ZAMs, Bathing Cushions, and Surfer

Bathers ... "Oh My" Webinar

~ January 12, 2010 ~



CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Okay. We're going to go ahead

and get started. It's 1:30, according to my clock, and

1:30, according to Liz's. So we'll get started.

Once again, really glad that y'all are with us.

It's nice to see so many folks from around the state.

We definitely would like your opinion about whether

this is a good mechanism to get information out to you. It

is nice to be able to sit at your own computer and at your

own desk and be able to get some CEUs while you're learning

a little bit more about the technology solutions that are

out there.

My name is Carolyn Phillips, and I've got Liz

Persaud with me. I'm the director of Tools For Life, which

is your state AT program. It's federally funded, and we'll

go into a little bit more detail about that, just brief

details, in just a few minutes.

Martha Rust is not able to join us today. She did

put together this presentation, and she is our AT

specialist on our Tools For Life team. She was not feeling

great, so we said, "Go home and take care of yourself."

So you've got Liz and me today, and we both know a

lot about these technology solutions, and we're happy to

spend this time with you.

So this is Liz Persaud, and she will introduce

herself and give you some more details.

LIZ PERSAUD: Hey, everyone. This is Liz with the

Tools For Life program.

And thank you for that intro, Carolyn.

Again, welcome to the Tools For Life webinar: ZAMs

Communication Devices, Bathing Cushions, and Surfer

Bathers...oh my. We kind of put a bunch of different types

of assistive technologies together for y'all to kind of get

an overview and figure out and learn how y'all can get your

hands on these AT devices.

Before I give the mic back to Carolyn and she jumps

into the meat of why we're all here today, I just wanted to

go over a few housekeeping, logistic aspects of the webinar

system. Again, welcome to everyone.

As you can see over on the right-hand side of the

screen, we have a public-chat area. So if by any chance

you are not able to use the microphone or even have a

headset system or a microphone, actually, and would like to

ask questions and comments, feel free to type into the

blank white box right under the public-chat area right

there where Carolyn just said "Hello" and did a little

smiley face. Feel free to type in your comments and your

questions there, and everyone in this room can see your

comments and questions.

Underneath that you will also see a list of all the

moderators and the participants in the room.

If you do have a microphone and a headset and you

would like to ask a question by speaking, what you need to

do is make sure the microphone is set closely to your

mouth, and you're going to hold down the "Control" key on

your keyboard. And as you're holding down the "Control"

key, that's when you will speak your comment or ask your

question.

We ask that, as soon as you're done speaking, that

you let go of the "Control" key, so that way we can answer

your question, and we can allow for other folks to ask

questions and comments as well too.

We do want to let y'all know that we have Sharon

Meek here on this webinar. She is our web master, and she

has her wonderful team that is recording this webinar. We

will have the recording up as well as the transcription and

the PowerPoint up on the Tools For Life website in about

three weeks.

So if y'all want to let folks know how much you

enjoyed this webinar and how they can get their hands on it

and find out information if they weren't able to attend

today, send them to the Tools For Life website.

Again, welcome to this webinar. We wanted to let

y'all know that we have a schedule set up of varying types

of webinars focused on assistive technology and numerous

different disabilities and just educating y'all about our

program, funding resources that we have available,

assistive technology, and just really more about the Tools

For Life program.

We are your assistive technology program of

Georgia. We are here to serve you. So we want to get the

word out there in how we can assist y'all.

If you go to the Tools For Life website -- and

we'll type that in in just a moment, but it's

www.gatfl.org.

When you visit that website, on the left-hand side

there's a section called "Training." And under the

training section there's a section called "Webinars." And

under the webinars section -- and I believe that we're

actually going to be headed there live in just a few

seconds if you bear with us.

Hopefully y'all should be all seeing the Tools For

Life home page now. Over on the left-hand side, if you see

where it says "Training," there's a submenu that says

"Webinars." And we've got the webinar schedule set up

there.

So for now, starting today, we have webinars set

for every other month. So this one is in January. We'll

have the next one in March. And so on and so forth. Every

other month they'll be on a Tuesday, and they're

approximately one hour, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

So, again, the schedule is up on the website. Take

a look at that. Mark it on your calendar. Spread the

word. We'll be sending out webinar announcements. We'll

be posting the announcements up on the website as well too.

