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We are discussing the biggest challenges that are currently holding back the field of speech-language pathology. We present the issues with facts and invite you to be a part of joining our movement to make things better, one conversation at a time. Let's fix SLP!
Hosted by Jeanette Benigas, PhD, SLP
Megan Berg 0:00
Hi, everyone. I'm Megan Berg
Jeanette Benigas 0:02
and I'm Dr. Jeanette Benigas.
Megan Berg 0:04
And we are here to fix SLP.
Jeanette Benigas 0:06
We are discussing the biggest challenges that are currently holding back the field of speech language pathology.
Megan Berg 0:12
We present the issues with facts and invite you to be part of joining our movement to make things better one conversation at a time.
Jeanette Benigas 0:19
Let's fix SLP.
Fixers, this is Jeanette. This is our very first bonus episode where we get to highlight state membership associations. Today we have Christina from the Hawaii Speech Language and Hearing Association. She has been kind enough to be the first state membership association to talk with us, we are so thankful that she decided to come on and do this. The views stated today are not reflective of the personal opinion of the guest of this podcast, but instead are representative of the executive board as a whole. We hope you enjoy hearing about Hawaii. Christina, thanks for joining us today.
Kristina Fuentes 1:11
Thank you for having me are
Jeanette Benigas 1:13
your first state to go? Why don't you tell us where you're from?
Kristina Fuentes 1:18
Well, I am from I live on the big island in Hawaii, originally from New York, though and lived in many different states before. So now I am the president of the Hawaii Speech Language Hearing Association. And we represent all of the islands here in Hawaii.
Jeanette Benigas 1:38
Great. What area of clinical practice are you in?
Kristina Fuentes 1:44
Oh, I spent most of my career as a director of rehabilitation in skilled nursing facilities. I'm here in Hawaii and was on the medical side for a long time. But the last few years, I did make the big jump over to private practice where I work with children again and some adults in the private practice. And I'm also an adjunct instructor for New York University's online program. My alma mater.
Jeanette Benigas 2:16
That's a big jump, big jump. But but
Kristina Fuentes 2:19
you could do it everybody could do it.
Jeanette Benigas 2:22
Move to private practice. Yeah. Okay,
Kristina Fuentes 2:25
so a lot of continuing education courses.
Jeanette Benigas 2:28
I'm glad to hear that you did that. Because a lot of people especially that was someone like me, I worked in the schools and then found the nursing home that was willing to pay me good money. And I've talked about it on this podcast before. So I won't go through the whole story now, but really had no business doing what I was doing. And really, very quickly got myself educated. But those first couple weeks were questionable at best. So are you to tell us something fun, a fun hobby about yourself before we jump into the questions? Oh, gosh,
Kristina Fuentes 3:01
I mean, well, I live in Hawaii. So you know, going to the beach. And hiking as often as possible are definitely one of my favorite things to do. But I also really like to do home projects. I like like I built a deck in the backyard and just kind of learn new things around the house. For you.
Jeanette Benigas 3:20
I build nothing i i Do no home projects. Okay, so you're you're from Hawaii, or? Well, you're in Hawaii, president of the Hawaii Speech Language and Hearing Association. Tell me what you love about your state association specifically.
Kristina Fuentes 3:39
You know, it's going to sound cliche, because we're from Hawaii, but the Aloha of the board and the association. Really the fact that we still exist with our limited board and our limited pool of volunteers, you know, we're a transient state, we have people coming and going all the time. And we've got some really, you know, diehard dedicated executive board members that are motivated and committed to the association. And I think that is probably what I love about the association the most. Yeah.
Jeanette Benigas 4:15
I might know the answer to your next question that I'm interested in hearing what you're gonna say. What is one area of advocacy that your state has undertaken in previous years that has made a difference for clinicians?
Kristina Fuentes 4:31
Well, we in 2019, we got a bill passed, for licensure for a provisional license for clinical fellows in order to practice in the state. Prior to that, the clinical fellows were not licensed and so they could not work in any settings, basically, that took insurance, which was really limited to the clinical fellows to be able to work in Hawaii. And so we had a lot of students that were graduating from the University of Hawaii and leaving the state to go work on the mainland because they couldn't work in settings that they wanted to start their careers in. So in 2019, we got that passed and enacted, I think it didn't enact till 2020. But it's going now and it's working. And it's great.
Jeanette Benigas 5:26
That's amazing. Pennsylvania had something very similar. A similar problem, when I was a faculty in eastern PA, and a lot of the students ended up having to do their nine month professional experience in schools, even if they wanted to be medical. And so thankfully, Pennsylvania has worked that out now, too, but there still are states who don't have that. So as we're talking about advocacy, everybody if your state doesn't have that joint Bumbles start talking about it, and you can see how some of the other states got that accomplished, you can get that accomplished for your state to absolutely, that was a great thing to do. So what's something you guys are working on now?
