The Insider: February 2008

VOL. 4 NUMBER 1 : January-February 2008

Happy New Year! 2008 promises to be one of the most exciting years in T2K history. Here are two key reasons why:

RETENTION AND RECRUITING: OUR FAMILY IS GROW-ING…

The division structure we’ve set in place will pay off in 2008, yield-ing the highest rate of

employee retention we’ve ever experienced. Our em-ployees, both in the field and in the office, will receive personalized, high-quality supervision and support. There will be more opportunity for personal growth and de-velopment than ever before. This will increase staff satis-faction and company morale.

In regards to recruiting, Alex, Becky, Leslie and Wayne — need I say more? As you’re reading this, your T2K HR department is engaged in an enormous amount of strategic planning. Initiatives for 2008 include employee referral, college recruitment, using the branch offices for community-based recruiting, direct mail, e-mail and pos-sibly even a billboard campaign. We’ll announce many of our new plans — with just the right amount of drama of course — during the 2008 State of the Agency (April 11). THERAPY 2000 employs 170 wonderful individuals today. I predict that we’ll grow to 200 active employees at the end of 2008.

THE T2K FOUNDATION

A number of T2K employees have expressed a desire to “give back” to the community we serve. Some of you have offered to volunteer your time to help set up a non-profit foundation, which will enable us to help fami-lies in need in to a larger degree than we’ve done pre-

viously. Let’s make it happen in 2008! I’ve directed our legal counsel to set up a separate corporate entity. We’ll fund it with payroll deductions, fundraising, and our vol-unteerism. By the way, I’ve already set a fundraising goal for the first year : If we all donate as little as 1 to 2 percent of our wages for the second half of the year, we’ll raise $50,000 in 2008. Stay tuned for information about this exciting new initiative!

Thank you for making 2007 a wonderful year for THERAPY 2000. I look forward to many exciting expe-riences with all of you throughout 2008.

OT REPORT: Field Work Awards• 2HR REPORT: Meet Alex Padilla • 3PT REPORT: Car Seats Are For Kids• 4SW REPORT: Thanks For Your Generosity• 5Upcoming Events • 5ST REPORT: Childhood Apraxia Of Speech• 6BUSINESS REPORT: Integrated Care Mgt• 7Holiday Party Highlights • 7Insights: Thanks!• 8CRR: Thank You For the Inspiration• 9More Holiday Party PIctures• 10Wow Corner: Hiram Trillo • 11Family Update 12•

Inside This Issue:

THE INSIdE EdITIONfrom the Administrator, Jerre van den Bent, PT

March for Respect will take place Saturday, March 29 at the West End in downtown Dallas.

Save the date!

The Represen-tative Assem-bly (RA) met online from Oct. 23 to Nov. 7, 2007 to make deci-sions regarding fieldwork, as well as other topics. The RA is one of the major bodies under AOTA. The RA is held accountable

for creating AOTA policy regarding public issues, legislation, internal association affairs, accreditation, education, professional standards, and budget ap-proval. Three commissions, termed Standards & Ethics, Education, and Practice, report to the RA to accomplish the above goals. The undertakings of these commissions are managed by the Special Interest Section Standing Committee to confirm collaboration among joint committee tasks.

During the October 2007 meeting, the RA voted against creating a national award for fieldwork ed-ucators/sites at this time, but tasked the Commis-sion on Practice (COP) to develop award criteria for fieldwork educators and sites. Likewise, the Commission on Education (COE) has been previ-ously charged to establish a proposal for fieldwork educator credentialing. Given that occupational therapy education is variable across schools and geographical regions, a measure passed for the cre-ation of state and facility standards for fieldwork awards criteria.

The viewpoints against a national award indicate fashioning a perception of who’s who among OTs rather than value associated with commendable clinical educators and sites. Another view included the statement that AOTA already possesses awards, the AOTA Recognition of Achievement Award and the Certification of Appreciation, which could be implemented for fieldwork sites/educators. Those in favor of a nationally based award state the im-

portance of promoting fieldwork in efforts to ad-vance the occupational therapy profession.

Currently, the COE guideline is for fieldwork edu-cators to have a minimal of one year experience after the initial NBCOT certification. COE role competencies for fieldwork educators include: knowledge, critical reasoning, interpersonal skills, performance skills, and ethical reasoning.