If you'd like to be added to the list, feel free to

e-mail me. My e-mail address is up on the website. It's

liz@gatfl.org.

Let us know if you have any questions about the

webinars, if you'd like to see anything that we don't have

up there as well too. Again, we're here for y'all. We

want to be able to include the information that you guys

want to see as well too.

One last thing before I pass it to Carolyn. I

wanted to let y'all know that we do have CEUs available for

these webinars. They are being administered through the

AAC Institute. And we do have a link under the webinar

section also on the home page of the Tools For Life

website.

If you click on the hyperlink that says "Visit the

AAC Institute For CEU Information," it will take you

straight to the CEU page on the AAC Institute website.

And just, FYI it's aacinstitute.org. Feel free to

jump on there, go to their link for CEUs, and you can fill

in all the information there, and they'll credit you with

the CEU information.

Currently we're working on trying to get more

credits, and we'll just keep y'all posted up on the website

as we get that going.

So with that being said, I think that's all of the

housekeeping information. Also, one last thing I should

say before I forget.

Let us know if you have any training needs for your

organization or your school system, your classroom,

anything. Again on the left-hand side under the training

section of our website -- and I believe Carolyn's going to

be pulling that up right now -- what we have on there is a

list of all of the trainings that Tools For Life offers.

It's actually just a small sampling, even though it

looks like a lot, of all the trainings that Tools For Life

offers as well as descriptions as well too.

And so y'all can take a look at that. Let us know

if there's anything that y'all need, if there's anything

that you guys are interested in. If you don't see it up

there, feel free to e-mail us and let us know how we can

assist you.

We do have a form up on the website that we ask

that you fill out and e-mail back to us, so that way we can

get all of the information that you need. But, again, we

want to be able to provide y'all with the information that

you need so you can provide your organization's mission

statements back to your consumers and to your partners and

your community.

So I believe that is now everything with the

training aspect of Tools For Life. If there are any

questions, feel free to post it or to raise your hand, and

feel free to ask that as well too.

But with that being said, I'm going to now pass the

microphone over to Carolyn, who's presenting on behalf of

Martha Rust, who again put together this wonderful

presentation.

So with that being said, welcome ZAMs, Bathing

Cushions, and Surfer Bathers...oh my.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Thank you, Liz. Very helpful.

And we do hope that you will spend some time

looking on our website, exploring that. Liz has done a

fabulous job updating that and getting a new look to the

website.

Just wanted to make sure -- I see a note up here

from Joy that says she hears both Liz and I talking at the

same time. I have not been talking while Liz was talking.

So I just want to make sure that y'all can hear me okay and

see if you can hear Liz okay. So if somebody could just

let us know, that would be helpful.

Oh, great. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Excellent. Okay.

Thank you, Andreena.

So we have three images up here, and these -- on

this first slide: ZAMs, bathing cushions, and surfer

bathers.

The first image to the left is actually the surfer

bather. And we're going to be talking about that device.

We'll also -- and I'll refresh this. So give me just a

second so you should -- and let me know if you don't see

these images.

The middle device is actually a ZAM. And we're

going to talk in more detail about what exactly this really

cool device is. And then we have the bathing cushion that

we're going to talk more about.

As you know, as many of you should know, hopefully,

Tools For Life has a lot of partners around the state, and

we have four assistive technology resource centers. All of

these devices can be made available through one of those

ATRCs. And I'm going to give you more details in just a

few minutes about that.

The ZAM is actually a communication device. A lot

of folks know that, you know, there's a big need for

communication devices. In the United States there's about

a million folks who need augmentative communication. And

basically what augmentative communication is is just

another way to communicate.

Some of those are low-tech devices. We created a

device here that's really just a piece of paper with the

alphabet on it and some icons on the back side of it. And

that's something that Rhonda Perling did on our team. It's

a very cool, low-tech device. You could actually say pen

and pencil, low-tech augmentative communication.

