Congratulations to Kristin Murphey, M.S., CCC-SLP, and Kimberly Mueller, Ph.D., CCC-SLP. Their proposal, First Responder Aphasia Strategy Training: A Collaborative Community Outreach for Enhancing SLP Interventions and First Responder Outcomes with Persons Living with Aphasia, was awarded the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment seed grant.
Aphasia is a disorder of language and not cognition, meaning that there is a large spectrum of community participation for persons living with aphasia (PLWA). Some individuals continue driving, working, participating in community events and engaging in the community independently. Given the prevalence of aphasia and the mobility of PLWA within the community, law enforcement officers encounter PLWA in emergent and non-emergent situations.
The project will create a two-way, collaborative communication training model with speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and first responders. This collaboration will develop a tailored best practice for emergency care for PLWA and address the need for community-based training to equip law enforcement and first responders with specific knowledge about aphasia and effective communication strategies. This training will expedite care, reduce stress in potentially harmful situations, and lower government spending on unnecessary services, such as field sobriety tests and hospitalizations. Furthermore, SLPs will gain content-specific knowledge of the most crucial communication needs for first responders.
The Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment is a competitive grant program that fosters public engagement and the advancement of the Wisconsin Idea, the notion that the knowledge and solutions generated at UW-Madison will benefit the people of Wisconsin, the nation, and the world.
Congratulations Kristin and Kimberly!