Clinical fieldwork is the bridge between a theo-retical knowledge basis and hands-on practice. We need, as a profession, to graduate colleagues who exemplify the ideals associated with evidence-based practice, life-long learning, and commitment to the advancement of occupational therapy. THERAPY 2000 has excellent OT practioners with valuable skills to share with new graduates in a setting that offers a diverse diagnostic population across the pediatric age ranges.

Please consider becoming a fieldwork educator as we await state and facility standards.

Works Cited

(FWIC), A. C. (2007, 5 21). Retrieved 12 20, 2007, from AOTA: http://www.aota.org/Educate/EdRes/Fieldwork/LevelII/38247.aspx

Anne E. Dickerson, P. O. (2005). Retrieved 12 20, 2007, from AOTA: http://www.aota.org/Educate/EdRes/COE/COEdocs/Roles/38355.aspx

Brown, E. (2007, 12 10). The 2007 Online RA. Ad-vance for Occupational Therapy Practioners , pp. 12-16.

Reed, K. L., & Sanderson, S. N. (1999). Concepts of Occupational Therapy (4th Edition ed.). New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

OT REPORTBY dANIEllE HARSTON, OTR

FIEld WORK AWARdS

Editorial Staff

Jerre van den Bent, PTEdITOR-IN-CHIEF

Francisco RodriguezCOPY EdITOR

Angel MendozaMANAGING EdITOR

April Clement BUSINESS OFFICE

Kristin Mycke, lMSWCASE MANAGEMENT

Eileen Wade, CCC-SlPEdUCATION

Belinda Williams, OTRINSIGHTS

Wayne Wilson, PHRHUMAN RESOURCES

Jennifer RileyCOMMUNITY RElATIONS

danielle Harston, OTROCCUPATIONAl THERAPY

Ivy Shelmadine, PT, dPTPHYSICAl THERAPY

lee Kellams, MS CCC-SlPSPEECH THERAPY

THERAPY 20002535 lone Star drivedallas, Texas 75212

(214) 467-9787 (877) 626-7003

Fax (214) [email protected]

www.t2000.com

Hi there! My name is Alex Padilla, and I was recently brought on board as an HR Special-ist. I’ve relocated from Austin and I’m learning more about the Metro-plex on a daily basis. As an HR professional, I’ve worked in settings as diverse as a dot-com company, wireless re-tail, business-process outsourcing and most

recently social work services. I look forward to apply-ing my knowledge, skills and abilities to help assist in the growth of THERAPY 2000 and its patients’ satisfaction in every way.

It’s one of my personal goals to help new applicants recognize THERAPY 2000 for the superior workplace it is. All the friendly and dedicated people who make up the THERAPY 2000 family make for an uncommon workplace. There are plenty of places to work in the Metroplex; I believe that THERAPY 2000 is one of the best ones.

I’d like to remind everyone that THERAPY 2000 has an amazing employee referral bonus program — just ask Amy Peterman, who is going on a Caribbean Cruise for winning the employee referral raffle. I challenge all my co-workers to make at least one employee referral in 2008. Let’s make 2008 the year of employee referrals!

Please feel free to contact me at anytime with any ideas, suggestions or thoughts. I appreciate and welcome any feedback. I look forward to the opportunities that lay ahead of us in the new year with unbridled enthusiasm, knowing that as a family we’ll excel at anything we focus our energy on!

You can reach Alex Padilla at extension 214.467.9787 extension 2888 or at [email protected]

HR REPORTBY AlEX PAdIllA

NEWEST HR SPECIAlIST

We thank the 2007 Social Events Committee for all their hard work during last year. We are looking for new members to help us plan the 2008 events like March for Respect, Family day, T2K day and the Holiday Party. If interested call Marisela at 469-533-2915 or at [email protected]

401k TriviaHow much money do you think T2Kers invested in their 401k plans in 2007? Send your answer to [email protected] for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate

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What do you do when your patient has out-grown his or her car seat, but is still unable to sit up independent-ly? Maybe your pa-tient has good trunk control but lacks re-action time/response or has decreased cognition. Most of us should know the general guidelines that rear-facing infant seats should be used from

birth to 1 year or up to 20 lbs. (or until the maximum weight recommended by the manufacturer), and for-ward-facing car seats should be used from at least one year old or heavier than 20 lbs. More specific guidelines state that a child should be in a forward-facing seat until they are 4 years old or weigh 40 lbs. and a booster seat until they are 8 or weigh 80 lbs.