This is more of a higher-tech device. We were

really happy because Tools For Life was able to get --

acquire 500 of these in our state. We were able to get

these through some contacts that we had on a national

level.

These were actually created for a drug company, and

they were not able to distribute them.

And so they were like, "Hey, we need some help

distributing them."

And we were like, "Yea, send them our way." So we

were thrilled to get these.

We got them out to a wide range of folks. Once

again, Rhonda Perling, who's on our team, reached out to

her community. She's a social worker in background and has

extensive experience working within rehab clinics and rehab

facilities, hospitals, what have you. So she was able to

reach out to that community and give the ZAMs away.

We also -- and I see some of you are online that

received some of those.

And then we were also able to get some of these out

through our assistive technology resource centers; our

independent living center partners; the AAAs, the area

agencies on aging; and also through the Department of

Education. And so we have gotten these out, and we're very

excited about it.

It's a very simple and very intuitive device. It's

double-sided LCD, liquid crystal display. That's what LCD

stands for. It's a double-sided screen. So actually you

can see it on both sides.

Very simple on and off. Auto shut-off. If you

keep it on, then it will save the battery and shut off

automatically. There's a scroll button.

And the other thing that's really cool about this

is that it has a pain meter on there. So you can actually

say, "I'm in this amount of pain," you know.

If you look at -- if you've been to any hospital or

rehab facility, then I'm sure everybody's familiar with the

smiley faces on the wall, and it says, "Tell me what kind

of pain you're in." And that's actually on this device.

They also have different parts of the anatomy where

you could actually say, "This is where I'm in pain. This

is what's going on with me and how much it hurts." And

that's very helpful.

It also has other types of icons on there. For

example, television. If you want the TV on, you can let

somebody know. If you want the lights on or if you want

them off, you can actually let somebody know that. If you

need your glasses, if you're hungry, if you're thirsty.

All of these things you can actually let somebody know

through using this device.

On the other side of that, it has the alphabet,

which is a really cool way for folks to, you know, use a

traditional way to talk, you know, using this device,

spelling things out.

So you can -- it really is as dynamic as the person

needs it to be and a short, you know, quick kind of way of

communicating.

We were very excited because, at our team meeting

last week, Rhonda, who went out and gave quite a few of

these 500 out, came back and shared a story with us of a

woman who had been in an institution for almost 30 years,

and she was able to communicate for the first time

effectively with folks and let them know what she really,

really wanted. And this is somebody who they -- the people

who were working with her didn't really realize that she

had much that she really wanted to express.

So we were absolutely thrilled about this. And as

far as I'm concerned, that is worth all the effort, that

one story.

So we really do believe in communication and the

importance of people being able to voice what it is that

they really want to say. So this is basically a device

that helps get us partly there, and so we're excited to get

these out.

They're pretty durable, and they're pretty easy to

clean. I was impressed with that. And I actually dropped

one, and it recovered fine. It was very forgiving. So

that's good.

We did hear, and we're aware of this, that some

folks were having some trouble with the power. And we have

a solution for that thanks to Terry Warley, who's one of

our advisory council members.

Liz, is there anything you want to add to talking

about the ZAM?

LIZ PERSAUD: We did add our stickers with the

Tools For Life logo and also the contact information.

So again, if y'all have your hands on it, or if

you're loaning it to somebody who would like to maybe try

it out for a few days, see if it is a solution for them or

who just needs it for a quick solution just for a few days

and they have any questions about the ZAMs, physically how

to operate it or just assistive technology in general, we

do have the Tools For Life sticker that we placed on the

ZAM communicator on all parts.

So the battery pack and also the actual

communicator device. So if something does come apart, it

will be on all parts. But it has our 800 number and our

website.

So that's also another way to get in touch with us.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: It also has two handles on the

sides, so it's very easy to be able to hold onto this, to

be able to mount it, for two people to hold onto it at the

same time, if need be.

We are excited about the design too. We thought it

was a pretty intelligent design. And so we're actually

investigating, you know, the manufacturing company and who

actually made these because we really were impressed with

this design.

The other way that this has been used, that we got

another story about it, is one of our advisory council

members who uses an augmentative communication device was

able to take the ZAM and go to Disney.

