A Story of Numbers    (from the May 2008 et cetera)

   Talking about students, the numbers tell us something too.  To date we have 282 students, roughly 19% of the membership. At any given time, there are many more students available in our state’s undergraduate and graduate programs.  It seems students are not taking advantage of what MSHA can offer them.  This is a trend that we should all strive to change, as the students are our future.

Gordon Krainen, VP for Membership

What would JFK do?

   For many in our profession John Kennedy is but a paragraph or two in a civics book. For me I recall very well (even though I was pretty young) the speeches he made and the principles he promoted. His most famous line, most of us have heard: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Maybe we can apply this to MSHA. No, we are not asking for all that much, but we are asking that you make MSHA your own organization by getting more involved. If you wait around for the executive board to do all the organizing, planning, and work to promote our profession, then the organization will not be as effective. We need you to move forward our goals. We need you to help us establish the goals. There is much to do. There are committees and groups formed that deal with almost any aspect of communication disorders that you can imagine. Right now the state is having a difficult time with the budget. In this climate it is more important than ever to have a cohesive organization. So whether your concern is a public school issue, Medicaid reform, insurance reimbursement, licensure, or any other myriad of issues, we need the membership support more than ever.

   I do want to state what MSHA can offer you. Our convention is top notch and one can complete most of the required ASHA CEUs by attending it yearly. We employ a strong lobby group to represent us in Lansing to make our interests known to the legislators and keep us aware of what legislation will be affecting our interests.

   MSHA strives to be a financial bargain. Students who are members and volunteer at our convention are able to attend free. The low student rates are maintained throughout the CFY experience. A recent benefit that we are offering is to provide a 5% discount on long term care insurance for our members and their families. So let’s keep Kennedy’s words alive today and make an effort to get involved with your State Association - MSHA.

Gordon Krainen, VP for Membership

May 2007

Living an Unbalanced Life

I really enjoyed the recent MSHA conference until I woke up the next morning. Out of the blue the room was spinning! No, my friends it was not from the effects of alcohol (I can tell where your minds are going). I seem to have that peculiar ailment called Labyrinthitis. You audiologists know of it but if you are unfamiliar with its symptoms, you can really be caught off guard. All I could think of, OK maybe it’s the flu, or is it high blood pressure, or diabetes, or is this what a stroke is like? Your mind plays weird tricks on you when the room is spinning, you are nauseous, and you have no clue why.

Well somehow I got through work the first week, don’t know how. Driving seemed somewhat feasible. The dizziness toned down but was soon replaced by a dysfunctional balance system. I was holding on to things for dear life whenever I moved. I also noticed that my perception of music became distorted. The piano (which I play) sounded closer to a steel drum. I never cared much for the steel drums. So off I went to see an ENT. He wanted a MRI to be sure it was just Labyrinthitis and not ACOUSTIC NEUROMA. Oh please, don’t even mention that. Might as well go through with it and get it over with. The MRI while not being my favorite way to spend Easter afternoon wasn’t too bad, but I wouldn’t make it a habit. Besides it’s pretty costly. I had a pleasant visit with an audiologist who was impressed that I could ask some pretty educated questions about masking and bone conduction etc. Of course I recruited her for MSHA. I was told by some to seek out PT for vestibular balance training. Sure, I’ll try anything. Well after about 3 sessions my balance, though not perfect, seems to be resolving. My perception of piano is sounding closer to what I am used to also. Thank goodness because I didn’t want to just play reggae music. This was no quick passing virus; it has been 5 weeks already.

Throughout this experience I thought a lot about the neurological clients I treat. I felt a stronger affinity for them. After all they were dealing with a major personal loss that really was more significant than my loss of balance. But each morning when I woke up and was reminded of how difficult it was to walk, I thought how they must feel having to worry about their inability to say the important words they want to say. I shared with my clients my difficulties. I didn’t dwell on it, but they knew I was going through something challenging. In fact one of them was a doctor and he was into helping me with ideas on what to do. So for a while I have, and still am walking in their shoes a bit.

In case anyone was worried, I was cleared of all nasty diagnoses from the MRI results. I can now go on to continue recruiting you and your colleagues to join MSHA. If you get your friends to join it will make me feel much more balanced. I’m sure you want that to happen. Thanks for listening.

 February 2007

Who are you? Who Who?

   I recently sat down to watch a TV show. The only choices on were CSI, Law and Order, CSI and another CSI. Well the odds were I chose CSI, not even sure if it was New York, Miami or some other crime filled place. Was it the red headed star or Vince Vaughn? I can’t recall, sorry. What I recall from the show was the intro song. Who are you, who who? Who who? Oh yeah, the old WHO song. Fond memories. That song asks us a question. You can answer it in many ways. But for this occasion I will ask you; Who are you in your profession?

