A Season of Advovacy and Thanks

In this special Thanksgiving episode, Dr. Jeanette Benigas, SLP, and Preston Lewis, MS/SLP, discuss the latest updates from the Fix SLP movement, including a marathon trip to Delaware to advocate for fair licensure practices. They also discuss the importance of showing up for state boards, the ongoing fight against restrictive CCC requirements, and how Fix SLP fixers are making a real impact.

This episode also features heartfelt messages from Fearless Fixers sharing what they’re thankful for in the field of SLP. From patient victories to professional growth, it reminds us why we do what we do.

Tune in for advocacy insights, gratitude, and inspiration. Together, we don’t wait for change; we make it.

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Creators & Guests

Host

Jeanette Benigas, PhD, SLP

Host of Fix SLP

Host

Preston Lewis, MS, SLP

Co-host of Fix SLP

What is Fix SLP?

Fix SLP is grassroots advocacy firm here to challenge the status quo in speech-language pathology by driving real change—from insurance regulations to removing barriers to full autonomy like the CCC. This podcast is your space to learn, engage and take action in the field of SLP. We don’t wait for change, we make it. So let’s fix SLP!
Hosted by Jeanette Benigas, PhD, SLP

Jeanette Benigas 0:00
Hey, fixers. I'm Dr Jeanette Benigas, the owner of fix SLP, a grassroots advocacy firm here to challenge the status quo in speech language pathology by driving real change from insurance regulations to removing barriers that prevent full autonomy like the CCC, this podcast is your space to learn, engage and take action in the field of speech language pathology. We don't wait for change. We make it so let's fix SLP.

Preston Lewis 0:46
Jeanette, it's another week in the fixerville. Here we are, and you hit the road this week. Oh my gosh. I drove 13 hours for a 45 minute meeting with no guarantee that that meeting would happen, because you got, like, an hour out the door and you say, what if they don't have a quorum? Yeah. Do you want to explain to people real quick what a quorum is? Yeah. So a quorum at a publicly held meeting, and some of you may know this, you have to have a for the bylaws, or perhaps with governance, you have to have a certain number of members of a board that are present in order to have a meeting. So if we'll say, for hypothetical sense, let's say you have eight members on a board. If you don't have at least probably five people there, then you can't have a meeting because it's not well represented. And in the case of the Delaware speech therapy licensing board, it has happened before. And no offense, this does happen where they have not had a significant number of the minimum quorum of members. They didn't have a meeting that month. And that does happen, they've had to shift meetings to a different month. So Jeanette gets in the car. She heads, what 12? It was a 12 hour round trip. I think at least maybe 13 it was, it was five hours and 58 minutes to get there. But when I left, I took rush hour in several states, it was a long drive home. So this is, you know, it was insanely far for me, but yeah, there's no guarantee. So I appeared via zoom. Jeanette was there on what about two hours of sleep? And it was a good meeting. Actually, the most impressive thing that was so heartwarming Jeanette was that we are now, and we went into the meeting with 35 Delaware SLPs signing our letter to the board, indicating the questions that we have concerning their licensure change. And we had, I think at least four SLPs show up at the meeting. We had an audiologist come out and speak for us. And so there was an excellent representation at the meeting of people that wanted to ask questions of this board. And we were glad to be there, and it was the board had very little to say, but wow, did our fixers really show up in a big way and ask the questions which were needed.

Jeanette Benigas 2:58
The exact words I said to you were, "Our fixer babies are all grown up." They did so well. I was a bit annoyed because, you know, they were following procedure. And we submitted that letter with our signatures, but also with the 35 other signatures, and the Board did not recognize the 35 people who signed that letter. They just said that you and I submitted the letter when clearly it was 20 pages long. We had lists of people who emailed us. We had physical signatures that were sent in, you know, it if they missed pages, you know, five through 18. So when it was time for the public comment, which was the purpose, part of the purpose of this meeting was public comment on their proposed changes, they gave me the floor first, which I was surprised, and I had to kind of go back and forth with the lawyer running that meeting. And I said, I don't want to go first. Basically, that's not how I said it. I was a little more professional, but what I said was, let's give the floor to your licensed SLPs in your state, it is most important to hear from them. I'm here as a representative of the firm, helping them to advocate, but they're the ones you need to hear from. They're the ones who have something to say. And she did not like that. I almost felt like she it almost felt like I was shut down, like I like I was get passing on being allowed to talk, and I made sure that didn't happen, but I felt like she just sort of dismissed me.