Back to the question: What to do with patients that no longer fit in a car seat? Some families have propped their kids with pillows and used a regular seat belt, while some use just a seat belt or possibly a booster seat and a seat belt. As professionals that work with these kids on a regular basis, we should be an information gateway to everything our patients need, and car seats are no exception. Here are some popular brands that are safe for bigger and taller kids that may have outgrown regular car seats: Britax, Special Tomato for the Car, and Tumble Forms. Your DME provider will also be a good resource for equipment needs and recommend which seat would best benefit your patient.

Texas State Law states that a child must be restrained in a car seat or booster until the age of 5 or is less than 36 inches tall, and the driver of a vehicle is responsible for requiring any child younger than 17 years of age to be secured by a seat belt. Laws vary by state. The Texas

Department of Public Safety has developed a way to determine if your child needs to be in a car seat or a booster seat. Simply follow these directions and ask the following questions:

Place the child in the vehicle seat, sitting all the way back, his or her back straight against the back of the seat, and buckle the lap/shoulder belt.

1. Do the legs bend naturally at the knees over the edge of the seat?

2. Does the lap portion of the belt fit over the top of the thighs?

3. Does the shoulder portion of the belt fit across the center of the chest?

If the answer to any of these three questions is no, the child may be better protected in a booster seat.

Air bags don’t replace child safety seats and can cause serious injury to children. Children younger than 13 years old should never ride in the front seat with active passenger air bags. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from the U.S. Department of Transpor-tation states that all children 12 years old or younger should ride in the back seat. Infants MUST NEVER ride rear facing in front seats where a passenger air bag is present. Rear-facing seats should be reclined 45 degrees, should have harness slots at or below baby’s shoulders and the harness chest clip should be at armpit level.

Need help with car seat installation? Call a Child Passenger Safety Technician at 866-SEATCHECK (866-732-8243) or visit www.seatcheck.org.

Let’s keep all Texas children safe in the car!

Helpful websites:

www.elitecarseats.com

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/CPS/safetycheck/TypeSeats/

www.txdps.state.tx/us

www.seatcheck.org

PT REPORTBY IVY SHElMAdINE, PT, dPT

CAR SEATS ARE FOR KIdS

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I hope January has been the start of an-other great year. For me and the other social workers at THERAPY 2000, 2007 ended with a huge BANG. We had the pleasure of heading up T2K’s very first in-house Christmas Assistance program. In previous years, we have assisted other agencies provide Christmas gifts to their clients. This year, we decided to direct our resources towards our own patients and their families. Boy, was this a busy and exciting endeavor. Due to the generous — and I mean GENEROUS —support of therapists and office staff, we were able to provide great Christmas gifts for

more than 130 patients and their siblings and more than $500 in financial support to two different families experiening financial crisis right before the holidays. I know that we have many more families in need, but it was great to see us come together to help in such a big way. We know that the presents you provided were the only gifts that many of our patients received. Thank you again for your help. We look forward to providing even more assistance in 2008.

I also wanted to introduce your T2K social work team. Many of you al-ready know the social worker in your division, but for everyone else:

Shannon Campbell services the East Division at ext. 2849.

Jennifer Maurer services the North Division at 469-533-2866.

Kristin Mycke helps out where needed and is filling in for the Central divi-sion at 469-533-2889.

All of us will help take West Division referrals.

Your division social worker is a great resource to help you address family support needs, non-compliance issues, Medicaid needs, and behavioral concerns. If one of your families is experiencing one of the above con-cerns your division social worker might be able to work with or direct the family to appropriate community resources for help. Patients expe-riencing an above need that could lead to medical decline can also be referred to our CPW (Children and Pregnant Women) case management program. Referrals can be made directly to the social worker or case manager in your division.

Get to know your division social worker today!

