Saving voices

I'D ALWAYS been interested in health care in general," says Iseult Coolahan, a speech and language therapist at the Adelaide Hospital in Dublin.. "In particular I was interested in how important communication is to people. It's the essence of who we are. Loss of speech affects every aspect of our lives.

While at school in Colaiste Iosagain in Stillorgan, Dublin, Coolahan spent part of her summer holidays working as a volunteer in a Dublin hospital. "I just always had a thing for hospitals." After reading about the four-year course at TCD she focussed her attention on speech and language therapy and decided to apply for a place.

At college, Collahan says, all of first year is academic. Afterwards "you get to put into practice what you were learning in theory. You get to integrate your knowledge."

First year was "a bit of a culture shock for me after coming from a very big school that was mixed". The department is small. There are 26 in each year. "It can be a bit daunting for anyone who is coming from a big school environment."

Students are exposed to "a lot of peer monitoring and people watching you, you get feedback without it being negative". There is a strong clinical component to the course with students participating in clinics run at TCD's school of clinical speech and language studies.

"You also go out on block to the hospitals," Coolahan explains.

In third year she did a four-week block release in the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire. "I loved it. It was my first adult block. I was a bit apprehensive going to adults. I absolutely loved it."

Having graduated last year from TCD with a bachelor of science (clinical speech and language studies), she worked in the National Rehabilation Hospital for the summer as a locum before starting her present job last September.

As another busy day begins at the Adelaide, the corridors start to fill outside her door with people waiting for their names to be called. Coolahan is eager to get started.

"I really enjoyed college," she says, "but once I got into the clinics I loved the interpersonal aspect of the job. You're constantly learning something new. It's an ever-evolving profession. There's so much more scope for research."

Coolahan sees a lot of stroke patients as well as people with voice disorders, neurological disorders and - "the big thing now in adults" - swallowing disorders. "Every patient is going to be different. You tailor your treatment to the patient and the way you go about treating the patient and the family."

She uses her interest in Gaelic sport - "and in Coronation Street particularly with older people" - as ways of getting people to relax. "You can get them chatting, depending on the kind of disorder they have."

At the moment her work involves assessing, diagnosing and treating patients. This is just one aspect of the work of a speech and language therapist, Coolahan emphasises.

"You can really work in a huge range of fields."

As part of the ongoing specialisation, she completed a post-graduate course in acquired neurological swallowing disorders last year.

She continually stresses the importance of interpersonal skills. "You are working with people who have had a big social change of life. It's important to be able to emphathise with them. You give them a sense that they are not alone.. . You also liaise with a multi-disciplinary team. You need to have a very good base knowledge of theory and be able to integrate those into a clinical way of thinking."

Speech and language therapists use a lot of high-tech equipment, such as stroboscopies and flouroscopies. However, Coolahan returns again to the importance of communication... "you talk to them and get to know them and what the family and carer is feeling."