Preston Lewis 4:48
Well, it the whole the start of the meeting was clunky, because this lady that we're speaking of, it's a peculiar meeting. How they run them, because normally the board president is kind of the part. Person who directs the meeting, and they have one that she does do a lot of the talking. However, there's a lot of deferring to what is staff, if you will. And this particular person, I'll go ahead and just use our first name, Eileen. Eileen is the one of the assistant attorney generals for the state of Delaware, and she kind of takes the lead on a lot of the meeting as the stars, the flow and the procedure, which is a little skew, but, you know, that's how they do it. And she started off in the beginning, saying, I want to welcome and introduce. I'm very happy to introduce. And then her video froze,

Jeanette Benigas 5:34
which is amazing, perfect timing.

Preston Lewis 5:36
It was, it was kind of interesting. So she froze for, I'd say, a good solid 60 seconds, and then came back, and as happens on Zoom, she wasn't aware of what was heard and was wasn't heard. And the whole meeting, we had an ASHA eavesdropper, since they, I guess, weren't officially introduced. And Jeanette, I'll let you speak a little bit about that.

Jeanette Benigas 5:57
Yeah, we were aware. We we might miss some things, but we don't miss everything. And there were a lot of people in that meeting. It was my assumption that this was the first time they've ever had that many people in a meeting, because they were a bit beside themselves with attendance and all the things. So there we were paying attention to who was in that meeting. And it turned out there was a representative from Asha there. And we wondered, that particular representative has some involvement in the interstate compact, and the interstate compact was on the agenda, so I wondered if maybe that person was going to speak then, but that person did not speak at all. That person was the director of state legislative and regulatory affairs, and so that job description, it says responsible for advancing the public policy objectives of Asha by representing the association in all phases of state legislative and regulatory advocacy on state licensing and certification. So that person was there and again, didn't say anything, but it brought up a lot of questions for me. I wondered if that person would have said something if we weren't there, if our representation wasn't there, we can we can only speculate why. Why were they there? The only thing I can think of, unless you have a different spin on this or take on this Preston, is that they were there for two reasons. One, we know that Asha always comments publicly. They will submit a public comment to Delaware on this issue, and we will be watching very closely, because those have to be published. We need to see what that said. We did the same thing in Michigan with Medicaid. We're going to monitor that, because the minute it crosses into lobbying or advocating to their benefit. We have a problem, right? So my guess is she was there to monitor the discussion. They always submit those letters in the final hour. They always attempt to have the last say. So that letter will go in at 455 Eastern Standard Time, five minutes before close of business on December. What was the date? Preston 14th, or whatever day like the 14th? Yeah, yeah, it'll go in at the final hour. So probably she was there to see what was said so that they could spin their version to their benefit, to somehow carefully and craftfully sway the board in the direction of their benefit. They want to hear what was said. They want to write that letter.

Preston Lewis 9:17
I can already see it now.

Jeanette Benigas 9:18
to quote "clarify"

Preston Lewis 9:19
gold standard. I've got a golden ticket, and yet, currently with Delaware regulatory laws that exist, they require more CEUs, so silver and gold, eh?

Jeanette Benigas 9:32
So I'm I'm sure that person was there for that to monitor what was going on, but probably also to speak up in the event that misinformation was shared, which I didn't hear any misinformation shared, so I don't know, spoke up. Yeah, what do you what do you think, Preston, why do you think that person was there?

