Life to the Max Podcast

Therapy Beyond Limits: Inside Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies

• The QuadFather

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Meet Lauren and Alex from Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies, two passionate professionals revolutionizing care for young people with disabilities. Their multidisciplinary approach spans three Illinois locations, offering everything from occupational and physical therapy to innovative programs like hippotherapy. What makes them unique? They're filling critical gaps between pediatric and adult services through their Therapeutic Life Skills program, while their Intensive Therapy approach delivers more progress in three weeks than traditional therapy models achieve in months.

The conversation takes a candid turn when discussing healthcare hurdles. "It's very frustrating when you know something's working or that a family could benefit from something," Lauren shares, detailing how insurance limitations often restrict access to life-changing services. These frustrations mirror my own journey after becoming paralyzed in a car accident, when insurance approved just three hours of care daily despite needing round-the-clock assistance. We explore how finding the right support—like my occupational therapist who introduced me to a game-changing mouse stick—can transform lives through what Alex beautifully describes as "inch stones over milestones."

Whether you're navigating disability yourself, supporting someone who is, or simply curious about innovative approaches to therapy, this episode offers raw perspectives on overcoming systemic barriers with creativity and determination. Because as I remind listeners: "I'm paralyzed from the neck down breathing through a machine, but that doesn't stop me from following my dreams and doing what I love to do. I don't got any excuse, and neither should you."

SPEAKER_03:

What's up guys? As you can see, we're not in the studio at home. We're actually at the Abillies Expo in Chicago, and this podcast is gonna be a little different. It's gonna be like a speedcast. The sound is not gonna be as great because of how wide open this space is. But I hope you guys enjoy it. Please enjoy this Life to the Max speedcast.

SPEAKER_00:

Just a couple of ponds all trying to get by. Just a couple of teas, I'll try to survive. Live to the max because you don't live it twice. Couple green thumbs all ice cows.

SPEAKER_03:

What is up everybody? It's Life to the Max podcast. We're at the Abilities Expo in Schomburg, Illinois. It is June 20th, Friday. It is not nice outside. I wish it was. It was nice a few days ago and it's raining. But luckily, I got hummingbird therapy squad with me, which is a really interesting. I got Lauren and Alex with me, and they're gonna tell me a little bit about their cells. So welcome to the show, guys.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, thank you so much for having us. This is such a cool opportunity.

SPEAKER_03:

Of course. So uh tell me what Hummingbird Therapy Squad is.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, so Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies is a multidisciplinary clinic. Um, we have three locations Elmhurst, Westmont, and Woodridge. Um, so I uh help lead the therapeutic life skills program, which is therapy services for adolescents and young adults.

SPEAKER_01:

And then I work with the intensive therapy program, which is geared towards individuals with higher medical or needs or physical disabilities.

SPEAKER_03:

That's amazing. How long have you guys been doing this?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so both of us have had experience in the therapy world for quite some time. Um the therapeutic life skills program is a newer program at our Elmhurst location, and it's to help fill the gap um between pediatric services and adult services. Oftentimes therapy ends around that 10 to 12 year old age range. So we want to help fill that gap by providing therapy services up until you know the mid-20s.

SPEAKER_03:

This is uh physical therapy?

SPEAKER_02:

Great question. So we offer occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and counseling services. Um, we offer also offer at our clinics um feeding therapy and summer groups, social group opportunities, hippotherapy, and aquatic.

SPEAKER_03:

Holy shit. That's a lot of selfness. You guys are killing it at three locations. How long has this company been around homeever therapy?

SPEAKER_01:

It's been around for about eight years. So I the intensive therapy program is also a little bit of a newer program. I personally have been doing intensive therapy for almost three years now. Um, and that is really becoming a lot more closer to the standard of care for a lot of individuals with cerebral palsy and more complex neurometer difficulties. Um, we find that we make a lot more progress within those three weeks than c compared to that traditional once or twice a week model. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, absolutely. Uh when I was at RAC. Because I was in a car accident. I was, I don't know if you heard my story at all, but uh I was in the military uh when I was uh right after my birthday, March 21st, March 24th, was my accident, and I was uh I drove halfway with a friend, we switched seats, woke up in the hospital three days later, couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything. And I decided to say, hey, you know, like I'm gonna face adversity birth three years. Obviously it's gonna be tough. But one thing that uh happened was my girlfriend ended up breaking up with me and I just wanted to focus on therapy, and when you do more therapy, it just gets your mind off of things. So I I I agree with you on 100% like that the once or twice a week, like really going at it with therapy. So that's that's awesome. You guys do it. Well, one of my questions I wanted to ask is what are what is one of the biggest hurdles you guys have faced?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03:

So within like the therapy world or yeah, within within your job or within uh your life.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, well, within the job, I think one of the things that I probably get more frustrated with is just access to services, um, you know, and getting kids who either have limitations on how many visits they can get or who just don't have um insurances that we're in network with. That just that does get tricky and is I'd say one of the bigger hurdles. And we kind of help out with that by providing families with lists of grants that they can apply for to trying to get um better access to services.

