Wednesday Feb 29, 2012 Ped Hosp HCMC

We change our format. We teach single demos instead of multiple cacophony!

Judy, Jim, and Lea help each other out with planning, gathering materials, writing up results, and sharing the targets. The 25 participants observe one of us coaching the Vietnamese therapist coach their student and family. We all share the “best interpreter in the world”, Thuy!

This proves to be wildly successful for each of us and the audience.

Audiologists; Jackie Patton and Laurie Nelson give a lecture to the therapists while Judy lectures to the doctors in the afternoon.

What a great day!

Whew, we are tired.

Tuesday of GFCHL MM 2012 Pediatric #1 Day TWO

8:15 am: Jim and I start the workshop with our lecture on Auditory-Verbal Teaching Techniques. About 25 participants listen to us as we describe how we help parents teach their children to listen and talk. We enjoy sharing stories about our 30+ years of teaching hundreds of families. We share how we learned all this from Dr. Daniel Ling, Helen Beebe, Judy Simser, and I must say - by raising our own three children! After our presentation, we break into three groups to coach therapists teaching their families.

I am lucky because I have Thuy who is the best interpreter we have. She is the director of the Early Intervention Thuan Center near Saigon. She is an experienced therapist herself. I coach a great therapist Quyen who works at this hospital.

We have 6 therapists observing this AV coach coaching a therapist who wants to be a better listening and spoken language therapist coach a parent. I have two adorable little boys who love to communicate. I am able to share what I know and love with a therapist who wants to advance his skills. Though the two boys may not be listening as well as I’d like, the therapist is aware of that need and they are scheduled to meet with the GFCHL audiologists. Talking about how this will make a difference makes me happy to help. This is what I came to Vietnam to do.

I share some of my favorites Auditory-Verbal techniques; having the parent have their own set of Ling 6 sound toys, having the parent make an Experience Book of meaningful language, having the parent and therapist assess the level of hearing/language/speech/cognition/communication, and having the therapist give weekly goals to the parent.

Jim also teaches two adorable boys and their families. One dad is also attending the workshop. He is a Head and neck surgeon who is being trained to also be a speech-language pathologist focusing on teaching children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Judy teaches two cute kids – but had a very challenging morning; for Judy to be challenged, this much be tough! The kids are not aided properly. The knowledge that you cannot figure out what is going on – no assessment or clear audiology information about the child and very poor interpreting.

The hospital provides us with a packaged lunch. For lunch Jim has squid! The therapist has to make a special trip back to the kitchen to get me a plant strong lunch, though I did not want them to go to any trouble, I am thrilled to have a luscious hot seasonal vegetable stir fry over crispy rice noodles.

In the afternoon Judy Simser gives her stellar Cognition presentation with great photos of toys and how to us them.

An hour of more coaching ends our day. I have a little girl who had two cochlear implants. Bao Nhi can only listen with one CI because she has had an infection on that side. My team of therapists are keen to see what I can help them do for Nhi and her mother. This mother rides 12 hours on a Coach bus to come to the hospital. She stays for two weeks to get her CI adjusted, treat the infection, and receive therapy. Before long we have Nhi singing the vehicle songs and discriminating toys in fun games. My heart goes out to this mom. I want to help this therapist evaluate Nhi: get her the goals and objectives in line for this child. Again, offering the demonstration of what can happen for a child with a CI to these therapists is why I came to Vietnam. I hope I can help them learn to treat kids like Nhi in more efficient and thus more effective ways. Assessment and Planning is key to good treatment. That is what is on the schedule for tomorrow morning.

HospitalClinic Training at Saigon Pediatric No. 1 FEB 27, 2012

Lea demonstrates auditory-verbal techniques for the therapists.Judy shares a photo of her son Scott and his family. Scott has a profound hearing loss, is now a lawyer in Ontario, married with there boys!
Jim lectures to the group of therapists, Thuy interprets, Lea helps with videos.
Jim, Lea, and Paige at hospital entrance with one of the hospital professionals.
Group photo:

Group photo in front of Saigon Pediatric Children's Hospital No. 1 on day 1 of the Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss week long hospital and clinic training in Audiology, Listening and Spoken Language, Auditory-verbal Therapy. Can you find Jim, Judy, and Lea? See Paige in the center? Can you spot Laurie and Jackie?

HCMC on a HOT day

Sunday in HCMC

We wake early (as usual), enjoy an extensive breakfast of seasonal vegetables, fried rice, and delicious fruits. Papaya, banana, watermelon taste better than ever here!

Judy, Jim and I meet Paige in the lobby. She is on her way out to the park for a jog. We caution her to be careful because it is so hot today. She assures us she is always careful.

We head out toward the center of Saigon past the man selling bobbing toy horses, past the people eating their breakfast on the sidewalk, past the women peeling the fresh jack fruits, past the hair salon where I make an appointment for 1 o’clock and down to the statues of Ho Chi Min, the People’s Committee Building, the Opera House and the famous Majestic Hotel on the Saigon River.

