Morning Pointe of Lenoir City, Tennessee, is well-known for its individualized birthday cake creations by Food Services Director Alicia Allmon.
This September, for resident Jack Parr, digging in to his chocolate-on-chocolate cake with a bit of gold meant far more than another year in the books. He was also celebrating his success in speech therapy this year!
Back in March, Jack started having more difficulty with swallowing during meals. He was coughing more and experiencing increased shortness of breath, as well as changes in voice.
Associates at Morning Pointe noticed the change and recommended Jack try speech therapy.
Morning Pointe of Lenoir City partners with Rise Senior Living HealthPro-Heritage to provide physical, occupational and speech therapies in-house to residents. Speech therapy not only addresses difficulties in speech and voice but also swallowing concerns.
Cindy Winter, speech-language pathologist, evaluated Jack and got him started on therapy five days a week. She taught him techniques to improve his swallowing and respiratory coordination and used a respiratory muscle trainer device to improve his airway protection.
“Jack improved not only his swallowing abilities, but increased his socialization and his physical activity as well,” said Cindy. “Jack was very cooperative for therapy and was motivated to improve his swallowing abilities and safety. He was a pleasure to work with, and it’s great to see him back to being Jack again!”
Jack’s dysphagia, or swallowing disorder, decreased from moderate to mild, and he reduced his therapy sessions. Jack is no longer coughing and can eat without risk of aspirating (or choking). This allowed him to safely take his bites of birthday cake!
“Therapy went well, and it helped,” Jack shared. “I’m not having trouble coughing when I eat now!”
Morning Pointe Senor Living facilities each offer on-site therapy services to residents. It’s just one more reason to choose Morning Pointe!
