She helps people talk the talk.
Now, Amy Nordness, Ph.D., director of the MMI Speech-Language Pathology Department, is asking the MMI community to help her walk the walk.
Dr. Nordness and members of her department will be out in force on June 4 to participate in the WalkRite for RiteCare, a fundraising effort by the Scottish Rite Foundations of Nebraska that supports speech and language programs at MMI through RiteCare Clinics throughout the state of Nebraska.
“I hope to see from every MMI discipline at the walk,” she said. “This is our major fundraiser for the year, and it helps continue the speech and language therapy services for all of the kids in the RiteCare Clinic.”
Collaboration between her department and other MMI disciplines has increased greatly in the last few years, Dr. Nordness said, pointing to initiatives with rec therapy, psychology and the Center of Autism Spetrum Disorders, among others.
“Kids come to MMI to receive comprehensive care, and RiteCare is one of those pieces,” she said. “We’re making connections with all of the departments here. And that’s why everyone should come out and support it.”
Dr. Nordness praised Scottish Rite for their commitment to providing cutting-edge speech and language services for children in Nebraska.
“Because they want the best for the children of Nebraska, they allow us to develop in new ways so that we can bring new approaches to the clinics,” Dr. Nordness said. “We’ve developed new clinical opportunities for our families, we’ve done parent training programs, we’ve added an augmentive and alternative communication (AAC) preschool in Lincoln and we have been expanding more in telehealth, so that even though our clinics are only in Omaha, Lincoln, Hastings and Kearney, we can reach far beyond that with telehealth.”
The Scottish Rite sent five MMI clinicians to the national RiteCare Conference in Denver to learn new techniques and make connections with RiteCares across the nation.
“Scottish Rite wants to make sure that no matter what happens, their mission and what they provide never changes.”
Members of the MMI community can help support that mission by registering and joining Dr. Nordness at the WalkRite for RiteCare.