And it was a very easy way for her to navigate the

rides very quickly, talk to people, and say, "This is what

I need as far as assistance on getting on this ride," or,

"off this ride," or, "This is what I'd like to eat," what

have you.

So we're excited that this is not necessarily

somebody's sole way of communicating, but it is a very good

in between way of getting information expressed quickly.

We are using these in the hospitals and rehab

clinics. We're going to get one over to Piedmont soon and

Shepherd, down to Grady. And we have already gotten them

out to many hospitals and rehab facilities around the

state. So very excited about this.

I was going to show you a map of where we have

gotten these out so you'll have a better idea of where you

could actually access one of these if you'd like to.

You can borrow them and explore it, see, you know,

if it does work with one of your students or with somebody

that you're working with in a nursing situation, nursing

home, what have you. So give me just a few minutes as I

load this.

Does anybody have any questions for us so far about

the ZAM? And we'd be happy to entertain any of your

questions that you might have.

And also wondering if anybody has actually played

with it.

Julie, I see that you're on, and a couple of other

folks who have actually received the ZAM.

Have y'all worked with it much?

And I'm still loading the document, so give me just

a second to load. I appreciate y'all's patience.

LIZ PERSAUD: I'm just reading some of the

comments.

Julie in BAIN said that they're getting ready to

get their hands on the ZAM and kind of get familiar with

it.

Kathy Sanders in Newton County Schools said that

y'all have used it with some students in middle school. We

love to hear stuff like that, Kathy.

Andreena, Disability Connections. We've played

around with it. We plan to take it with -- on some trips

that y'all have with some outreach effort. So that's

wonderful.

Robert Orfield brought it back from AT Consortium

and charged it, used it in the office and going to take it

to the elementary school and use it with some autistic

children. That's wonderful.

And Kathy Sanders with Newton County Schools again

said it came in handy one day for a parent who spoke

another language. And that's wonderful. Another great way

to use it as well too.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with the

ZAM.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: That is so great. Thank you all

very much for that feedback.

We're excited about this device, and also we're so

excited to be able to get it out to folks at no cost,

really, to them.

We have some photos here that should be loading in

just a moment. And I'm going to turn on FollowMe, so you

should be able to follow me. And I will refresh this page.

And there's an image here that was -- actually two

images that were taken in Kennestone Hospital. They're

taking a little while to load right now where I am. So

I'll refresh one more time, and then we'll move forward

with the presentation.

If you have had any problems with getting your ZAM

to work and -- we were able to find out that some of them

had a problem with the charger. And so Liz is going to

talk to us a little bit about the solution that was found

for the charger.

LIZ PERSAUD: The slide that we have up right now

shows some of the components that again Terry Warley, who's

a member of our Tools For Life advisory council, said that

she would take the ZAM and kind of play with it and maybe

take it over to RadioShack and to some other parts stores

to see if there's alternative ways.

We found out that for some reason numerous

different ZAM communicators were not holding the charge.

They were actually not charging at all whatsoever.

So what we did -- or what Terry did is she went to

RadioShack and found out that they sell components which

you can put together a replacement just about for any

charger. And she said that the associate helped her to get

the right adapter and tip set, and it actually works

perfectly well. The cost is about $22.99 with tax -- plus

tax.

But basically these are the parts up here on the

screen. I'll just read them out so y'all have a better

knowledge of what it is you're looking for.

It's an Enercell 6VDC 800 mA (AC to DC power

adapter) and an Enercell Adaptaplug "K" tip. So those are

the big things that you're looking for is Enercell AC to DC

power adapter and the Enercell Adaptaplug "K" tip.

And once again . . . (audio skip) . . . those two

components and use it with your ZAM. It should get you

charged . . . (audio skip) . . . right away. So again,

$22.99 plus tax comes out to be $23.50, which is actually a

great price for being able to charge your ZAM unlimitedly.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: And also for a lot of folks, you

know, obviously we received them for free, and we passed

them right on to folks for free. So this is a pretty

low-cost solution for getting a powerful device up and

running.

All right. And thanks again for sharing your

stories. It's wonderful to see that y'all are out there

using these. We really appreciate that.

