In the last blog I wrote about the first 2 day class I attended. The second class I attended was the 2 day course by SA Swallowing Services from Tennessee.Â
Oh SASS…really some of the most talented, intelligent, ambitious, kind, etc. group of clinicians. If Michelle called me right now and offered me a job, I’d drop everything, grab my dog and my scope, and start driving south.Â
This class was a perfect combination of the fun side of speech language pathology with a large side of information. The time really flew by during the lecture parts of the class. There were definitely several moments where the class all gasped in unison by information we were learning.Â
The first day of practice passing the scope was on the SASS employees and one (poor) Atmos rep. Talk about intimidating. Before we started, Michelle Skelly-Ashford gave us a demonstration on her business partner and husband, Dr. John Ashford. This is when I learned a very important tip- never say you’re sorry. Whatever happens, you say, “I meant to do that.†Bloody nose? I meant to do that. (This is actually super rare and happens maybe 1/1000) Made the person gag? I meant to do that too. Spilled green food coloring all over someone’s floor? I meant to do that…..?
The second day we practiced on each other. I was ready for this since I had been through this before. But….SASS didn’t use lidocaine spray. This made things a little more nerve wracking as we did not have that crutch to make us feel better. But honestly, having been scoped both with and without lidocaine, I definitely prefer without. Lidocaine burns and that burn sticks with you. There really isn’t any pain associated with being scoped so why add the burning?
I know I have not given this class the review it deserves, because I still think about things we talked about and learned from that class. Like I said before, I haven’t been to all of the classes offered, so I can’t speak on those. But for the SA Swallowing 2 day class, I couldn’t recommend it more.Â
#ScopeOn