Preston Lewis 9:53
I think you're more over correct. There will be a communication that's issued they want to be done. On the conversation, that's fair. I'm more curious about how they what brought them there, how they showed up. Was this organic? Is this something they just kind of showed up and they were, you know, they were bored on a Tuesday. Was it that they're following fixed? SLP, if they are, hi, nice to hear from you. Or were they, you know, solicited by perhaps somebody in Delaware. And I have no problem that that's the case, but it is. It's always interesting. It's like, what are what do you bring to this conversation? Besides that same mealy mouth letter that this is the gold standard and it just stands for so much, and we've, you know, done all these things for our field, please judge us by our intentions and not by our lack of results. For the last quarter century, I you know, it'd be fun to see it. It always frustrates me. It reminded me of those days when I was in city government and we would have these school board charter hearings, and one district would send its army of lawyers into a meeting and sit there and talk down on something else and tell you why this is awful. You should do this. And I always think, wow, our association is paying a very high priced attorney. I'm sure you know this person's likely salary, but nevertheless, attorneys aren't cheap, and their hours are accountable. So rather than spend that in a way in which is addressing reimbursements rather than, you know, addressing possibly some of the working conditions that we're seeing and actually, you know, taking stands on caseload caps or bad actors in our field. No, we actually spent some time sending an attorney to a meeting to promote the CCC, more or less, I think, or at least protect it and monitor it, and so we'll wait for the statement. I think you and I both know like what they what that'll look like.

Jeanette Benigas 11:49
And to be clear, this is not a membership issue. This is a CCC issue. This person was not in that meeting because of Asha membership. They were in this meeting because of the CCC. So this is how CCC dollars are being spent. So you being forced to buy that. CCC sent this lawyer to Delaware. That's what paid for this lawyer to be in Delaware. You paid for that? Yeah, and it feels like a big conflict of interest to me. So I did put out a reel. But you know, not everybody consumes our content in the same way. Asha stands to gain a lot of money if this proposal is enacted, in the version we have currently read, that the CCC will be required, and probably required ongoing if they enact it as stated, what does that do for Asha that does a lot, because 1000 SLPs every year will be required to buy the CCC that keeps their ledger funded. So they have a vested interest in making sure that this happens, and they have to be very careful again about what they say and do, because I'm sure they'd love to scream from the mountaintops, yes, do this. It's that gold standard, but they can't, because they have some FTC laws they have to follow. So I don't think they should have been there at all. They should not have been there at all. Not one word that they would say in that meeting where, like, there's they couldn't contribute to this conversation. Legally, they can't contribute to this conversation other than to give a very neutral letter. They shouldn't have been there in my real I said you should have sat this one out. Take the bench. Asha, take the bench. Towel off. It's our turn.

Preston Lewis 13:55
So Jeanette to circle back to Delaware. The case was made beautifully by the fixers that we had there. They will deliberate for, I suppose, another month and a half come back in January, they indicated they will respond to the points that were brought up in the meeting and in the correspondence. If you're out there, we still would love to have signatures from Delaware SLPs to add to it. I know we've added one or two since the meeting a couple of days ago, so I think that there was no feedback from the board Jeanette, but it's clear that we've made those points. They are listening. What we're hoping for, in a best case scenario is that they pause, go back to The Delaware assembly next year and ask for something a little bit different than what they've got. Is that going to happen? We have no idea, but I am very, very proud that in I mean, this issue's only been on our plate now for about 50 days, Jeanette, and in that short amount of time for an organization that's barely over a little over a year old, we mounted seemingly about 4% of the SLPs in Delaware on this issue, and even got on all the. Colleges to join us the other day as well in the meeting and give some excellent thoughts. So wow, I think it's a fantastic response. And it was a proud moment for fix. SLP.

