Bethany Foco

In her retirement, Bethany Foco enjoys spending time with her family. She worked as a teacher’s aide and now enjoys reading novels, especially books on World War II. After suffering a lacunar infarct, sometimes called a “mini-stroke,” Bethany was left with expressive aphasia. Her condition made it hard to communicate what she was thinking.

Though Bethany was never hospitalized, she was referred to Southern Indiana Rehabilitation Hospital for outpatient therapy. After working hard at her recovery, she was discharged about a year later.

Bethany returned to her old lifestyle. But as time passed, she started running into the same issues. Her ability to communicate, read, and write was worse than when she first started speech therapy. Bethany returned to her neurologist and once again was referred to SIRH for additional therapy.

From her previous experience, Bethany knew several of the therapists and employees at SIRH. She also attended the arthritis aquatics program before COVID-19. “I can’t wait to get back in the pool with my instructor, Melissa,” she said. Because of her positive experience, she knew that SIRH was the right place for her continued recovery.

When Bethany first began therapy, she had to really concentrate on what she wanted to say before expressing it out loud. Sessions with her speech therapist started focusing on improving her communication skills. Motivated to improve, she worked hard with a specific goal in mind: conversing with her daughters, both in-person and on the phone.

Since working with her speech therapist, Bethany has resumed speaking with her daughters on the phone. She continues to work on her reading and writing skills, determined to get back to better.