And I've got somebody up here from Medhurst

Ombudsman. Welcome. So glad that you're on with us. And

you said that you have a nursing home resident who could

use this device.

Please get in touch with us. I'm going to give you

back to Liz, and she'll let you know how to get in touch

with her. And we'll see about how we can get one of these

devices out to you.

LIZ PERSAUD: My e-mail address is liz@gatfl.org.

I also typed in -- if you go to the Tools For Life website,

which is gatfl.org, under the "TFL Network" tab on the

left-hand side, you'll see the contact information on where

you can try the ZAM.

So we have our Tools For Life network, all of our

ATRCs, which are (audio went down ). . .

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: . . . getting technology out to

folks so that they can try before they buy. So you can try

solutions, see if it works, see if it's, you know, the

right tool for the right person for the right environment.

And we know that, you know, in the past this has

actually helped save a lot of money. It's also cut down on

the abandonment of technology that folks thought they might

use but they didn't quite use, and so it's sitting in their

basement or sitting in a closet or -- we've even seen

things like this sitting in people's living rooms. And

we're like, "Ahh," you know.

So this is made by Mangar USA. That is a group

that actually Martha met the folks, and she was at

Medtrade. We all went to Medtrade in Atlanta, and we were

doing our networking thing.

And Martha met Mangar USA, and she was able to talk

to them about the importance of you, the folks who are on

with us today, and other folks who call us and contact us

who would like to try technology devices before they buy

them and make sure that it's a good fit or just try

something out and see, you know, if it's a good solution.

She told them all about our programs, and sure

enough they were able to get a few of these devices out to

us.

Right now they've let us borrow two of these

devices. We have one that is at Touch the Future, Inc.,

which is in Tucker, Georgia, as I said earlier and was on a

previous slide. And then we have one that's in Walton

Options, which is in Augusta.

The price for this device is about $3,000. They

are working with funding solutions in Georgia, like

Medicaid and other groups, to see if they can get it

covered under specific programs.

The nice thing about this -- we actually have one

right here in our office, and I keep looking over at it.

It's portable. It is very stable, and it's definitely

light weight. I pick it up, no problem, and was able to

move it without any problem at all.

It is adjustable, and that's great. It's got a

backrest and a seat. There's four different back angles.

You can go flat to 70 degrees.

And there's an image over here of a little girl

that's in a bathtub with a bathing suit on, and she's

got -- it looks like some folks just assisting. And she's

very relaxed.

It's got a chest strap and also leg straps. And

that's, once again, for safety so that folks won't slide

down into the tub or what have you.

It's very easy to clean, and you can clean it with

a commercial bathroom cleaner, any commercial bathroom

cleaner. It's made of material that you would be able to

clean -- if you had camping equipment, something like that,

then it's kind of that kind of a feel to the material.

It's very -- as I said, very portable.

And we're excited about this solution. You know,

the price obviously is $3,000. So it's definitely one of

those things that we do want you to try before you buy.

What are your thoughts about this device? And we

actually have more images that we're showing of the various

ways that -- degrees that it can be laid out. And here are

some images, and I'll refresh just so that I make sure

everybody has these images.

LIZ PERSAUD: This is Liz, again, with the Tools

For Life program.

I think this is a wonderful device. I think a lot

of times we come across folks that have mobility issues,

difficulty with their mobility. And so they feel like

they're, quote, unquote, "stuck to just showering" kind of

lose that luxury, especially as a child even, being in the

tub and playing with their toys and just kind of being able

to hang out in the tub.

So this is just a great way to be able to have that

other option. Sometimes folks just want to take a bath,

maybe even somebody who's older, a teenager, young adult,

you know, just an adult in general, just sitting in the

tub, maybe light candles, read a book, just relax, you

know, after a hard day's work or just, you know, being able

to have that option as opposed to just showering.

So I think that's another great options for folks.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Thank you, Liz. And you're

exactly right.

I've got two little ones now, and I'm very aware of

how important bath time is. And I totally get that, you

know, that idea of taking a bath and being able to just

relax and play.