Jeanette Benigas 15:11
Yeah. I really was proud. I was happy to make that drive to be there in person and witness all of that. We'll keep taking your your signatures through December 11. So if you'd like to send those over, you can go to www dot fix. Slp.com, there is a bar at the top of the page that says something to the effect of take action in Delaware. Now I have source documentation. I have everything you need to look at a copy of our letter. What to do if you just want to sign electronically, it's simply just sending us your name. Or if you think you can print it out and take it to work and get a couple signatures there, we'd love to have that. Or even the other day, somebody printed it out and signed it and then sent it back to us because she wanted us to have her physical signature so you can just follow all of those instructions there. We'd love to submit some more on your behalf, and we just need that by the 11th one related statement. Preston doesn't even know this is coming. I had a very, very, very productive conversation with the executive director of the Ohio speech language and hearing board yesterday. Mr. Thornton is a wonderful man who has spoken to me both on the phone and in person multiple times since fixed SLP started. I just really respect him and his insights and the things that he has to say, even when I don't ask for those things. So I called him to get clarification. One of the points that we made to Delaware was, you have it an inequity issue here. It is not equitable to require the SLPs in your state to have the CCC when every other SLP in a state that has signed into the interstate compact can practice in your state without the CCC, we put that in our letter. I said it verbally in the meeting, and then afterwards, I tried to engage with their SLP compact rep, just to make sure that my statement was correct, she was not willing to engage with me, so I just said, That's okay. I'll just call the guy in my state so that again, that's what I did, and he was wonderful. And he he and I spoke about it for a little while, and he said, I think you're correct, because in Ohio, we don't have to have the C's. He said, I'm not part of that committee, but everything I've read and everything that I've looked over would indicate that you can, in fact, go to Delaware to practice without your C's, even if they require it. And after we got off the phone, we agreed he would only respond back if he found something otherwise. But he still did respond back and emailed and said, Hey, what we discussed was correct. So two things here that I've learned from that conversation. One, we know we I already knew this, but again, confirmed over and over and over again, the CCC is not part of the interstate compact. It is not written into any any rule. It is not part of the regulation that the state has to adopt. It's not part of that. It will not be a part of it. It cannot be a part of it. And if there is a sniff of it being a part of it at all, it is supposed to be reported. And so we have that avenue. I've been on a team that's been sitting in those meetings for a couple years now. They are closely monitoring that situation. So that's thing number one.

Preston Lewis 18:51
Yeah, and I just wanted to jump in there. That's not accidental either. And that's the message that I would like to convey, not only to the audience, but also back or we're trying to convey to Delaware, is that the reason the compact was written that way to define our profession based on Master's degree, clinical practicum, examination, those things that exist in pretty much about 4748 and a half states right now, is What defines the field. So it would have been illogical for the compact to have done like Delaware is thinking of doing, which is to lean fully into this certificate they understand what defines the SLP. And so if you believe in the compact, if you think, Wow, this is a great thing, and it really is for opening up that ability for SLPs to provide care across all 50 states, especially in the technological era, then that's the example. Those are the goals. This is what does it don't go into the darkness Delaware. Don't go back to a pre 1984 footing. And that's why those things exist. So look to the con. Act of anything as your guide, sorry to jump into Jeanette.

Jeanette Benigas 20:03
That's okay. The other thing, I think this is the most important thing that I got from Mr. Thornton yesterday. He was really interested in what was happening in Delaware. He had no idea. Obviously, states aren't following what's going on, which was one of my dreams for med, SLP advocate was, which is now has become fixed. SLP for all but a place for information to blow through so states know what's happening in other states. When we first approached Delaware, we let them know. Hey, no other states do this. They were shocked. They didn't know. And so yesterday, on the phone, he was very surprised to hear that this was going on, and he clearly understood the implications of this, but also understood why a state board exists, why a state licensing board exists, why Asha should not be wrapped up in any of those things whatsoever. And what he said to me was, it's clear to me they must not have a lobbyist monitoring what's going on in their state Congress. He said because a lobbyist would have alerted them immediately to this bill that was passed before a fixed SLP ever came on the scene. And I said, Well, you know, I'm pretty sure the state board supported this. They wanted this to happen. I don't think they had the information that they needed to know that this wasn't the right thing, but a lobbyist should have known that. A lobbyist should have seen why this would have been a problem. So we don't know who. We don't know the exact involvement of the state board when this was put forward. But two things came out of this conversation. Number one, if you are not attending your state board meetings, and you can get there. It is clear to Preston and I, after sitting in a couple of these things, that we need to have representation in every state board across this nation, every time they meet, because it's not these boards are doing anything nefarious. These are good people volunteering their time to protect consumers, to help define what a speech language pathologist is, audiologist, hearing aid dispenser in our states, we need these boards. We need their advocacy. We need their rule rulemaking. We need them. But also, this decision was made because people didn't understand what was the implications of the decision they were making. And so now that we have fixers who are well educated on these topics, as demonstrated by the fixers in that meeting who were so articulate and wonderful, we need you guys in these meetings, listening, monitoring, engaging during public comment, which happens at the end of every meeting like this. If there's something to be said, Say it professionally. This is why 10 of us have come together and have been rotating through the interstate compact meetings for the last two years. And they're always happy to have us there too. They're They're so kind to us and often thank us for being there and very different than what we've experienced in Delaware. But you know, be a part of that process. Get together with a group of your colleagues. You can let us know what's happening. We can help. We can help gather. We have these state teams. We're going to be proposing this to the 20 state teams we should have by the end of the year, but all of you need to be sitting and listening and watching and taking note of what's happening in your state. And what he said was, because the whole point of me saying all of this was now we're hearing from people. I was going to let the CCC go, but what if this happens in my state? This probably, while we can't say this will never happen in your state, the likelihood that it would happen if we are engaging and being mindful and watching, or if we have a guy like Mr. Thornton in your state, who's going to be watching and engaging and being like hell to the no, this ain't happening. It's not going to happen because now we're smarter and we know better. All of this started before this bill was passed. Four days before fix SLP made its very first post. We are living in a different time. The curtain has been lifted. We are all smarter, and the face of our community has changed because of the information we've put out. We can make a difference. It doesn't have to get this far. We can stop this before it. Even starts if we're paying attention. So that's that's my charge to all of you, start paying attention to your state boards. Know what's going on and be a part of the conversation. You don't need us to do it. We can't do it. We need you.