SW REPORTBY KRISTIN MYCKE, lMSW

THANKS FOR YOUR GENEROSITYUpcoming Events

Date: Friday, Feb. 1Event: CPR TrainingTime: 8:30 – 12:30Location: At THERAPY 2000

Date: Friday, Feb. 8.Event: Second FridayOT: Make and Take: Therapy MaterialsPT: CSM in NashvilleST: Cochlear ImplantsTime: OT at 9 a.m. ST at 10 a.m.Location: At THERAPY 2000

Date: Friday, March 14Event: Mandatory TrainingAll Aggresive Behavioral ManagementTime: 9 – 12Location: At THERAPY 2000

Date: Friday, April 4Event: CPR TrainingTime: 8:30 – 12:30Location: At THERAPY 2000

Date: Friday, June 6Event: CPR TrainingTime: 8:30 – 12:30Location: At THERAPY 2000

Date: Friday, Aug. 1Event: CPR TrainingTime: 8:30 – 12:30Location: At THERAPY 2000

Date: Friday, Oct. 3Event: CPR TrainingTime: 8:30 – 12:30Location: At THERAPY 2000

Date: Friday, Dec. 5Event: CPR TrainingTime: 8:30 – 12:30Location: At THERAPY 2000

If you have any events that you would like to see listed here, please e-mail at [email protected] leave a message at 469-533-2911

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What is childhood aprax-ia of speech (CAS)? It doesn’t mean the same to everyone. When 75 speech pathologists were asked to give three defin-ing features of CAS, they gave 50 different charac-teristics.

ASHA has given three features that differentiate CAS from other speech sound disorders:

1. Inconsistent errors on consonants and vowels in repeated productions of syllables and words.

2. Lengthened co-articulatory transitions between sounds and syllables.

3. Inappropriate prosody, especially in the realization of lexical or phrasal stress.

ASHA also defines CAS as a “neurological childhood (pe-diatric) speech sound disorder in which the precision and consistency of movements underlying speech are impaired in the absence of neuromuscular deficits.” It goes on to note that “the core impairment in planning and/or programming spatiotemporal parameters of movement sequences results in errors in speech sound production and prosody.”

Speech is a serial motor task defined by a series of discrete movements, and the order of those motor movements is cru-cial. Children with CAS have an inability to plan and prepro-gram their speech order, meaning that speech goals should target longer speech routines rather than simple repetitive movements.

So where does treatment begin? ASHA states that integral stimulation therapy is a great treatment choice because the intensity and use of techniques align closely with the core CAS deficit in motor planning and programming. It is often considered the “watch me, listen, do as I do” approach and is based on a hierarchical approach using multimodal cues.

The six steps of integral stimulation therapy:

1. The child watches and listens and simultaneously produces the stimulus with the clinician.

2. The clinician models, and the child repeats the stimulus while the clinician simultaneously mouths it.

3. The clinician models and provides cues while the child repeats.

4. The clinician models, and the child repeats with no cues.

5. The clinician elicits the stimulus without a model, and the child responds spontaneously.

6. The child produces the stimuli in less structured situations while the clinician gives encouragement.

This hierarchy is helpful in determining what level of support is needed for the child, but some questions should be an-swered before determining which level the child is at:

1. What does the child bring to the session? Motivation, at-tention, and other language and/or cognitive delays must be addressed.

2. How long and how frequent will the sessions be? Should you repeat the target sound or mix it in with non-target words? Shorter, more frequent sessions are thought to be more effective in transferring of new skills. Repeating the target sound is helpful when first targeting a goal and with short term performance, while motor learning is more easily achieved when random words are mixed in with the target words.

3. What kind of feedback should be provided? The clinician should move from extrinsic feedback to intrinsic feedback and decrease as the accuracy increases.

4. How will speaking rate affect the child? The child should slow his rate to allow for additional time in planning, while the clinician should also use a slower rate as a model.

The overall focus of integral stimulation therapy should be on learning how to make the speech movement rather than success at the isolation or syllable level. Although the initial focus may be on in-session success, it should shift to learning as quickly as possible, and, in order to achieve this learning, extensive practice and introducing hundreds of stimuli each session is encouraged.

Gildersleeve-Neumann, C. (2007, Nov. 6). Treatment for childhood apraxia of speech: A description of integral and stimulation and motor learning. The ASHA Leader, 12(15), 10-13, 30.