My mom, who has a disability, probably would love

something like this because she would be able to just kind

of be, you know, relaxed and float, if you will, in some

ways.

So that's a really cool solution. So we hope that

y'all try that out or check it out if you would like to.

That would be great.

The next device that we wanted to share with you is

the bathing cushion, which is another Mangar USA product.

We actually have three of these. We have one at Touch the

Future, Inc., in Tucker, Georgia; one at Walton Options in

Augusta; and one at Disability Connections right in the

middle of the state in Macon.

And the price for this device is about $2,000.

It's $1,195. It weighs 4 pounds so -- 4.5 pounds. So --

you heard that correctly, 4.5 pounds.

It's very easy to put into the tub and also to get

it back out. We were demoing it here in our office, and I

was impressed with how nice and neat it folds up. It's the

material kind of like a raft. So it's got that kind of

sturdy, you know, stable, really good raft that you would

go down the Ocoee with or the Nantahala or something.

So it folds up neatly. It's great for taking this

on a trip or on vacation. It doesn't take up a lot of

space. The inflated height is about 16 inches when it's

inflated -- fully inflated.

And the way this actually can work, you can

transfer it into the bathtub, you know, and be in it. And

then you could actually let the air out, and it will let

you go down into the bath. And then once you need to get

back out of the bathtub, then you can inflate it again.

It'll lift you back up, and you can slide and transfer back

out.

And I see that we have a question here. Let me

turn this to Liz and just have her read the question, and

then we'll see if we know the answer.

LIZ PERSAUD: From 3 BR, and I'm guessing that's

region 3 and BR. "Do you know the weight capacity?"

I actually do not know the weight capacity, but we

could very easily get that information, actually hopefully

before we wrap up the webinar, see if we can find that out,

and we can post it up there.

So if y'all hold tight, I'll let Carolyn talk, and

I'll see if I can get that information.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Excellent. Great question.

Once again, lumbar support, it allows you to choose

whether you want to sit up or lie down. It's actually

two -- it's not two separate pieces. They're attached.

And we'll show you a little video or get you to a link

where you can see a video in just a minute.

It's very easy to clean, once again, with those

commercial bathroom cleaners. Very stable, very

comfortable. And it includes the Airflo battery-operated

compressor that comes with it.

There are two images up here on the screen.

There's one with a woman that's transferring into the

bathtub, and she's going to transfer so it's a level

transfer. It goes all the way up to where the top of the

bathtub lip is, and she can slide right in there.

And down below, next to the bathtub, is the

compressor. That's the white device that's over to the

left of that first image.

And then you can see that, in the second image,

she's actually rolled it up, and she's carrying it in her

arms. And it really is that simple.

So there's a link up here on this page. And we

tried this earlier. We were not able to play the video.

But if you can get to this -- I clicked on it. Let's see

here.

If you would like to look at the video, you sure

can do that by going to this website. And I just posted it

right there. And you can play the video yourself, and then

that way you could actually explore that.

The weight limit -- we're still trying to get that

information. I don't see it here.

Do you see it anywhere?

Okay. All right. So we're going to -- let me see

if it's actually in the technical information. So I just

clicked on the technical information.

Oh, 300 pounds. Boom. Got the answer for you. So

that's 300 pounds. 300 pounds. There you go. All right.

So there is a video right below this image, if you

click there, that says "Watch Video." And it actually will

show you how you can inflate it and how you can deflate it

and all of that.

And so I'll give you a few seconds. If you want to

go ahead and play with that, that's fine.

And do y'all have any questions for us right now?

Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and move forward

with our presentation.

Once again, so if you're not totally familiar with

what we do at Tools For Life, a lot of people think that,

you know, oh, Tools For Life just handles employment

issues, or you know, assistive technology for employment or

assistive technology for education, assistive technology

just for community living, what have you.

We actually do all of that. We work with all

types. We serve all ages, all disabilities. And we work

across technologies.

So it could be a little simple device, you know,

like how somebody could use a weighted spoon and were to

eat; all the way to more complex bathing devices; and, you

know, communication devices just like we were sharing

earlier; and even to some of the devices we'll be showing

you on our next webinar when we're talking about learning

disabilities such as the Kindle, which helps assist with

reading or some of the screen-reading software that's out

there or the iTouch, what have you.