Preston Lewis 25:14
Againm we don't have access to the big databases like Asha does. We don't have the lawyers and the millions of dollars of revenue. But in 50 plus days, we assembled 36 now very spirited SLPs in a small state who just have their eyes open, and we're opening, we're opening the door to a conversation about what licensure is in this state. But if, in 50 something days on a you know, something is bland as a licensure discussed in a discussion at a board. If we can do that in 51 days, what can we do on issues of reimbursement? There's a way you engage at a granular level. And I think this is what we said before at that state level, to really put it right there before the people in our field to just grab it and, you know, wrap your hands around it, hold these people accountable that are on these boards, whether it's private companies on their reimbursement and really just shooting a shot across the bow at them, or reimbursement with Medicaid in your state, there's a way you do it paternalistically, where you just take people's money And you're some you know, dim and distant office that you might go into every once in a while, or you can do it where you engage the grassroots. This shows that it can be a different way, and that's where I wish we could have a conversation. Some of those resources that are out there could be used in a more effective way, but Asha doesn't want to have that conversation. So we will keep on moving forward.

Jeanette Benigas 26:41
Keep on moving forward. This is a good point, good stopping point for us to jump into why we're really here today. This was not our planned content. It's Thanksgiving week, yeah. How do you celebrate? Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? What do you do?

Preston Lewis 27:00
Well, here at the Lewis house, it's always kind of an off and on schedule, because my daughter shares with her mom for different Thanksgiving so I don't have my daughter here this year, and Charla schedule, my wife, she took a job recently with the charter jet company, and they are now starting to operate full steam. We really didn't know what her schedule was going to be until about a day ago, and so it does look like she'll be here on Thanksgiving. I think it's going to be just an intimate dinner between the two of us. My parents are both passed on, so I'm looking forward to just a quiet Thanksgiving, looking at my beautiful wife across the table and really celebrating our first year of marriage and our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife. And that, that, to me, sounds very pleasant, Jeanette.

Jeanette Benigas 27:48
I think you should have her fly you on that charter jet to Ohio and sit across from your personal wife and your fixer wife, and be thankful for both of us, because you gained both of us this year. I That's how that one should go. I You can borrow my daughter.

Preston Lewis 28:07
I think it's a very lovely idea. However, I will warn you that that charter jet alone would probably be more in the ASHA budget and SLP budget, because getting on that jet is probably an entry level of about $25,000 so...

Jeanette Benigas 28:23
If you leave now, you and drive, you can be here in time.

Preston Lewis 28:26
I could, I could, I could fire up the Preston Express and we could be on our way. So how are you celebrating Thanksgiving, Jeanette?

Jeanette Benigas 28:34
So, it is not a holiday to my husband unless we celebrate it on the day. So when we first got married, we would drive hours upon hours to be with both families on every holiday. And I hated it, and so made it clear, once we started having kids, that that would not happen. So now we split, we go every other. Christmas is the big holiday. So whatever year we're Christmasing with whatever family, the opposite is spent Easter and Thanksgiving is spent with the other family. So we will be traveling about an hour and a half to my husband's family home that he grew up in, where I will be bringing my own pumpkin pie, because my mother in law makes this weird sweet potato thing the

Preston Lewis 29:30
Careful. She lisen?

