A Little Feedback From Lakeshore…..

Hello everyone!  The other day somebody (Bedarius) told me that they were asked if Lakeshore was still around.  I’d been toying with this idea for awhile, but at that moment, I knew how important it is that you are given ‘A Little Feedback From Lakeshore’ on a regular basis about what’s going on at Lakeshore. 

We are sad but also so proud about Michael Quinn leaving us and accepting the job as Program Evaluation Coordinator at the State office in Montgomery.   We feel confident that Michael passed along the tools and the knowledge for us to continue with developing and improving our Deaf evaluation unit at Lakeshore.  He will be greatly missed.  The following people make up our current Deaf unit team:  Alice Randolph holds the position of Staff Interpreter.  Although Alice’s title is ‘Staff Interpreter’, she does so much more than that.  Alice does all of our coordinating, scheduling, and Intake Interviews with the consumers you refer to us.  She has been with Lakeshore for over 4 years, and is getting married May 1^st!  Angela Thompson is a Vocational Evaluator, covering the mid and south Alabama region.  Angela worked at JCCD for 20 years, worked at Lakeshore for about a year in 2002, and missed Lakeshore so much she came back April 2007!  Angela is also getting married, in October!!  Many congratulations, ladies!!  I am Kristine Carroll, the other Vocational Evaluator, covering the mid and north Alabama region.  I have been with Lakeshore for nearly 3 years. 

When it comes to our Deaf Diagnostic Staffing sessions, we incorporate additional people for their ideas and experience.  Besides the three of us mentioned above, we typically have a second interpreter, neuropsychologist Dr. James Baños, and Deaf Support Specialist Jaime McPoland from the Homewood office.  Senior Counselor Connie Harrison from Lakeshore has recently begun joining us, and we will soon have Rehabilitation Specialist Fran Hershey from Lakeshore joining us!  We are excited about our new staffing team and feel that we will continue to provide Rehab Counselors and our consumers with the best possible recommendations. 

We have been busy!  We have nearly wrapped up testing during the school year at Alabama School for the Deaf (ASD) and the other schools across Alabama.  We just finished presenting with Jamie Glass at ASD’s Career Day, and now we are gearing up for Deaf College Prep.  Lakeshore has a College Prep for Parents Thursday April 22 from 6:00 - 8:00 on the Lakeshore campus in Birmingham.  Please feel free to pass this information along to any parents of college-bound students who may wish to attend.  Lakeshore also has a facebook page now: ADRS-Lakeshore Rehabilitation Facility.  Visit us and be our friend!

We are happy to have Michael Washington as our new Program Coordinator.  Please continue use the Contract Service Request in SMILE for all of your referrals for Lakeshore evaluation, but any questions regarding your referral may be directed to him or Paige Hebson.  We at Lakeshore feel that nearly all consumers can benefit from a comprehensive evaluation by us, whether they are college-bound or whether their goal is to go directly to work.  Please feel free to consult with any of us if you are unsure as to whether an evaluation would be helpful for your consumer. 

That’s A Little Feedback for now, but stay tuned for more in the future!