ST REPORT BY lEE KEllAMS, MS CCC-SlP

CHIldHOOd APRAXIA OF SPEECH

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As you are all aware, for years we have been treating patients who have supple-mental income from Social Security. In the past, these patients had choices to pick up from when selecting a managed care pro-gram. As of February 1, a new managed care will be introduced as the exclusive SSI man-aged care program in

the Tarrant and Dallas service areas: Integrated Care Man-agement. It is likely that our clients will begin to appear in the ICM system as of March 1.

SSI-eligible clients under the age of 21 will have a choice of ICM or Traditional Medicaid. The only option for clients older than 21 years of age will be ICM, which is provided through the Evercare of Texas health plan. ICM is available to clients in these counties: Dallas, Collin, Ellis, Hunt, Kauf-man, Navarro, Rockwall, Tarrant, Denton, Hood, Johnson, Parker and Wise.

How will this affect you in the field? Clients who are eli-gible for SSI will no longer be under Parkland, Amerigroup, UniCare, Aetna or Cook Children’s Health Plan. We have not received notice from the ICM program about how pre-cert will be obtained. We do know that home PT/OT/ST will require pre-cert, although whether or not a TP2 will be required has not yet been published.

More information will be presented as it is made available.

This is April’s last contribution to this column as she is joining Jennifer as T2K’s Community Relations Representative.

CONGRATULATIONS!

BUSINESS REPORTBY APRIl ClEMENT

INTEGRATEd CARE MANAGEMENT

Holiday Party HighlightsdRAWING RECIPIENTSTHERAPY 2000 celebrated its seventh holiday party at the Bank of America in downtown Dallas, December 15, 2007. More than 250 people at-tended.

The prizes for our drawing were a 42 HD TV won by Areti, SLP; Juan,, North division AOS, won a playstation; The Xbox went to Sherri, SLP; Marcia, PTA, Karen, OT, and Kim, PT, all three received a digital camera each.

Sherri and Kim’s pictures were not available at the time of this publication.

A’donna Corbin received the PT of the Year award. Cynthia Gonzalez, COTA, was named OT of the Year. Tonya Ferguson, West district supervisor, received the ST of the Year award. Rookie of the Year went to Brianne Rich-ardson, CFY.

The Employee of the Year award went to Jennifer Riley, Community Rela-tions director.

Areti Juan

Jennifer

KarenMarcia

AWARdS

A’donna Cynthia

Tonya Brianne

We are a wonderful work in progress: an Agency full of talented, fresh and en-ergetic minds. We em-braced the concept of Division Branches, staffed them all, completed open-ing one and are currently working on launching the others. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the first year THERA-PY 2000 fully operates all four Branches in their new locations.

In all the excitement, Quality Assurance (QA) may not be foremost in the busy minds of those headed out to the Branches, but from what I can see from our four Di-vision Managers, focus will be well-developed once the dust settles. Discussion about the process of monitoring quality documentation, customer service and outcomes has continued to produce a lot of ideas about what to monitor, how to measure it and, best of all, how super-vision can better support our field staff in standards of performance improvement.

This promises to be our best year yet and I want to thank the following groups of people who have helped make quality a reality at T2K:

Dear Office Support Staff: Thank you for stuffing and mailing hundreds of envelopes of satisfaction surveys to our clients and families. Also, thank you for the thousands of visits you’ve counted and reviewed for frequency au-dits. You’ve made enough copies of educational material to run a small school and enough chart audit copies to satisfy ANY auditor. You’ve done enough (small and BIG) favors to have every therapist in the Agency owe you at least one in return. Thank you for doing all of this and more with a huge smile at the same time. You are truly the best!

Dear Management Staff: Thank you for auditing hundreds of charts with literally thousands of indicators (individual, specific standards). Thanks for routinely taking on more

supervisions than any one “normal” person could handle (don’t worry, I’m not normal either!). You’ve engaged in at least a few hundred hours of meetings, viewed dozens of practice runs to help develop our staff training and enthusiastically gave your all to any problem that arose. You’ve counseled, mentored and trained your staff — always in the spirit of making things better for the kids we treat! Of course Jerre, our brilliant Administrator, is in this category, and I want to thank you on behalf of all staff for your inspiring, grassroots style leadership.