Jeanette Benigas 29:32
She knows I love her. She knows I'm gonna tease her about it every time. Because the first year I was ever there, I I love pumpkin pie. Okay, I took a big bite of that thing, and I was like, this isn't pumpkin pie, but his whole family, they love it. It's their tradition, but I gotta bring my own, so we'll be going there. It's always great. I have a new sister in law. We're all sister in laws. My husband has all brothers, and I have a brother who's not married. So. I've got sister in laws and a niece and nephew on that side, and we'll go enjoy his family. I get along famously with all of them and enjoy their company. My daughter, came, I love this little story. My daughter came home from school yesterday. They had their Thanksgiving dinner at lunch, and they my kids were both thrilled that they offered gravy, which apparently they don't ever do at school, but also their mother never does it, because I do not like gravy. Don't come at me with that. Anyway, my kids were thrilled that there was gravy, and my daughter discovered that if you mix your corn with your mashed potatoes and a little bit of butter, it is delicious. And she said that the other kids were making fun of her, but she just thought it was so good. And I said, You know what said? Who got that from your mama? Because you're right. Mashed potatoes, butter and corn, is how you should eat that on Thanksgiving, it's how I do it. Every year, she learned it without me even teaching it to her. I've passed on, I've passed on something really good

Preston Lewis 31:09
Sounds wonderful. I think we're both thankful for a lot this year.

Jeanette Benigas 31:13
Yeah. Yeah. And I thought about that, we're gonna we haven't listened to the submissions, but we asked people to call in to say what they were thankful for at work, or speech related. So we're going to play some of those for you. And I kind of tried to think about what I might want to say that was related to to my job or, you know, to speech. We could probably spend the rest of this episode sort of talking about that, but this isn't about me, but I just want to say my job has changed a lot over the last year. You know, I a year ago, I was still a college professor. I was doing my mobile fees business very minimally, almost more of it's a hobby because I enjoy it. But obviously my job has changed, so I'm really thankful if we're going to take this from when I left academia and really jumped into growing my business and then giving more to fix SLP, I'm really thankful for the impact fixed SLP has had, I think, in advocating for positive change within the field. I clearly, I'm really passionate about it. It's I drove 13 hours the other day just for funsies, you know. So I haven't had this kind of passion and fire in me in a long time. So it feels really good to kind of be, I guess, getting myself back, and so I'm thankful for the opportunity that all of you are allowing me to help guide this. Because truly this, this isn't me this, this is just me giving some skills that I have to really help a bigger cause. I guess it's fun to watch the impact we're having. I'm thankful for this growing community of fearless fixers that believe in our mission, who are working alongside of us, for the people in the team who are amazing and who are doing the same thing. Yeah, I'm thankful for that, and then for my fees business. I'm making meaningful changes there too, the opportunity to share my knowledge through that with the local clinicians who are around me the continuing education course that certainly I teach a lot of those for a lot of different companies, but to do it myself this year with my colleague Tim Stockdale was amazing. And I'm I'm so I'm thankful that I was able to do that and that people actually registered and came. Because you never know when you do that those kinds of things if it's going to be well received, and it was, and then I'm really thankful, personally for the result resilience that I have. I've always known, especially since my dad got sick and passed, that I have a lot of perseverance and endurance in me and to leave a role as a full professor, which is the top I was a full professor. There's no promotion after that, to leave that, to do things I truly believe in, both unpaid and then leaving a salary job and just kind of having this vision and and being able to do that, I'm just really thankful for the opportunities that this community is allowing me to have, and that people keep calling me for fees, because that's what's paying our mortgage. I'm getting just enough of those studies to be able to do that, and US squeak by for me to give my time to this. So I I'm thankful for that, and I'm I'm really hopeful that it just continues. You know that next Thanksgiving, there'll be even more to be thankful for. So how about you, Preston?