   You must be ambitious and intelligent. You worked hard to obtain a master’s and/or a doctorate degree. You are altruistic, you help others to improve. Are you political? Are you creative? Are you outgoing? Reserved? Do you love your career or are you burning out? Whatever qualities and interests you have, we are glad to have you as a MSHA member. If you are reading this you probably belong, great. But unfortunately there are a lot of speech-language-hearing pathologists in Michigan who do not belong. There are positive things that happen when we join together to create an organization. I propose that those who don’t belong to or don’t contribute to a professional organization are missing out on professional growth. I often hear questions like, what does MSHA do for me? If you ask most members of the MSHA board you would find that they are extremely involved in promoting your interests whether you work in the schools, medical settings, private clinics, or a university. We can’t achieve our goals with small numbers of members however. We need motivated and passionate members to achieve goals such as licensure, school caseload issues, insurance coverage issues, and public awareness of our services.

   Not only can we help our profession in these ways but we offer you many educational opportunities. Our Annual Conference is top notch, the CCCs Workshop is also high quality, and now MSHA is strongly involved in the yearly Michigan Audiology Coalition (MAC) Conference. I know I am preaching to the choir as you already belong and know the benefits of MSHA. We would still like to have your involvement. You could help join committees to achieve the goals of the organization. You could write letters to legislators about issues relating to Speech/Language/Hearing. Very importantly, you could encourage your friends, colleagues, and students to join and partake of MSHA’s benefits. So answer the question; Who are you in your profession? If you’re not where you want to be, let us help you get there. We aren’t that far away. Now aren’t you glad the intro song wasn’t: Won’t get fooled again?

December 2006

The Top Ten Reasons to Join MSHA

  You’re kidding! You missed it? Did you hear David Letterman wrote a top ten list all about reasons to join MSHA? That Dave, who would have expected that? Well here’s what he had to say:

10) We have a master’s degree….in Science!

9) We’re cooler than OT or PT combined.

8) Conference, Conference, Conference.

7) Recruit a colleague, save some dough.

6) CFY year, same cost as student year.

5) 1,200 members, 96% female, Sign me up. (Remember Dave wrote this)

4) Licensure, licensure, licensure.

3) Saying cool things like diadochokinetic, evoked potentials, apraxia, and dyslexia.

2) Political clout in Lansing on events affecting us i.e. funding issues, school staffing etc.

Ok, maybe this wasn’t one of Dave’s better lists, but it is one of his best causes. Let’s be symbiotic, we need you and you need us. Now that that’s settled, please join, re-join, or get your friends to join MSHA. We want to grow to give the speech and hearing professionals in Michigan more of a presence. See you at the conference.

Who ya gonna call?   Guv Granholm!!

   I certainly hope that no one will call me on the carpet for my grammatical license to refer to the Ghostbusters theme?  What’s that, you will anyway?  Well  paleasssse!   Let’s just move on to more pressing matters.

   What I want to bring up is our professional autonomy.  One way of becoming more professionally autonomous is to have state licensure.  What this says is that our practice is important enough for the state to ensure that we are qualified to provide that service, and no one else.  It states that what we do is important enough to protect Michigan residents from unqualified practitioners.  I think what we do is important.  How about you?  I also feel that there is a potential for unqualified practitioners to provide our service.  I recently wrote a letter to the head of the Healthcare Committee in Lansing responsible for licensure.  Her response?  That it is commonly felt that the public is not in danger of being harmed by the services provided by the SLP.  I can think of many ways that poor service, misdiagnosis, or lack of the proper services could harm our potential clients.  Couldn’t you?  Furthermore, the insurance industry across the U.S. is moving towards licensure as a basis for reimbursement.  Michigan is one of only 3 states without licensure.  Where does that leave our private practitioners?  

   The new legislative term brings many new representatives to deal with and our licensure bill will have to begin anew.  Our quest for professional autonomy will be put back.  Now Governor Granholm, who we hope will sign a licensure law, is fighting for votes.  

 Governor Jennifer Granholm:  State Capitol, P.O. Box 30013, Lansing, MI 48909

All House of Representatives have the same mailing address: 

P. O. Box 30014

Lansing, Michigan  48909-7514

All State Senators have the same mailing address:

P.O. Box 30036

Lansing, Michigan  48909-7536

 Thank you.

 Gordon Krainen, V-P for Membership