Dear Field Staff: You are the most deserving of all. Thank you for being there for your ‘Family’ caseload of kids. Many of you go above and beyond on a regular basis, providing families with additional resources, time and consultation as needed. You’ve shown remarkable resil-ience to the demands that come with working for this fast growing and developing Agency. Your ideas have contributed to the family culture we all enjoy, and your insight is priceless. Realistically, the Quality “buck” stops with you. You are the face that greets our families in their homes and your hands engage each child in order to make the ultimate difference.

Without you there is no QA. But thank goodness, with you, there is!

INSIGHTS BY BElINdA WIllIAMS, OTR

THANKS!

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I am joining the club (of new bloggers). It took me a while but I am here. I really like the ideas I read and am hooked now. I was thinking of being able to look up an unfamiliar diagnosis, side effects of meds, fun activities/illustrated exercises esp with a swiss ball are a few thoughts. I am excited to be a part of this great group of people.

Thanks

Cindy

Blog on the Street

THERAPY 2000 held a calendar art contest last summer for the children we serve. The theme of the contest was in-spired by our tagline, “Welcome to Our Fam-ily.” The kids were asked to draw what “family” means to them, and the artwork of the 12 win-ners is featured in our 2008 calendar.

After the winners were named, I had the wonderful op-portunity to meet them and their families, as well as sev-eral T2K therapists that work with them in their homes. I visited their homes to obtain parental consent for the children’s artwork, and to get their biographies and their photograph to appear in the calendar. This process took about a week and it turned out to be one of my most rewarding experiences since joining THERAPY 2000.

The experience was rewarding for many reasons. The pride each family and child had for winning the contest was overwhelming. Two separate families had invited grandpar-ents to be present for my visit. One of the children’s grand-father bought him a new suit and shoes to have his picture taken. Another child’s aunt came to the house to help her get ready. It took 30 minutes, and when she reappeared her hair was curled and she was wearing her fancy dress and all of her jewelry!

I was humbled with the fami-lies’ willingness to share their

stories with me. All of the families attributed much of the accomplishments of their children to the therapists of THERAPY 2000. Several children wanted to write their own bios for the calendar — and they did!

Twice I encountered children sitting on their front porch eagerly awaiting their therapists’ arrivals. Thank you to Chris Huff, A’Donna Corbin, Pam Reeves and Patia Kin-zler for allowing me to tag along with them on their visits. Time after time, I listened to the parents talk in absolute awe about the progress their children had made since receiving services from THERAPY 2000. Several visits occurred after the sun had set, and I saw first-hand how therapists work well into the night hours when serving these children.

Meeting our patients, their families, and watching you do your work has inspired and energized me enormously. “Thank you, my co-workers, for the job you do. I am proud of you. It is an honor and a privilege to represent you in the community!”

COMMUNITY RElATIONS REPORT BY JENNIFER RIlEY THANK YOU FOR THE INSPIRATION

A piece of art produced by the Calendar Art Contest held during Family day in 2007

9

HOlIdAY PARTY 2007

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Hiram Trillo wants you to love his paint-ings. Or hate them. Either emotion is fine, as long as you draw some feeling from his canvases.

Trillo, a first-grade teacher at Castleber-ry ISD in Fort Worth, recently completed a series of paintings’ for the THERAPY 2000 North Branch office

in Plano. The series is titled “Lines,” alluding to the con-nection all humans have with each other.

“We’re all somehow, some way drawn together,” he said. “We stand under the same sun, under the same moon. Through rain, through air, we’re all connected. There’s a line that draws all of us together.”

Trillo’s series of paintings is not his first project with THERAPY 2000. At some point or another, every em-ployee has seen – or worn -- his artwork, as he has been responsible for the images found on THERAPY 2000’s T-shirts. His creative efforts will continue with anoth-er series of paintings that will be displayed in the West Branch of the company when it opens in Fort Worth.

The theme of the series in Plano relates to everyday struggles and everyday things that people take for grant-ed, Trillo said. He said that because we are human, we don’t pay attention to all the things that surround us.

“All of my paintings are very personal, and I try to show human emotion,” he said. “I try to put myself in every single one of the paintings I do. I wouldn’t sit there in front of a painting and describe all the feelings. I would much rather have an individual look at a painting, and draw his own emotions from it.”

Trillo studied linguistics at Texas Tech University in Lub-bock. He has painted since he was 10 years old. He is also a photographer, and has recently started his own photography company.