Preston Lewis 34:49
Wow. Well, I'm thankful for our colleagues that I work with, not just at fixed SLP, but I'm thinking about in my day to day job, a lot of the nurses that are out there, OTs PTS that i. Work with and their contributions. It's amazing. There is a there's an individual respect in our community that you earn with those colleagues that you work with. And then there's always that mysticism that I see sometimes about what an SLP does, which is sometimes maddening to me, after all the millions of dollars that are spent, sometimes we're still just trying to find our voice, and I think that's sometimes because we haven't, you know, clearly defined ourselves beyond a certificate. But anyway, I won't preach on that any longer. I'm also very thankful for this movement and for you and the friends that I've made. I make no secret being an SLP to me is it's very rewarding. It's a job I love. It does impact the patients in a positive way. It spoke to me at a time in life because I had a lot of family with dementia. I grew up very young age in a nursing home environment, working with people that needed to find their voice or be more safe in a certain environment. But I did back into this field in a way, because I have a former broadcaster. As some of you may know, I have resented politics. And there's a saying in politics Jeanette that one of the things somebody misses the most once they leave is that the phone stops ringing. And that's very true. I used to, you know, just get really charged about having a little old lady down the street call me because she couldn't get her trash can out to the curb, and she wanted to know if we could do a waiver on a handicap basis to have them come up to her doorstep and get our trash bin and move it out to the street. And you know, little things like that meant a lot. And so now sometimes those emails that show up, or those questions or the text just asking, Hey, this is going on in my state. Can you do anything about it? I'm even reminded recently about, we've had Tiffany on the podcast before about the whistleblowers that are out there, and part of some groups there, where I hear just horrible things that are going on out in the field. And I'm able to maybe lend a voice here or there and some advice. And so I think early on, when I entered this profession, I wanted to provide that in a certain way, but I didn't plug into that academia scheme at all. I didn't, I wasn't the guy that was going to be at ASHA and, you know, with the cutesy little chart and, you know, making a presentation that's, that's not how I operate. It's a little different. And so finding a way to be a voice for people to, you know, try to find a way to lend a hand. I'm thankful for that. It's sometimes our day to day jobs can get a little monotonous. A lot of us, when we get to this age, I'm 43 start looking at different opportunities that are out there beyond the profession. This is a good way to still be involved and to renew, I think, the passion that I have that brought me into this field and still feel like I'm contributing beyond just the initial or the immediate patience that I have, which I dearly love, but this adds something a little extra, and I'm very thankful for that.

Jeanette Benigas 37:50
Yeah. I... I resent you making fun of my poster presentations at ASHA.

Preston Lewis 37:56
I think everybody's different, but that just wasn't me. And when I would do these things and turn in posters in college. I just get skewered. And some of those mean old bitties that taught up there were just, you know, I'm sorry. They just were like, you know, you don't do it like everybody else. I'm like, I'm not like everybody else. And it was just, it was maddening. I don't fit into the mold of the ASHA fanboy fan girl, you know, so sue me, I'm different. Find a way to utilize me in a certain way. And they were just mean. A bunch of mean old people.

Jeanette Benigas 38:24
I always laugh. I laugh when I think about this. Hey, Ben. Hey. Ben. Was one of my students when I was teaching remotely in Indiana, and I think it was probably the last day of the semester or or something, and, and he said, "no offense, Dr Benigas, but you're not like any other professor we've ever had." And I don't know- it went through my mind at the time. I don't know if this is a compliment or like a dig, but I took it as a compliment, because I don't fit the mold either. I never did, I never will. So it is really cool to have found a place to belong. So we've got some messages from what other people are thankful for. I'm going to play this first one. It only says it's six seconds long. So this might have been a mistake, but let's, let's hear what it is.

Minivan Meltdown 39:16
I don't cry in my car. I listen to fixed SOP podcasts on YouTube.

Jeanette Benigas 39:21
Okay, the saint that she was thankful for that let's just jump right into another one

Minivan Meltdown 39:31
Fix. SLP. Wow. Less than what, two years ago now, that name wouldn't have been recognized, and we would have just been in December, paying our Asha dues like we were, and complaining about it and crying on Facebook and posts and in our cars and to everybody who would listen about how we dislike this organization, Asha, but don't have anything to do about it. And. In comes fix SLP about a year ago, a little over a year ago, and it changed many SLPs lives for the better, and it continues to do so. Advocacy is one of the biggest things that we can have, and knowledge and understanding is what fuels advocacy. And so fix SLP is doing all the right things by providing information and education and guidance on what the CCC is, what certificates are, you know what things we are required to have. So fix SLP has provided the resources that these SLPs need out in the community to make decisions for themselves that Asha is willfully not providing and purposefully being deceitful about I really am appreciative about the honesty and the openness that fix SLP has, that they have come out to share the knowledge and be open and present with us as a group and as a new organization, and I am thankful For all the work that everybody has put in. Jeanette Preston, absolutely everybody are also SLP, is also living and working through these same conditions that everybody else is, and really doing some wonderful work. So I just want to say thank you again. We appreciate you very much, and please never stop doing what you're doing.