It is HOT today. We drop in and out of little shops along the way. The store offers beautiful jewelry and clothes from the Sapa minority region in the mountains of Vietnam. Jim laughs while Judy and I try on various clothes and scarves. Judy buys a fabulous backpack to hold all the things she hopes to buy at the market.

We marvel at the old Majestic Hotel, built in 1925, it has undergone many modifications but still holds the majesty for which it was named. They are planning a huge new wing/skyscraper attached to it that will drastically change the amount of people who can enjoy this kind of luxury.

A little place called Paris café beckons us in to enjoy a mango smoothie and cappuccino. Not sure what we enjoyed more, the beverages or the air conditioning!

We had fun bargaining with sidewalk vendors for t-shirts, paper cut cards, “Ralph Lauren shirts” and even fresh jackfruit! The wide-open streets with open sidewalks make walking in Saigon easier than walking in Hanoi. We find our way back to the market. Whew! What a lot of stuff for sale! We wander through the narrow aisles as the clerks try to entice us to purchase their wares. Whew it is hot! This year I prefer the sidewalk venders to the market venders – too hot in there!

When you have your hair washed in Vietnam, it takes an hour. They give you a cucumber facial and an upper body massage at the same time. I love this!

When I meet Jim back at the Dragon Hotel, I am exhausted. Jim is awake sipping a coffee going over his talk for tomorrow. He tells me he had a headache and took a nap and now feels fine. Before I know it, I feel a headache coming on and need to drink water. I realize I had not been drinking all day. I lay down for a nap before our meeting with Paige.

We receive a phone call from our colleague, Laurie Nelson, with bad news about Paige. While jogging, Paige tripped and fractured her kneecap. She was in the hospital and needing to wear a knee immobilizer.

I really want to see Paige, so though I am not feeling that well, I venture down to the lobby. Jim and I meet Jackie Patton, our colleague from Sunshine Cottage in Texas. Paige arrives on crutches with Laurie carrying her backpack. We get an update on the knee. I am feeling worse by the minute.

I need to drink water. Jim gets me some. I find it difficult to sip. It’s like my body is saying “No, don’t drink”, but I know I have to keep trying to sip. I say to myself;“swallow swallow swallow”.

We all go upstairs to get ready for a welcoming party that the hospital is hosting. As I try to get ready, I realize I am dizzy and cannot move. I choose to stay and sleep.

Everybody goes to the party. I sleep for 4 hours. I wake up when Jim comes back and feel much better! I think I suffered HEAT EXHAUSTION.

Jim can tell you about the “very Vietnamese” party that I am not sorry I missed!

Jim says: “The traditional food served at the party included some unusual items to my palate. We enjoyed most of it, but some things like large rubbery snails, sweet & sour fish soup, and stuff I could not tell what it was, along with the typical chicken feet, and beaks! It was at this outdoor restaurant with outdoor ponds where people were trying to catch their dinner! It was a huge, place, too. Hysterical! I don’t know what to compare it to; little thatched houses with fake ponds in between with tables! It kind of reminded me of a campground or Shorty’s Spare Ribs from my childhood in Florida. Crazy place.”

Good night from Saigon.

Cuc Gach Quan, Saigon, Vietnam

Our 'workacation' continues.....
We enjoy a Vietnamese meal in a funky restaurant with Paige, the director of Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss.

I like this start to our "work week" in Saigon! It is HOT down here, but we are ready for the heat.

Saturday February 25, 2012 BYE to Hanoi

Slow Saturday morning as we sleep in until 6 am. Time adjustment can be challenging. Buffet breakfast at the Silk Path Hotel does not disappoint. Jim has an omelet made to his liking - vegetables. lea has roasted carrots and potatoes and fruit with passion fruit yogurt ( the yogurt here is delicious). Coffee is great - rich chocolatey nutty flavor, we love it.

It's fun to catch up with e-mail and FB. Thanks to maverick eyes.com we can circumvent the FB ban. Also, our guide who is happy he lives in a Socialist Republic knows how to type in an IPO address to get around the gov's block and shares it with us!

Jim needs a new watch. He finally finds a watch shop that examines his watch and battery. The report is that the battery is ok. Okay, time to go shopping!

Vinn who we thought was Van greets us i the hotel lobby. He brings his wife with him today, Thuy joins us for the ride to the airport. Good thing she does! She helps us shop along the streets and at the big market while Vinn waits in the Van. She also suggest that we stop at a flower market for photos!

We arrive at Hanoi Airport in time to have lunch on the 4th floor. Judy orders sautéed mixed vegetables and gets bok choy mixed with bok choy. Lea is orders vegetable soup and is served broth with bitter leaf and more bitter leaf. Jim tries the Pho Ga - chicken soup! Lea orders a coconut milkshake and wow - gets a coconut shell with a straw to drink a shaken up coconut - really good! We laugh and laugh.

Waiting in line after line; tickets, baggage, security, boarding, we learn to be tough and not let people push us around and sneak by us which seems to be the way here.

Babies crying aboard the plane make us happy we have ear phones and a good book! Jim is reading The Orphan's Master's Son by Adam Johnson, Lea is reading Cutting for Stone, and Judy is writing postcards! Fun and easy ride down to Saigon for us!

Finally together with Paige Stringer