Kristina Fuentes 6:09
Um, well, we have a couple of things, you know, goals, we certainly want to work on increasing our social media presence has been one of the things, we have a new social media chair, and she is amazing. She's certainly getting posts up and you know, just trying to get information and involvement in that area so that we can be able to share information more, because we really want to work on being a source for the community for information and you know, the go to source so when people have questions, they can come to the state association for answers. And just educating not only SLPs, but the community, the use, and really let people know what our profession is, and that we're here, and we're here in Hawaii, and that we can help.
Jeanette Benigas 7:05
This is a bit off script. But why don't you tell us those social handles so people know where to follow you?
Kristina Fuentes 7:11
Sure. On Facebook, you can just type in the Hawaii Speech Language Hearing Association, we have a group page there and on Instagram, you can find us that at Aloha, H S. H A 808808. Sorry, 808. And I think
Jeanette Benigas 7:30
part of this question was how can clinicians support you in this effort, I think just joining, following sharing your content, we say the same thing about our movement, you know, join, share, subscribe to whatever follow, like, you know, clicking those likes, commenting bumps, the algorithm. So all of those things are great way to support the Hawaii Speech, Language and Hearing Association. Exactly.
Kristina Fuentes 7:55
Thank you. Another thing that we are working on is creating a practice directory. Oftentimes we get inquiries about children or adults or anybody who either don't know where to go to receive services, or they don't qualify in the schools, and they want to do a private practice. And we just don't have a compilation of everybody's information about what practices I know, several practices that have just restarted, we're trying to do spotlights on some of these practices on our social media to help market that, but we would love to have a directory where if somebody emails us, we can give them a list of practices that are available or taking clients. And so we have created a Google form, we've sent that out and blast emails a few times. But some things that would be great is if anybody with anybody willing to fill out and be on our directory, to receive referrals or information about your practice, to fill out our Google form. So I will get that on our website. Immediately. By the time you guys hear this, it should be up on our website that you can go to the website to fill out that form. And again, watch your blessed emails from hasha, or opportunities to fill out some information to help us be able to get your information out to the community.
Jeanette Benigas 9:19
That's a great idea. And so it's free to fill out the Google Form absolutely included. And people can request it for free. Right? Like if someone services you give it to them for free, they don't have to pay for it. Absolutely. So email us, you guys are sometimes expensive, or you have to pay to be on them. So this free service is a great idea. It's if you have caseload issues, you need to be on this list because in the chance that you know someone's reaching out for something that you do at an inpatient rehab or a hospital or nursing home or a pediatric clinic or whatever. It's a great way to get your name out there for free. So good for you guys for doing that. That's amazing. Well, we're trying a monitor free list.
Kristina Fuentes 10:10
We're trying, we do need you guys to give us that information in
Jeanette Benigas 10:13
order to create this, though again, you know, hear it people who are doing it, sharing it with your colleagues, just getting it out there spreading the word on social media, unless something goes viral is just so hard. So great. Hopefully we can help you with that. Hopefully people hear this and get their name on your list.
Kristina Fuentes 10:33
Mahalo,
Jeanette Benigas 10:35
what's on the agenda for the future?
Kristina Fuentes 10:38
Really increasing. Again, our presence in the community. And we also really have aspirations to help increase the quality of services that are provided here in Hawaii, as I mentioned, we've got a lot of people coming and going. So students are constantly transitioning between therapists and, you know, something that I stress to my students, all the time is not all SLPs are created equal. And it really is up to you know, the clinician to be up to date on practices and that continuing education. And so the way we do want to help with that is by increasing our CEU opportunities, and just having opportunities to connect our members together so that, you know, we're not alone. On your island, there's other SLPs. And people we can network and work with to improve all of our skills. That and also trying to get that interstate compact here in Hawaii, with people coming and going, being able to get licensing a little bit faster, will hopefully allow us to provide services to the community in a more timely manner.
Jeanette Benigas 12:02
So has Hawaii not joined it yet? Is it on the legislation? Or has it
Kristina Fuentes 12:07
not yet we had a bill last last legislative year. And I attended all of the hearings, and we gave testimony. However, there was some concern by the state board about some of the things in that bill. And so we've met with them. And we've tried to alleviate some of those concerns. But as I understand the legislator who introduced it last year, is waiting until the medical compact kind of work some things out. So we're working on contacting legislators now to introduce again this year. And hopefully we get that and if not, that is our main goal for getting it at least in onto the calendar for next year.
