47.079
you know, like in your and
it could be for any position, you

562
00:42:47.119 --> 00:42:49.800
know, and you're gonna be like, no, Cindy, you need to

563
00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:52.159
go find this person. And I
know that you're gonna help, and that

564
00:42:52.280 --> 00:42:55.360
gives me. That has given me
peace since I met you, and I

565
00:42:55.440 --> 00:43:00.559
mean that. That is why we
have our guest guests here today, Miss

566
00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:04.920
Emma, that is studying to do
what you're doing and it just is amazing.

567
00:43:05.280 --> 00:43:09.599
That's right. Yeah, well that
was sweet, Missake, and the

568
00:43:09.639 --> 00:43:15.280
turtles love you too as well.
That's right. Well, thank you for

569
00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:20.119
coming on today. Look y'all,
we're linking all the information you need in

570
00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:23.880
the description. We're going to have
the website as well as the social media.

571
00:43:24.599 --> 00:43:28.079
You can go check them out,
give them a like on Facebook,

572
00:43:28.239 --> 00:43:32.000
share them with anybody you think may
be in need. If God forbid,

573
00:43:32.079 --> 00:43:37.000
you have somebody struggling with one of
the issues that we brought up today,

574
00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:44.719
you know, refer them. Refer
them to Louisiana Voice and Swallow Solutions,

575
00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:49.199
and uh if I don't want to
say if she can't help you, because

576
00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:51.679
I get the feeling you can help
anybody with anything. I feel like,

577
00:43:51.719 --> 00:43:57.199
if I break my leg, I'm
gonna come see you. But don't do

578
00:43:57.320 --> 00:44:01.039
that actually, but she would absolutely
help you as much as she could.

579
00:44:01.079 --> 00:44:06.559
I definitely have that feeling even in
that situation. Thank you for coming.

580
00:44:06.639 --> 00:44:08.880
Did you have funk? I did
all right? And for all of you

581
00:44:09.039 --> 00:44:14.880
out there, please continue to like, comments, subscribe on this podcast.

582
00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:20.000
We're coming up on a million downloads. We're really really close, and all

583
00:44:20.039 --> 00:44:23.840
of that is because of y'all out
there and the businesses that we cover has

584
00:44:23.880 --> 00:44:28.719
nothing to do with me or Cindy, but we sure do love it that

585
00:44:29.679 --> 00:44:34.199
we're able to feature businesses here every
single week. And until next time,

586
00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:38.320
I'm Jim Chapman and who are you, I'm Cindy Overton with Local Leaders the

587
00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:44.719
podcast. We'll see you next time. Love your community and support local business.

588
00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:45.159
Thank you,