Jeanette Benigas 41:23
That was sweet.

Preston Lewis 41:25
Yeah, thank you.

Jeanette Benigas 41:26
All right, here's another one.

Minivan Meltdown 41:30
I'm really thankful for the opportunity that this profession has given me to work with children and help them find their voice and share their joys just being with them in the moment when you really can make an impact and see that change in their eyes is such a gift, and it's a reward that you get from doing this profession that not a lot of jobs in the world offer. So I'm extremely thankful for that. And my name is Karen Jacobson, and I wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving.

Jeanette Benigas 42:08
Great that makes me so happy. Thank you, Karen. That's, I think this is one of the reasons why we wanted to do this topic today, is it feels like a time of year professionally, when there kind of is a lot of like, grumbling and gloom and doom and we're all unhappy, but this is why we do this. This is why we're SLPs, exactly what Karen just said. And so it's, it's good to remember those things and be thankful for the opportunities to be like,

Preston Lewis 42:37
Yeah, and I have a lot of fond memories around the holidays for some of my patients over the years, I'm sure you were the same dysphagia patients that you know previously would not have been able to enjoy the meal that's up and coming, also being able to communicate with loved ones more effectively at the table. So it's a it's a good time of year. I know we're stressed out, but to think about how we left our patients going into the holidays, it's it's very commendable. It shows a big part of what we do.

Jeanette Benigas 43:04
Yeah, here's another one.

Minivan Meltdown 43:09
I'm thankful that three and a half years ago, I had the courage to leave my full time job as an acute care SLP and start my private practice as a mobile feast provider. As a result of my fate, my business expanded to provide contractual services to schools, skilled nursing facilities and rural hospitals. I now employ nine clinicians. This field has provided me with the opportunity to pursue entrepreneurship, specialize in areas that I am passionate about, and autonomy to operate my business with superior work ethics. SLP, entrepreneurship has truly allowed me the opportunity to be the type of employer that I would have wanted to work for. I advocate for school case load caps, realistic work expectations and fair market wages.

Jeanette Benigas 43:57
Wow, that's what it's about right there.

Preston Lewis 44:01
running with it, and

Jeanette Benigas 44:03
9 clinicians too.

Preston Lewis 44:04
And for the folks out there that do fees like you, Jeanette, thank you so much, because I don't know if I've ever told you this really one of the best speech therapists in terms of clinical skills that I have ever known in Arkansas was providing fees 10 years ago, and she was just running into all kinds of barriers with being able to provide that service. And I don't know if she's still doing that to this day. I know she's taken kind of a non clinical job, and that is such a that just hurts my soul, because I know how great she is at everything she does. I hope she's still providing fees. But it's the folks like you and this submission here that just show we've got to keep pushing it forward, because it's better for our patients and it's better for our field.

Jeanette Benigas 44:52
Yeah, wow, these it's it's tough. Mobile fees is tough, especially now there's a nationwide provider who has bought out a. Lot of independent folks and really dropped the cost, and is making it difficult for people like me to stay afloat. So good for her, yeah. Well, Preston, we spent a lot of time discussing Delaware. We had men for this to be a much shorter episode, so I think that's maybe where we'll wrap up.

Preston Lewis 45:19
It's it's been a great year so far. We're going to continue into December, and we will keep telling the story. It it changes every day. There's new things that are out there. There are new victories. Sometimes they're big, sometimes they're small, but it's never seems to stop. And we really appreciate the opportunity to continue to reach out.

Jeanette Benigas 45:39
Yeah, happy Thanksgiving. If you celebrate everybody, we are so thankful for all of our listeners, for all of our followers who engage and share and comment and who are part of the conversation, to our sustaining partners who make things like trips to Delaware possible, who make movements like petitions happen we could not be doing this without you. So thank you to all of you, and we'll we'll see you next week. Thanks for fixing it.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai