Australians living with dementia will gain access to an improved level of care thanks to new clinical practice guidelines released by Speech Pathology Australia, developed by a team of health professionals including Peninsula Health speech pathologist and cognition clinical lead Myf Guay.
“Speech pathology has a significant benefit for people living with dementia, especially when there’s an increased focus on rehabilitation,” says Myf. “It’s exciting to be able to promote our role in dementia care in Australia.”
In 2022, there were 487,500 Australians living with dementia, a group of neurological conditions that cause changes to brain function and affect the person’s ability to remember, make decisions, and manage day to day tasks independently.
Speech pathologists provide specialist care for people with dementia who may experience problems with speaking, understanding others, reading and writing, as well as difficulties eating and swallowing.
“The new guidelines advise clinicians on assessment and diagnosis, rehabilitation, carer education, and palliative care,” says Myf. “They showcase the many ways that that speech pathologists can help individuals, families, caregivers and the community to ensure a person with dementia continues to live well and adapt to change.”
“Communication is so essential to everything we do as humans,” she says. “We use it to express our wants and our needs, and to relate to each other.”
“The changes caused by dementia can lead to frustration, and social isolation, but with rehabilitation, we can help people to stay connected.”
Speech pathologists work across different roles in dementia care delivery; from assessment and diagnosis, rehabilitation or palliative care, or simply being a support for care givers who many find it difficult to manage changes in their loved ones behaviour.
“In hospital, there’s a lot happening – It’s noisy, it’s busy, the person may be in pain or frightened but unable to tell us. Speech pathologists can help to break down the communication barrier,” shares Myf.
After nearly 16 years working in rehabilitation, aged care and cognition services at Peninsula Health, Myf is more passionate than ever.
“As speech pathologists we care for the person with dementia throughout the course of their condition, from the early to late stages.”
“The more you work with older people and with people with dementia, the more you realise how rewarding it is.”
“I hope these clinical practice guidelines help any speech pathologist who doesn’t have a lot of experience in dementia realise what a huge role we can play and how much we can help.”
Peninsula Health would like to congratulate Myf Guay for her participation in the development of these national clinical practice guidelines, and for her dedication to our community.