The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) celebrated a new milestone in the delivery of high quality care with the official launch of enhanced dysphagia and swallowing assessment services at the Chatham Campus on Friday.
Offered on a weekly basis in Ambulatory Care, these multi-disciplinary clinics ensure local patients have access to advanced assessment and treatment of swallowing difficulties using state-of-the-art equipment – a Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES). CKHA leadership, staff, physicians and patients gathered to recognize this important event with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“I’m delighted to be able to recognize the remarkable work of our inter-professional team who strive to deliver the best possible care for our patients,” said Lori Marshall, President and Chief Executive Officer, in a press release. “This clinic is a strong addition to the accessible, high quality care we provide close to home.”
“Swallowing is a complex process involving sensory and motor nerves, various areas of the brain and more than 80 nerves and muscles. Any dysfunction in the system from chewing to sending the bolus of solid or liquid past the larynx into the esophagus can result in dysphagia,” explained Dr. Nadine Yammine, Laryngologist.
Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) is caused by any condition that affect the swallowing process; this includes neurological disorders like Parkinson’s, ALS and dementia, stroke, cancer or traumatic brain injury. Dysphagia can have a detrimental impact on quality of life and may cause aspiration (when food or drink enters the lungs), compromised nutrition and may lead to aspiration pneumonia and hospital admission.
“Providing a complete dysphagia and FEES clinic at CKHA has positively changed the lives of many patients,” said Dr. Yammine. “Our clinic has allowed patients to be assessed in a very timely manner by a team of professionals to provide patients the safest method to eat. Using the new technology of FEES and our expertise we are not only able to pinpoint the problematic aspect of swallowing, but we can also provide immediate therapeutic strategies and procedures which allow patients to still eat safely and often avoid a hospital admission. This has also allowed inpatients to go home sooner as they can eat safely.”
Following a clinical swallowing assessment with a Speech Language Pathologist, both inpatients and outpatients who require further examination are referred to CKHA’s dysphagia clinic. The FEES assessment delivers a reliable technique that involves passing a flexible endoscope through the nose to obtain a superior view of the upper digestive tract, while various foods and liquids are given to the patient to swallow. A FEES evaluation has many advantages, such as no exposure to radiation, and the opportunity to test sensation and assess the vocal cords. “We also have the ability to record and review exams and compare progress from previous exams, a tool particularly helpful with our stroke patients,” said Dr. Yammine.
These multi-disciplinary clinics offer patients at CKHA best possible care by providing a consultation with a Head and Neck Surgeon who sub-specializes in voice and swallowing and a Speech Language Pathologist who collaboratively generate a treatment plan tailored for each patient. This can include certain strategies to use while swallowing, diet modification and surgical procedures. The overarching goal of treatment is to improve patients’ quality of life, avoid hospitalization from aspiration pneumonia for patients in the community and help with earlier discharge home from hospital for inpatients with dysphagia.
Designed with portability in mind, the equipment can be transferred among different units to perform evaluations at the bedside – a future goal that the organization hopes to achieve to expand the delivery of safe, high quality care.
– Submitted photo
