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Making life better
Watching patients improve under her care motivates Ms Boo.
PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
MS JASMINE Boo, 24, knew she had made the right choice when she accepted a Ministry of Health Scholarship to study speech pathology.
She graduated from the University of Queensland with honours, majoring in speech pathology, and is currently working in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) as a speech therapist. She assesses, diagnoses and manages swallowing disorders and a range of communication disorders in adults and children.
Her patients mainly have weakened or damaged muscles and nerves that are used for swallowing, which may result in food and liquids going into the windpipe, instead of the oesophagus and stomach, leading to pneumonia or abscesses.
This puts the affected individual at risk of malnutrition or dehydration.
Ms Boo's day begins by seeing patients referred to her by doctors and following up with existing patients. She assesses their swallowing and communication abilities and recommends the consistency or food texture safest for them. Usually, she sees patients who have suffered a stroke or Parkinson's disease, or those who have had surgeries for brain tumours.
She puts her elderly patients at ease by talking to them in dialect. "I treat them like my grandparents. The most important thing is to give them respect and not talk down to them," she says.
Many of Ms Boo's classmates at Hwa Chong Junior College went on to study medicine as it seemed like a natural progression for triple science students. But while looking through her options, she learnt of the MOH scholarship to study speech pathology, and decided on the allied health profession.
She had always been keen on a career in health care and even volunteered at Minds (Movement for the Intellectually Disabled) where she taught life skills to children with Down's Syndrome.
She was also influenced by her uncle, a speech pathologist who shared his experiences with her.
She says: "The study of the science of communication and swallowing, various associated disorders as well as the clinical opportunity to interact with individuals attracted me to the course."
Ms Boo spent four years in Queensland and underwent several internships in Australia and Singapore. She was part of an outreach team that provided allied health services in an aboriginal area in northern Queensland.
Says Ms Boo: "My job satisfaction comes from knowing that I'm helping my patients and seeing improvements in their conditions."
She has had her share of difficult moments with patients who were depressed, in denial and who rejected therapy. She encouraged them by giving them time to accept their condition, visiting them often to build rapport and sharing stories of others who have undergone therapy successfully.
Ms Boo intends to use her practical experience in TTSH to identify a specialisation and further her studies. She has met patients who lived with their swallowing difficulties because they did not know that therapies are available. So she hopes that awareness for her profession will grow.