True to his “Lines” series, Trillo has plenty of connections within THERAPY 2000. His sister, Leslie Trillo, works with Human Relations, and his wife, Nancy, is a physical thera-pist. Hiram and Nancy Trillo were just married in Sep-tember.

Trillo also has done translation work for the company on a few occasions. He said he is grateful for the oppor-tunity to work on his paintings for T2He said he thinks that patients and their families, as well as everyone else who sees his art, can look at each canvas individually, or try to view the whole series together, and draw an emo-tion that allows them to appreciate life a little better.

“I don’t want to put my input on the work and say: “Oh, I did this because I want people to feel this’,” he said. “I just want people to have feelings. Whether they love it or whether they hate it, as long as it stirs a feeling, it’s fine. They are just emotions on canvas, and that’s what every single one of my paintings does.”

You can see some of Trillo’s photography work at http://www.hiramtrillo.com, where he is also working on setting up a gallery of some of his other work.

HIRAM TRIllOA BIG WOW! GOES OUT TO:

11

This is how the Zeke, Yeisha, Jerre, Leslie, Karen and Wayne apparently spent their time at TPTA’s 2007 annual conference in Galveston, TX

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Welcome to Our Family

Anniversaries Birthdays

New Employee Position divisionHeidi Winstead PT West 4Tara Wisdom PT West 4Sherri Woloszyn ST East 11Ashley Tarrant COTA East 12Rachel McClure OT West 6Goli Hashemi OT Central 7Genevieve Walsh ST North 1Alex Padilla Human Resource Specialist CorporateJessica Martinez Receptionist CorporateTheresa King RN/Case Manager NorthMara Hughes OT North 2Alexander Tara OT East 10Kate lungdren OT North 2Jill Wilson ST East 12Claudia Porche ST Central 7Amber Foster STA North 2

1-Year AnniversariesJanet Beattie-Ramsey January 8Chris Huff January 23Aubrie Baack February 12Maria Sanchez February 19

2-Year AnniversariesBrandy Wubbena January 2Pamela Reeves January 3lisa Terry January 3

3-Year AnniversariesKaren Beck January 7Betty Carter January 18Courtney Mullaney February 1lee Kellams February 1Jane Giddan February 7

4-Year AnniversariesVictoria Piper January 13Tamara Shirley January 23Akilah Muhammad January 29lauren Blackwood February 9Belinda Williams February 9

5-Year AnniversariesMelinda Valentine January 7lucy liu January 8Wayne Wilson January 17Beatriz lourido January 27

6-Year AnniversariesSteve Tate January 11

January Birthdays

January 2 Jennifer BarbeeJanuary 4 Marc FagnanJanuary 4 lorisa littlejohnJanuary 6 Gerardo BarreraJanuary 12 Francisco RodriguezJanuary 13 lisa TerryJanuary 15 Alejandra ChaparroJanuary 15 Claudia PorcheJanuary 18 Tami McCormickJanuary 18 Rachel McClureJanuary 21 Michiko EscobidoJanuary 24 Karen GillumJanuary 25 dava ReynoldsJanuary 25 Kim SpirrisonJanuary 26 Jana WiantJanuary 28 Tara Wisdom

February Birthdays

February 1 Cindy EdmistonFebruary 2 Mary BurgerFebruary 3 Angie GalvisFebruary 3 Karin Whitla-SimonsFebruary 5 Terry HutchingsFebruary 5 Jennifer WalkerFebruary 12 Kelly ShawFebruary 12 Sinead ThachFebruary 14 Marcia ThrallFebruary 18 Jennifer MaurerFebruary 21 Milford RoqueFebruary 27 Pamela Reeves

Family Update

Engagements

Robin Suzanne was born Nov. 7 2007 to Jerre’s sister Aukje. Robin was 3,785 grams and 51 cm long.

Darlene gave birth to DeMarkus DeWayne Warner Nov. 25, 2007 at 1:19 a.m. He weighed 5 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 in. long. His picture was not available at the time this issue went to publication.

Michiko gave birth to Eliana Nu-atali Escobido Dec. 1 2007 at 7:10 p.m. She weighed 9 lbs., 6 oz.

Congratulations to Karen Beck, OTR and Erin Byer, SLP for their respec-tive engagements

Please keep sending your announce-ments to [email protected].