The Vital Role of Speech & Language in Paediatric Cardiac Care
written by Georgie Abbott, Corporate Partnerships Manager
Every time I shadow a member of our clinical team, without fail, they always make me proud to work for Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
Today I spent time with Jess Symonds, the newly appointed Cardiac Speech and Language Therapist for Ward 51 at the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit.
Not only was I inspired to learn more about how Jess’s role helps babies and children with their journey through feeding difficulties, but I was also in awe of her selfless dedication to this role.
Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), Jess, assesses and treats communication and swallowing disorders in cardiac patients admitted to Leeds.
This role, funded by CHSF, ensures safe feeding, improved communication, and provides vital education and support. SLT’s enhance a patients’ quality of life and overall well-being throughout their cardiac care journey.
Jess returned to work early from maternity leave to fulfil this vital role on the ward, because she knew our young heart patients needed her support. As a mum of two young boys I often get struck with mum guilt and I imagine this wasn’t an easy decision for Jess, which is why I left the ward today feeling humbled to have met yet another unsung hero in our community.
Jess explained to me that sometimes heart surgery can cause nerve damage to a baby or child’s vocal cords, especially in an emergency situation. This means the muscles in an infant’s head and neck may be impacted, resulting in increased risk of food and drink travelling into their lungs, in turn causing chest infections and recurrent hospital admissions.
A key focus of Jess’s role is to help babies and children to drink and eat safely after surgery. She carries out bedside assessments and uses video fluoroscopy X-ray methods to identify any swallowing problems. She then works with parents to make adjustments to the baby or child’s food and drink intake. For example, thickening a babies milk or changing the texture of the food they are eating, to help support safe swallowing and reduce the risk of chest infection.
We started our ward round today visiting a four year old child who has a complex cardiac diagnosis. He was sitting in bed, happily colouring with felt tip pens. I couldn’t help but notice the tubes around his face linking him up to the oxygen machine, which he is constantly dependent on.
The little boy was breathless while he sat still in bed and when Jess spoke to his Dad to explain about the video fluoroscopy his biggest concern seemed to be whether he would be able to take his oxygen machine with him. Jess reassured the Dad that she knew his son needed his oxygen and that it would be going with them to the X-ray. Jess then focussed her attention on putting the young boy at ease and it was wonderful to see him smile when she made jokes about his teddy eating his food.
We also visited a two month old baby who was unable to drink by mouth due to the high risk nature of their heart condition. Jess has been helping the baby’s parents to keep enhancing her sucking reflex, which usually diminishes by the age of four months. They are encouraging the baby to suck on their fingers or dummy and to give the baby lots of kisses around her face.
Jess has only been in her role for three months and it was incredible to see the difference she is making to patients.
I would like to give a special thanks to Caddick Developments, who are long standing supporters of Children’s Heart Surgery Fund and helped to make all this possible by funding the first few months of this role.
Jess’s aim is to see every baby and child who has high risk heart surgery in our region each year, which will be around 350 patients in 2024.
It was clear from today that Jess has big ambitions for her role and the cardiac speech and language therapy service.
Pictured: Jessica Symonds (SLT) and Georgie Abbott, CHSF Corporate Partnerships Manager
Her dream is for a specialist fiberoptic endoscopic machine to help access small babies, who are not able to have video fluoroscopy. This is because it’s not possible to feed a child via the breast under X-ray.
The machine is portable so assessments could be done by the bedside and allow the team to carry out swallowing assessments using Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES).
Jess also has plans to create education packages to assist the community speech and language therapy teams when they are visiting cardiac patients, as well as early advice resources for parents.
If you or your business would like to work in partnership with CHSF to help us make Jess’s dream a reality, we would love to hear from you at corporate@chsf.org.uk
Georgie Abbott
Corporate Partnerships Manager
georgie.abbott@chsf.org.uk
Recruiting Corporate Partners across Yorkshire, The Humber, North East Lincolnshire and North Derbyshire who want to help improve the lives of children born with congenital heart defects.
A huge thank you to everyone involved for making the Cardiac Speech and Language Therapist role happen. Including Caddick Group and The Hospital Saturday Fund.
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