PALS - People with Aphasia Laughing and Sharing

03/20/2026

Fantastic piece on KOLD News 13 about our ARFF (Aphasia Reading with Furry Friends) program at Pima Animal Care Center! Thanks Carsyn Currier TV for sharing our program with the community and highlighting our terrific members and leaders who are all working so hard together to rebuild their reading skills. Andy Ortiz and Melissa Howitt - you are rock stars!!!

01/11/2026

As we prepare to start our programs again this week, we share one final highlight from 2025. In November and December, we started in-person communication groups to complement our Zoom groups and ARFF program. It was so great to bring together old friends and new. On the final day, we talked about the holidays and celebrated together with music from Mark and Bill. As we start up our programs again this Tuesday, we look forward to a year filled with hope, progress, smiles, hugs, friendship... and a lot of laughter.

01/09/2026

Continuing with highlights from 2025, in the fall, our founder, Fabi, submitted a proposal to give a presentation about the ARFF (Aphasia Reading with Furry Friends) program to the international community of AphasiaAccess, and it was accepted! The presentation was very well-received. We hope to see similar programs starting up in communities around the world, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to share our experiences so that many others living with aphasia can benefit.

01/08/2026

Thanks to Mark McLemore at Arizona Public Media for his local coverage of our dear friend Gabby Giffords on the 15th anniversary of the shooting at the Safeway store in Tucson.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Dr. Fabi Hirsch-Kruse shares her pride over playing a part in Gabby Giffords' ongoing journey; and what Homicide Survivors Incorporated offers to a community in need..

01/08/2026

Sending lots of love and gratitude to aphasia advocate and dear friend Gabby Giffords today - 15 years after being shot. Thank you for continuing to be an inspiration to us all!

The former congresswoman and her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly, reflect on their lives after she was shot at an event in her district in 2011.

01/08/2026

Here's the interview with our founder, Fabi, in Where the Gridlock Ends.

I talked to Fabi about her close friendship with former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her decades-long career helping people with communication disorders find the words they’re looking for.

01/08/2026

Check out the interview with our ARFF members and leaders in Where the Gridlock Ends.

I joined an aphasia group led by Fabi to ask participants about their experience reading to shelter dogs and the accomplishments they’re most proud of.

01/08/2026

Continuing with highlights from 2025, in October, Kathleen Toohill, a fabulous D.C.-based writer formerly on the communications team at Gabby Giffords' organization GIFFORDS, interviewed our founder, Fabi, and our ARFF program members and leaders virtually for her newsletter, Where The Gridlock Ends.

01/07/2026

One favorite moment from Pima Animal Care Center was when Bill played his harmonica for the dogs after we read to them. Watch for when the dogs started singing along!!!

01/06/2026

In the fall, we doubled our ARFF (Aphasia Reading with Furry Friends) program. It was an absolute delight working with the group members. The program is very intensive, and the members tackled each challenge with determination and a wonderful sense of humor. We were excited to witness the tremendous gains they made in their speaking and reading skills.

01/05/2026

Continuing the overview of our inaugural year of PALS... in May, we had the incredible opportunity to develop an innovative aphasia reading program in collaboration with Pima Animal Care Center, thanks to the ingenuity of its Director, Steve Kozachik. Listen to a wonderful piece about the program by Mark McLemore on Arizona Spotlight at Arizona Public Media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui1tJjxrqi4

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Sharing memories of "The Twilight Zone" with Joseph Dougherty, author of "Rod Serling at 100".

01/04/2026

2025 was an incredibly busy first year for PALS! We'll share some highlights throughout January. In April, we started aphasia groups on Zoom and had so much fun talking about a variety of topics each week, from hobbies to Halloween. Zoom groups begin again on Tuesday, January 13th.