Marcy Freed, nationally recognized speech-language pathologists visited T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger to visit patients and speak with physicians on the benefits of VitalStim® Therapy.
Ms. Freed is known for her development of VitalStim® Therapy, the first proven treatment for dyshagia, a condition that causes discomfort or difficulty swallowing. According to Ms. Freed, the therapy utilizes electrical stimulation to facilitate swallowing and as a result patients who were only able to feed through a feeding tube can eat on their own.
At Children’s Hospital, Kim Kleehammer, Speech-Language Pathologist and Supervisor of Speech Therapy Services, has been using VitalStim® Therapy for six months on pediatric patients ranging from ages one to 16, who are being treated for swallowing disorders, and has even been implementing it on one patient for speech therapy.
Fifteen–year-old Jeffrey Woody lost his ability to speak after experiencing stroke-like symptoms while at summer camp in 2003 and, after a year of unsuccessful speech therapy, his neurologist, Dr. Paul Knowles, referred him to Speech Therapy Services at Children’s Hospital.
Ms. Kleehammer has been using VitalStim® Therapy to train the facial and throat muscles that are used to sound out words and phrases. After attending Jeffrey’s therapy session, Ms. Freed suspects that he will be able to be released from VitalStim® Therapy in the near future.
The VitalStim® Therapy equipment was donated to T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital by the Chattanooga Scottish Rite Society.