SPEAKER_03:

It sucks though, because grants from out, you know, insurance doesn't, you know, fuck the healthcare system, no offense. Like they could do a little better. I don't like the healthcare system they're annoying.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah, I can definitely echo that. It's very frustrating when you know something's working or that a family could benefit from something. Um, with the life skills program, a lot of it is geared towards the interests of, you know, the client themselves. So what are they hoping to work on? Um, and when they have those goals and those dreams and those hopes, and we wholeheartedly are like, let's get there. You know, potential is endless, let's do this. And there's kind of those roadblocks and systematic challenges that's very frustrating as therapists because we want to be able to help and be part of this.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, like I was at uh RAC in 2016. I remember this guy like just left out of nowhere, and I was like, What happened to him? He's like, Oh, it's insurance stopped paying for I was like, Well, what the f I'm like, Are you serious? Like he was making great strides and his insurance stopped paying for him.

SPEAKER_02:

Did you ever experience that? Like having insurance deny coverage.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so yes, I have. Uh when I was when I first got injured, uh I needed 24 hour care. And they said I get three hours. Three hours a day. Wow. So I had to go to the stage and I had to like find people off the street to take care of me, which is scary as hell, because he was like, like, you need a skilled nurse. And they're like, I remember when I was at my recruitment office uh for the military, and they were like, the military's got you now. Like if you get hurt, right? Because I asked well, so like if you get hurt, the military's gonna take care of you. And what they meant was is that they're gonna put me in a nursing home basically, and uh not let me live my life to the fullest of my life to the max. So I did face struggles with that, and luckily I was able to um get help with grants and stuff, and uh and I uh I struck uh I struck some luck, you know. So now life is uh pretty good, pretty s uh it was very serendipitous what happened, but I I'm uh very grateful to wake up every single day in the position I'm in, because I know a lot of people have it a lot worse.

SPEAKER_02:

Did you have a therapist at all that, you know, really motivated you or I did.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Shout out to Sarah Gallach. She's an occupational therapist. The first uh month in says uh uh injury at RIC and rehabilitation studies, Chicago, it's now Shirley Ryan ability lab. I don't like that. It will always be RIC to me. Uh so she gave me a mouse stick and like she was like cured like the mouse stick and I and I thought I was gonna move my arms again right away. So I was like, get the fucking shit away from me, alright? And then my girlfriend left me, like I told you, and people wanted to talk to me, and she was like, Yeah, can you please try the moustick one more time? And she she like cherry-reaks this um stylus on a mouse stick, and I I started like using it, I'm like really good at it, and I'm like, no fucking way. I don't have to ask a nurse to text for me anymore. This is awesome. So she pushed me to do the mouse stick again, and I used that mouse stick uh for until 2019, and then I started using voice control with Apple. But yeah, shout out to Sarah Gallagher out there if she's listening. That's that she was an amazing occupational therapist. She was there for me when my girlfriend left me as well, and so it's tough, but uh she got me back on the horse with the mouth stick for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, there's a lot of jerry-rigging going on in therapy, but that's kind of the fun of it. It's figuring out, you know, alongside the other person, like how can we problem solve this solution to kind of get that end goal.

SPEAKER_03:

This purpose you guys have with your therapy swan, helping people with disabilities. Like, do you feel fulfilled every single day when you're doing this?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think for me, I I'm convinced I have the greatest job ever. Um and I I think it's fun. I find that especially working with kids with kind of more complex motor difficulties, is they are so motivated, you know, to move and explore and play and to get to help them do that is incredible to help, you know, we kind of a lot of times will use the phrase inch stones over milestones because it's the like those really small improvements that end up meaning the most for their family. Um, and it's really fun to be a part of. Um seeing um aunts and grandparents and everyone in their village show up for them and cheer for them with even just the smallest victories is really, is really fun.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I can echo that for sure. Um, I love what I do. Um, I love working with kids. I love playing all day long, but I also love working with the families and supporting the families. When we were developing the life skills program, we really wanted to emphasize providing more caregiver and family support so that they also feel confident in their skill set to keep working on things at home in the natural setting. Um, but I find it really rewarding to help those families kind of overcome some of those obstacles um and really work together as a team.

SPEAKER_03:

So I'm very lucky because like I I I live alone. So I live alone and I have nurses around the clock and my family, I love my family, but gaining my autonomy was one of the most amazing things in the world. I uh I I resonate with you guys when you talk about the families and getting close to the families because it's when you're kind of like with my nurses. My nurses uh like are like family, you know? Like they come here, they're cool with my family, and then they're like cool with me, so they become family, so I can understand where you guys are coming from. And I uh really appreciate you guys sharing your story and sharing uh your cause. Where can we find you?

SPEAKER_01:

You can find us online or on social media. It's just Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies that encompasses all of our programs, including the life skills that Lauren touched on, as well as the intensive program that I touched on. Um, so it can all be found on that one website.

SPEAKER_03:

Absolutely. And I'll make sure to link that in the description below. Well, is there anything else you guys would like to say to the people out there?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I think you covered it. Thank you so much. Uh, like Lauren said, thank you so much for having us and giving us the opportunity to kind of to share what we do and what we love.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. And this spend life to marriage, everybody. If you like this content, please like, comment, and subscribe. Hit that notification bell. And for everybody listening, I'm paralyzed from a neck down breathing through a machine, but that doesn't stop me from following my dreams and doing what I love to do. I don't got any excuse, and neither should you. We'll hear you in the next one.

SPEAKER_00:

You know the smell of the poet. Never really trippin', try my best to stay focused. I try to keep it cool, are you lames? Ahead on a swivel, looking out for the locust. I'm on sans tryna drive my opponents. Am I the next best thing? But I think I'm the closest.