LOTS of GUESTS at today’s Asheboro Rotary meeting! 
Most of them were here as guests of the Club, honoring Lib Cox, who is the prime mover behind today’s program. At Lib’s table were Eugene Cox, Noralene Cox, son Jeff Cox and daughter Julie Stickler. Sara Beth Gallimore was a guest of Papa President H.R. Gallimore; Lauren Ingold attended with April Thornton; and Anthony Pugh 
(who made such an impact as a panelist during our Lunch and Learn event on the Mental Health Crisis) came with Mazie Fleetwood. Waving the flag of the Randolph Club were Archie Odell, Vickie Gallimore, and Rob Wilkins.
Gloria Cheek, Randleman High guidance counselor, was here to accompany RHS student guests Frank Magnotto and Kelsey Whatley. 
Frank is president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a member of the Key Club and the Golf team, and will be attending ASU in the fall to study Business. Kelsey competes on the soccer and cross country teams; is academically ranked #1 in the senior class, is Vice President of the student body, and was elected Homecoming Queen. She is also the daughter of my cousin Danny Whatley, so she obviously comes from good stock. She’ll be attending UNC Chapel Hill this fall.
Michael Smith proudly announced that Adam Glass of Asheboro High, who honored us as a student guest earlier this year, this week was offered both the Morehead-Cain scholarship from UNC-CH and the Parke Scholarship from NC State. Both are full rides plus lots of extras, so Adam has quite the choice to make.
Jaci Betts presented the club with a banner from a club she visited on her recent trip to Guatemala- thanks Jaci!
President HR read us a Tar Wheel Classic from November 15, 1944, where the inimitable Editor Red Underwood described Bob Wood as “the Club’s only real honest-to-stogie cigar smoker– President Vance [Welborn] being classed as a Beaver, or cigar-gnawer.”
Our program today featured Kyle McCleod, speech pathologist of Randolph Hospital, speaking about aphasia (was Your Scribe the only one who noted that as an oxymoron?). 
April Thornton introduced Kyle, who is a proud graduate of both NC State and App State, and came to Asheboro from Moses Cone hospital last July. The Aphasia Support Group he started at the hospital, at the urging of our own Elizabeth Cox, is the only such program in central NC. Kyle strongly praised Lib and daughter Julie for being such staunch advocates for people with aphasia, which is defined as any interruption in the ability to communicate, especially as it shows up in one-third of all stroke victims. A stroke victim with aphasia usually has his or her intellect and thinking abilities intact, but just can’t communicate effectively, as the stroke has damaged the left hemisphere of the brain. One million people in the US have it, and this is the position Lib found herself in after her stroke two years ago.
Kyle 
uses the LPA (“Life Participation Approach”) in treating aphasia. Communication involves talking, listening, reading and writing, so an undiminished strength in one category is used to rebuild the patient’s weaknesses in another. He encourages them to communicate in every mode, drawing, writing, gesturing, facial expressions- anything that conveys a message simply and effectively. Kyle used Ed Clayton to demonstrate communication (this was like demonstrating the proverbial shipment of coal to Newcastle). 
The worst effect of aphasia is the sense of isolation, which results in depression, and a sense of hopelessness. Victims must remain active to stimulate brain activity and help recover their lost abilities. What’s really needed, he says, is patience- give them the time they need to communicate. What victims really want is to regain their simple functioning, rebuild their lives- remember names of friends, go back to Rotary meetings.
The first aphasia treatment program began at the University of Arizona, and patients there agreed with Lib: “We didn’t really start recovery until we became acquainted with other people with aphasia.” The program at Randolph Hospital is free, because insurance coverage has limits on the amount of time and number of visits patients can spend, so his discussion groups and activities are promoted by volunteers like Lib and Julie. 
In Q&A, Don Allred related that, after his mother’s stroke, she could no longer talk, but could SING very well. Kyle said that’s because the stroke affected the left side of her brain, and singing is controlled by the right side, the nonlinear artistic side.
The Randolph Hospital Aphasia Puzzle Program meets each second Tuesday of the month, starting at 6PM. For more information, call Kyle at (336) 625-5151, extension 5109.
