Device helps stroke victim
ZELIENOPLE — Since his stroke 30 years ago, 76-year-old Lee Smith has had trouble making himself heard.
A popular resident of Lutheran Senior Life's Passavant Retirement Community, Smith has wanted to talk with friends and neighbors as well as communicate needs to the staff there. But he long ago lost his ability to speak.
"Everyone wants to talk to him, but it is hard to understand," said speech language pathologist Teri Calhoun, who works with Smith.
Thanks to a speech-output device — a handheld computer similar to a personal digital assistant — communication will soon become easier. At the push of a button, Smith is learning to program an electronic voice to say everything from "I need a sweater" to "Hello, how are you?"
Sociable and curious, Smith never has let his speech difficulties keep him from following the conversation. He wants to put in his two cents, and the device, a Palmtop 2G Impact, lets him do that.
He moved to the retirement community from Flint, Mich., two years ago, communicating with a pad and paper and by pointing to pictures in his wallet. At a meeting room at Passavant recently, Calhoun was helping Smith make the switch from pad and paper to tapping the Palmtop's icons.
He is only familiar enough with the device to say "Hello" and other basic phrases, but as he becomes used to its functions his dialogue will improve, said Calhoun.
He received the device last month and is still learning. He takes instruction from Calhoun and Emily Boyd, a Geneva College student working part-time at Passavant.
The Palmtop provides pre-programmed greetings, comments and lists of needs, as well as a keyboard to type sentences and numbers. Users decide how the responses are organized, and can upload digital photographs of friends and family onto the device. The device can also e-mail.
Now Smith can point out uploaded family pictures, tell hospital staff how he feels or let people know if there is an emergency, said Beth Sinteff, a sales consultant with Pittsburgh-based DynaVox Technologies.
DynaVox is one of a handful of companies in the area that provide speech-output devices. The company came to a technology fair for seniors held in May at the retirement community. It has taken since then for him to receive his own.
Calhoun said Smith is the second retirement community resident she has worked with who will use a speech-output device. She said learning how to use them can take weeks or months, depending on the user's condition.
She said the digital photograph feature is handy for pointing out family to staff members and friends. "You can see who they are talking about," said Calhoun.
The photo feature is also useful to people suffering from dementia. "They can see their family, their actual house, their grandchildren, and they know these people when they visit," she said.
When Smith was first asked when his stroke occurred, he wrote it in the air with his finger. The second time he answered, it was on a device with a digital display. It's a small change, but makes communication much clearer, Calhoun added.
The retirement community also has software to help communication. It brings up a grid of pictures, words and common phrases. It is similar to the Palmtop, but not as mobile.
One of the goals at the retirement community is exploring how technology can help people in everyday life, said Donna Van Kirk, vice president of system development at Lutheran SeniorLife.
She said speech output devices, as well as hearing aids and devices that help those with vision trouble read, help residents communicate with staff.
About 10 companies were represented at the May technology fair, including the Butler-based Avada Hearing and Balance Center and the Visiting Nurses Association of Western PA, also based in Butler.
"Seniors are able and willing to use these devices," said Van Kirk. "We want to make sure the staff is familiar with the latest things out there."
