In February, UK tracheostomy specialist Sarah Wallace, along with university colleagues, conducted a short course in Swallowing Care for Tracheostomy Patients. There is a recognized need in Cambodia for tracheostomy education, but until Sarah’s visit, there had been no training on how to evaluate and treat such patients for swallowing problems.
Many, many thanks to speech therapists Sarah Wallace, Niamh Winters, and Alexia Young from the UK for organizing and volunteering to teach this course and to our speech pathologists in Cambodia, Annie Johnson and Paula Espinosa, who worked extremely hard to put the course into place. Special thanks also go to Veasna Leng for his great translation and to our interpreters, Sim and Samnang, who made the course accessible to all of our trainees. And most of all, a huge thank you to our intrepid trainees for their enthusiasm, and energy, and eagerness to learn!