Speak Out April 2018

Branch News

The Dysphagia Interest Group of Victoria Swallowing Awareness Day event

Victoria

This year the Dysphagia Interest Group of Victoria (DIG) partnered with The University of Melbourne, Australian Catholic University, and La Trobe University in holding the inaugural Swallowing Awareness Day event. Over 150 DIG members and current speech pathology students attended the event which aimed to: • Provide a networking opportunity for clinicians working in dysphagia and current Speech Pathology students, • Provide a platform for students from the different University programs to meet, • Give students the opportunity to hear from new graduate and experienced clinicians and researchers working in dysphagia, • Engage students with DIG and other special interest groups. We would like to extend a sincere thanks to our guest speakers, Kathleen Mellahn (Western Health), Rachel Kerr (The Royal Children’s Hospital) and Dr Jacqui Frowen (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre), for sharing their experiences working in the field of dysphagia. Kathleen, Rachel and Jacqui were also joined by a panel of experienced Speech

Pathologists and Researchers (Camille Paynter, Dana Kabaila, and Dr Sheridan Foster) who shared their top tips for students and fielded questions from the audience. Thanks also to Dr Kate Bridgman (La Trobe University) and Danielle Czapnik (Australian Catholic University), and the SPA Victorian Branch Student represe (Megan Adams, Emily Jackson, Lee-Anne Manski, Aashna Vazirani and Stephanie Verga, led by Camille Paynter and Jodie Smith) for their partnership in organising the event. We look forward to running the event again in 2019! The DIG executive Dr Megan Keage (The University of Melbourne) on behalf of the DIG executive: Kelly Belnick (Eastern Health), Kate McCullough (Western Health), Sarah Osmond (Melbourne Health) and Dr Megan Keage (The University of Melbourne)

VIC 2073 members as at March 2018

36

April 2018 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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