So this is another, you know, obviously aide for

daily living. You know, getting somebody to take a bath in

a way that they really enjoy. And this is one of those

solutions that's out there.

So any questions so far? And do you have anything

you want to add about any of the technology that we've seen

so far?

LIZ PERSAUD: We've actually seen some amazing

things. Technology is changing every day, and that's one

of the many reasons why I love my job, and I know that my

team members love their job as well too.

So we're really hoping to bring some of this

amazing technology that's being developed, low-tech and

high-tech, out to y'all via webinar and, again, training as

well too.

So if y'all are at conferences or browsing the web

or just hearing about technology, word of mouth, in your

school system, in your offices or as you're working with

your, you know, students and customers, feel free just to

get in touch with us and let us know, "Hey, I found out

more about this communication device," or, "this type of

reading device," or even, "this type of keyboard. Do y'all

have more information on it? Can y'all get your hands on

it and provide a training for us?"

We'd be more than happy to help you out any way we

can.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Excellent. Okay. This is just

some more -- we've got some more images up here of the

device that's the bathing solution that you can actually

put in the bathtub.

And this is laying on our conference room table

that we're actually sitting at right now in our Tools For

Life office.

And it's laying out flat. We hook it up to a

compressor, and it starts to inflate. And as you can see,

it has three -- it looks like three different kind of

compartments.

The big pillow in the back actually would rest up

against the back of the tub. And then the person obviously

would sit on the, you know, top level of this that's the

rippled part of it. And it really does look like a raft,

that part does.

But it does actually -- it feels good. You know, I

touched it, and I was like, "Oh, this actually does feel

good." It doesn't feel like a raft where you're feeling

all sticky and all that stuff. So I was impressed.

The website for this company is mangarusa.com.

They have some other really cool lightweight solutions. I

was very impressed with several of the solutions that they

have.

I would really encourage you, if you're interested

in any of those solutions, to check them out but also know

that you can get connected with those devices by borrowing

them through our assistive technology resource centers.

Once again, this is our website address, gatfl.org.

And we have our 1-800 number up here, and it's

1-800-497-8665.

And Martha Rust is the person, once again, that you

may want to get in touch with if you have more questions

about some of these solutions. Liz and I can also assist

you with those answers.

So if y'all have any other questions, we would love

to hear them. And so we'll wait for just a minute while

y'all think about what questions you may have.

And in the meantime, I'm going to go ahead and go

back to our webinar section so that we can show you the

webinars that are coming up.

LIZ PERSAUD: Again, if y'all have any questions,

feel free to go ahead and hit the "Control" button, raise

your hand. And we can see if you're raising your hand --

quote, unquote, "raising your hand" on the webinar system

if you have any questions. Or feel free to type it in.

In just a few moments the training section on the

Tools For Life website should pop up. And again, it's just

the recap of the training on the website. Again, just a

list of some of the presentations.

We've got a lot on there. But believe it or not,

that's actually just a fraction of what we do. Just

different types of topics related to folks with

disabilities on assistive technology, varying types of

disabilities; disAbility 101, 102; an overview of Tools For

Life; some of our reuse efforts on reusing assistive

technology here in Georgia and the southeast; the STAR

Network; STAR Reutilization; self-determination,

self-advocacy.

Varying different things that we have up on our

website. So feel free just to take a look at that.

And at the very bottom of that page, we do have a

training request form that we just encourage y'all to go

ahead and fill out that information. That comes straight

to me.

Again, this is Liz. I'm the training coordinator

with Tools For Life. Feel free just to pop me an e-mail

with that form, any questions that you have, and we'll be

more than happy to talk to you about your training needs as

well too.

We did have somebody jump on, Tina with Hudson

County. She said that she's sorry that she was running

late. She missed the ZAM information, and if we could do a

little recap.

Tina, the ZAM communicator is just a great

lightweight communication device that we were given here in

Georgia. We distributed them out through our resource

centers in Georgia, varying hospitals, universities

throughout Georgia.

