Shortage of speech therapists leads to unnecessary suffering for older people – Östersunds-Posten

Untreated eating and swallowing difficulties can negatively impact quality of life and be directly life-threatening. Common consequences are pneumonia due to incorrect swallowing into the lungs, malnutrition, dehydration, poor wound healing, increased risk of falls and poor rehabilitation conditions after injury.

Difficulties in eating and swallowing It is common, for example, in stroke, dementia and Parkinson's disease. These are diseases that affect many elderly people. In addition, it is common for older people with multiple diseases to experience temporary swallowing difficulties due to, for example, infections.

With an increasing number of older people in our population, a large group of people in our community are at risk of suffering unnecessarily, despite the possibility of help and support from speech therapists.

Speech therapists work with They specialize in evaluating and treating people with eating and swallowing difficulties. Today, there are no speech therapists working in municipal home health care or municipal elderly care in Jämtland or Haredalen. Through direct interventions such as training with people with eating and swallowing difficulties, speech pathologists can create the conditions for the ability to consume food and drink in a safe manner.

Speech therapists can also supervise groups of staff and relatives about what to pay attention to in a meal situation and how the meal can be adapted for a person with eating and swallowing difficulties.

Unfortunately, this is a common misunderstanding Speech therapy interventions are considered specialized care and are therefore the sole responsibility of the regions. Speech therapists are already employed in many municipalities as part of central student health, for example, where they work with a focus on language skills in children and young people.

We hope that politicians in the municipalities of Jämtland and Haredalen will investigate the possibility of employing speech therapists in elderly care – something that would increase the quality of life for many of our elderly people.

Speech Therapist Association Jämtland Harjedalen, President Sarah Moritz