Jeanette Benigas 12:54
Okay, so that leads nicely into my next question. How does your association set the agenda for the next year or from year to year? How do you decide what your priorities are going to be?
Kristina Fuentes 13:08
Um, yeah, so we do our strategic planning meeting, right, every three years, where we kind of go through what we're proud of some of the opportunities that, you know, we can probably grow in, and then really our aspirations, what is it that we really do want to accomplish, and that's over the three years. So each year, when we have, you know, maybe the change of the new board, we have a transition meeting, and we each board chair, fills out kind of their goals and objectives for the year. And we try to make it very realistic, what are some of the events or things that you want to try to tackle that you think are really possible to do. And then we discuss it as a board and kind of, you know, go through which events we think are realistic, and and that we can get done for the year.
Jeanette Benigas 14:05
Megan and I are huge fans of people joining their state associations, it's where a lot of advocacy at the state level can get done. We're really encouraging people to think about joining their states. So if someone wants to join your association, what can they expect? As a member of the Hawaii Speech, Language and Hearing Association?
Kristina Fuentes 14:27
That's a great question. I think our members always have that same question. And you know, a lot of people are kind of what do I get out of it? We are doing much better at providing CPUs and really at a nice discounted price, and a lot of free opportunities for our SLPs. Again, that networking, working on trying to have more social events between the islands so you know, each island can get to know each other and really creating a member space But mostly what I can promise you guys are going to get is a dedicated board that is going to work on, you know these actions and goals for our profession. Sometimes we need a little bit more help and even just ideas of things that are going on in the community that we can be involved in. But I know for sure that the board will do every effort that we can do for the things that the membership wants.
Jeanette Benigas 15:29
And how can clinicians best communicate their ideas and their concerns to the association? And then once those are received, how does the association handle that? Sure.
Kristina Fuentes 15:41
So we have a contact us on our website, it's just h sha.org. But the easiest way really will just be to email us at info@hsh.org. That email comes to one spot, and we have a designated person who kind of watches that email. Right now it's me, so I'll receive your email and then send it over to the correct board member that kind of assist with that. And then it goes on to the agenda for the board meeting, if it's anything that needs to be discussed about working on on resolving so can't fix all problems and concerns, but we'll certainly address it and we'll discuss it and in a board meeting
Jeanette Benigas 16:27
where when clinicians go to apply to your state association or join, what do they need to do? How much is it tell us all about that
Kristina Fuentes 16:36
door, we have a new website@pasha.org. So H S H a.org. And you can find the links to register and become a member on the homepage on the Join Us page. Wherever you go. There's usually a LinkedIn ID. So you can register on the website, we have two types of membership. They are both $50 to join for the full calendar year starting in January. So January to December, our professional membership are going to be the state are SLPs. And those who practice in our field as well as clinical fellows who have their master's degree at that point. And then our associate membership can be anybody in allied fields that what are interested in our benefits, and students would register as an associate membership as they're working towards their bachelor's degree. Right now is the registration is open for 2024. So you can register now and it will apply to 2024. And keep you through the year and read. Our registration is open all year. So at any point in the year you can join to become a member and get all of our great benefits, especially with our convention coming in April.
Jeanette Benigas 17:59
Great. Thanks, Christina.
Thank you anything else you
wanted to say before we sign off? Well,
Kristina Fuentes 18:07
I guess she just reminded me now our convention will be April 4. And fifth, we have just sent out the Save the date, we've just confirmed some speakers for that. We do have Katie Arnold from meaningful speech who will be talking about the Gestalt language processing and natural language acquisition, which has been a hot topic for us the last few years, as well as Rachel Medill from talking with that, who's going to be giving some speeches on AAC. But this year is going to be our first year back to an in person convention. So because of the pandemic, we've been virtual for so long. And obviously we have to take a plane to get to different islands. Sometimes that virtual convention is really helpful for our members. But it will be in person which is super exciting. And we welcome anybody who wants to come visit Hawaii, maybe a little excuse to jump over for convention.
Jeanette Benigas 19:02
I mean, maybe fix SLP should come do a talk. So we have let's
Kristina Fuentes 19:06
talk off air.
Jeanette Benigas 19:10
All right, Christina. Well, thank you again, so much for being brave enough to do this with us as the first state we so appreciate you. Everybody, check our show notes, you can go to fix slp.com and quick click links will have everything that Christina mentioned there in terms of the website and the social handles. So please, please think about joining your state association for 2024. Go to the bumble channel. Join your state there so you can start talking about advocacy issues, and communicate those with your membership association. So we will see you all for the next bonus episode and thanks for fixing it.
Kristina Fuentes 19:52
Aloha