We will have this webinar, the recording, the

transcription, and the PowerPoint up on the Tools For Life

website in about three weeks. So you'll be able to catch

all of our information that we shared on this webinar and

our upcoming webinars as well too.

And you can visit the Tools For Life website under

the webinar page to grab the archives and also the schedule

our upcoming webinars as well too.

So I believe that's everything that I have. If

Carolyn has anything else -- she actually does, so I'm

going to pass the microphone back to Carolyn.

And again, she's pulling up the Tools For Life page

with the webinar schedule and also some of the archives

that we've already got up there as well too. So y'all

should be seeing that hopefully now.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Excellent. Thank you, Liz.

So the next ones -- the next webinars that are

coming up, we are excited about these. The learning

disabilities one. Assistive technology solutions.

Our dollars and sense, which is super cool. We're

going to be launching that again. We've put a lot of work

into it. Rhonda's done a great job updating and building

on what Martha and Liz created years ago. And so we're

going to be rereleasing that and showing everybody this

very cool tool.

And then we'll be doing another talk about

neurodegenerative disorders, diseases, what have you.

And the last one that we have scheduled will be in

September, hearing-related issues and deaf blindness. And

once again, excited about getting -- assistive technology

is actually in all of these, in-depth assistive technology.

We have allowed an hour for most of those. And

actually, to be honest, a lot of those talks last a lot

longer than an hour. But we just want to give you, you

know, some information, and we'll continue to build on

this.

We're very curious to hear if this is a good way

for you to get information. So please get in touch with

us, or you could tell us now if this is a helpful format

for you to learn more about technology devices.

And, Tina, I wanted to get back to the ZAM page

just so you could see an image of the ZAM. And I just

pulled it up for you. And here's the basic information

about it. And it's a very good, low-tech device.

There's been arguments over whether or not we

should officially call it a communication device. But the

truth is, is that it's a spectrum, if you will. There's a

continuum of communication devices out there. And so this

definitely falls within that spectrum, so that continuum.

If you have any other questions, please feel free

to get in touch with Liz or with me. And actually, it

looks like we do have another question.

Oh, and, Tina, you said you did get one, and you're

going to put it out soon. Excellent. Excellent.

Kathy, thank you for letting us know that this was

very helpful.

And I see that we have a question about how you're

able to get a transcript for CEUs.

And, Liz, if you want to address that one more

time. I know how important those CEUs are. I'm often

trying to get as many as I can. And so she'll give you

that information.

LIZ PERSAUD: Thank you for asking that question,

Kathy. I'm glad to give another overview on that.

Again, we're very, very proud to announce that

we'll be offering three CEUs. AAC Institute will be

administering those CEUs.

So if you go to aacinstitute.org -- and again, it's

on the home page of the Tools For Life website and also on

the training webinar page as well too -- and you go under

their "CEU" tab, you'll be able to fill out the form with

all the information. You can find this webinar up there as

well too.

Again, we will have the transcription of this

webinar up on the Tools For Life website in about three

weeks. So be sure to check that webinar archive section on

the webinar page.

If y'all have any questions or run into any

problems or need any assistance with anything as far as the

CEUs are concerned, feel free to get in touch with me.

Again, this is Liz with the Tools For Life program,

and my e-mail address is liz@gatfl.org.

And also if you'd like to be added to our mailing

list to get the webinar announcements -- we send them out

at the beginning of the month and then again the day before

we do the webinar, just as a friendly reminder -- feel free

to send me an e-mail to get in touch with me through the

website, and we will be able to -- I can add you to the

webinar announcement list, and y'all will be able to get

those webinars in your e-mail as well too.

Again, thank you so much. We had a great turnout

for our first official webinar for the Tools For Life

program this year. So thank y'all so much. Glad to hear

that y'all are enjoying the ZAMs and that you're learning a

lot of information about AT.

Again, feel free to get in touch with us. Check

out the webinar schedule. Let us know how we can assist

you with anything with any trainings.

And thank you again for your attendance today.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Yes. We sure do appreciate you.

So keep in touch with us, and thank you. We appreciate

y'all telling us that this was helpful. And we'll talk

with you next time. Y'all take care.