The Chronicle Getting You Back on Track
Hello everyone, I hope this season finds you well. I wanted to share with you an update on one of our staff, Kerri Lewis, who’s in need of support because of some family medical emergencies. But before I tell you what she needs, I want to let you know what she means to Synergy. Kerri came into my orbit about three years ago. She was seeing me because she was struggling with headaches and neck pain. She’s an occupational therapist like me, a specialist in her field. She lives in the Coeur d’Alene area and has quite a reputation for helping families and children who have sensory processing disorder. Kerri felt that she needed to expand her knowledge base and make a change in the way many services were being provided to children and families in the community. She was about to lose the job she was in because the owner was closing the practice to relocate. Because Kerri’s skills and reputation were so strong, I encouraged her to start her own practice. She was reluctant to do so, as are many smart therapists, lol. So being the adventurer and risk taker that I am, I said, OK, let’s start a practice for you. I have run two practices before, and knew I was not up to the challenge of creating another whole clinic from scratch. So we decided to keep it small, just a simple business with her as the only therapist. What could go wrong? Well, the trouble with Kerri is that people like her. Lots of people. She had more business than she could handle and soon other therapists were seeking her out. Finding good therapists has always been the hardest part of my job, so when excellent people called her looking for work, what choice did we have? We hired them. And moved into a larger building. And got more computers, equipment, etc. Somehow we even acquired a rabbit and 2 dogs! I gave her my business acumen, my marketing ability, my system implementation, and my pocketbook so that she could buy what she needed to create an environment where children could get the kind of care that she felt they needed to get. She provided the vision, and it was that vision that attracted so many families that needed her help, and so many other therapists to help do the work. She put everything into this dream of hers, so much time and so much of herself. Kerri understood what was most important to therapists, families, and children in order to have kids be successful at home and in their community. Unfortunately, in July of 2016, Kerri’s son Blake became very sick with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS), and with the stress of his illness her own health problems increased as well, including being diagnosed with Lyme disease. She needed to cut back on the running of the clinic and we asked William Strong, SLP to run it for a while. They both have done great things and Synergy pediatric therapy in Coeur d’Alene has grown from nothing in June of 2015 to over 400 visits per month in 2½ years. I believe we’ve created something pretty special, in no small part due to Kerri. Our staff has been given the opportunity to share their accrued PTO with her. We as a Synergy family are helping as best we can but we knew that there were some that would want to help also.
My request to you is simple: If you have been supported and helped by someone in our Synergy family, we are reaching out to you if you are willing and able to support and help one of our own. Kerri has set up a Go Fund Me account to help with her son’s and her own medical treatment expenses. To date they have raised about $10,000 of the $75,000 that they need to get them both well again. We are including the PANS article again so you can see with what her family is struggling with. She has included a lengthy description of her situation on the gofundme website. Our newsletter goes out to about 1300 people and if everyone contributed $50 we would be done! We know some can do more, and others less. Everything helps, and we are so grateful for you thinking of her. Here is the link: https://www. gofundme.com/Blake-Kerri-Healing.
We wish you the very best in this holiday season.
Shauna Burchett Occupational Therapist, Owner
VALLEY SPECIALIZING IN: Lower Back Pain • Headaches & Neck Pain • Sciatica & Hip Problems • Stenosis • Shoulder Pain & Tendonitis • Knee Problems • Concussion & Traumatic Brain Injury • Scar Tissue Lymphedema • Myofascial Release • Craniosacral Therapy • Feldenkrais CDA SPECIALIZING IN: Sensory Integration/Processing • Listening Therapies • Gross Motor & Coordination Skills Development • Myofascial Release • Fine Motor/Visual Motor Skill Development • Oral Motor/Oral Sensory Development • Play Skills • Speech/Articulation Development Expressive-Receptive Language Therapy • Literacy Development Cognitive Development • Social Language Skills • Craniosacral Therapy • Visual Perception/Visual Processing • Lymphatic Drainage Therapy
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker