Supporting Patients With Head and Neck Cancer in Rural Kentucky

Although a patient’s communication and swallowing goals may change as they progress through their cancer treatment, today’s podcast guests say the speech-language pathologist’s presence can be one of the most consistent aspects of a patient’s journey.

When SLP Keely Bill identified patients who needed head and neck cancer services in the region where she worked—hours away from the large academic medical centers or university hospitals where the patients originally had surgery or received radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and specialized cancer care—she began taking steps to meet their needs locally.

Bill and her mentor Jen Lutes tell a story of enabling access to care when delivering services to this population in rural northeast Kentucky.

Transcript

Learn More:

• The Value of Prophylactic Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) Services in the Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer
• ASHA Practice Portal: Head and Neck Cancer
• Head and Neck Cancer in a Rural U.S. Population: Quality of Life, Coping, Health Care Literacy, and Access to Services
• ASHA Evidence Map: Head and Neck Cancer

Support for this episode of ASHA Voices comes from AMN Healthcare.