THANKSGIVING NO. 7

Tomorrow is the last day of 2021! The second year with COVID-19. I cannot tell you all how grateful I am to have survived yet another year in the midst of COVID. 

AWESOME TEAM

I am super thankful of my staff members. With many changes in the Government's COVID measures, my team is always on standby, ready to act in accordance to MOH's directives - therapy groups of 2 or groups of 5, ART if the child has a HRW, ART if the child has a family member with IO, etc. Pfft! So many different variations! All my staff members also followed my directive to take weekly ART without hesitation, even when it was not mandated. They conscientiously followed up with sending declarations to parents before every session. For my home-based therapists, they even had to eat their lunches in a corner at void decks when no dining-in was allowed! 

PARTNERS

Families - So thankful for the families who supported us throughout the past year. They did not kick a fuss when we took extra safety measures to cancel sessions, even when it was due to just a minimally stuffy nose or an occasional cough. They were also very honest in making declarations even when there was a risk of session cancellation. Some offered my staff members to have lunches at their place when dine-in was not allowed.  One of the families packed dinner for me when I could not stay for dinner anymore due to 'minimising social interaction'. Below is one of the 'Bento' set dinners.


Centers - Some of my staff members had to go to external centers for sessions. When dine-in was not allowed, the centers took in my 'orphans', saving them from having to wonder on the streets! Thankful maxed! 

FINANCES

You all would have known that Summer's is just a tiny SME (some would not even consider Summer's as a SME - Small Medium Exterprise, given that we have less than 10 staff members.) We did not and still do not have very 'deep pockets'. With many session cancellations and schedule changes, our revenue suffered greatly. There are several  months when we made a loss. But thankfully, we have some savings and together with the Government's support, we managed to get by without any paycuts. We even managed a small bonus at the end of the year! Super thankful!

NEW HIRES

Speech Therapists - Since Day 1, Summer's is constantly trying to get new hires (and this is because of the constant incoming flow of kiddos - thankful!) This year, despite the competition from more established organisations and bigger companies, we managed to hire TWO Speech Therapists! One has arrived from Malaysia, despite the limitless COVID travel requirements, and the other is joining in January 2022! Looking forward to coaching and mentoring newly-qualified Therapists, launching them into the profession. 

Early Childhood Interventionist - We are so delighted and excited to announce of our new Specialist Intervention Programme in 2022! And this is possible because of our new hire, an Early Childhood Interventionist. She has experience in Eden School, as well as being an ABA therapist. We are very keen to hire her due to her strong interest in Speech Therapy - she even aspires to be one in the near future. With her background and with the support of our in-house Speech Therapists, I am sure she can anchor the Specialist Intervention Programme, which focuses on speech, language and communication goals!


NEW PROGRAMMES

In 2022, we will be launching our new Early Intervention Programmes (a.k.a. Specialist Intervention Programmes)! This series of programmes are unlike other early intervention programmes. The goals are all speech, language and communication related - created and supervised by our Speech Therapists! The fundamental aim of this series of programmes is to provide more intervention at a more affordable price. It is nearly half the price of regular speech therapy. So do help us spread the word around!


Thank you everyone for 2021 and I look forward to the next phase of the Summer's journey in 2022! 

Blessed new year to all!






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