Mom credits speech language pathologist for son's recovery from traumatic brain injury
Tyler Templeman was 25 when a workplace accident left him a traumatic brain injury
Tonya Ruby credits her 27-year-old son's speech language pathologist for the progress he's made in his recovery from a traumatic brain injury.
Tyler Templeman was 25 years old when a workplace accident at a mine in Labrador left him with life-threatening injuries. He was flown to a hospital in Quebec, where Ruby said doctors planned to place him in palliative care.
"They said he didn't stand a chance. Basically, he wanted to, you know, close the book," Ruby told CBC.
Doctors told her Templeman wouldn't breathe again. He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't survive the surgeries needed to repair his broken bones. They said his brain wouldn't be able to handle it.
When he returned to Newfoundland and Labrador, Ruby said doctors wanted to place him in long-term care.
"You hear people telling stories about people who defy the odds, and if there's anybody in the world that I know of who can, not just cause he's my son, it's Tyler," Ruby said.
'He is in there'
Templeman did defy those odds. He now can eat and breathe. He can sit up.
Ruby said every day was a fight with the public healthcare system but she credits the speech language pathologist he was assigned to after his transfer to the Health Sciences Centre with his steady recovery.
"The only person that managed to break through with Tyler was his SLP at the time on the floor," Ruby said. "She said 'he is in there.'"
She re-taught Templeman how to swallow and got him rehabilitation services at the Miller Centre after Ruby said doctors denied his application.
"The first time he swallowed, it went up his nose. That's how wrong it all was," Ruby said. "She spoke to the different counterparts at the Miller Centre, and we got a referral from her."
Since then, Templeman has received treatment at the Miller Center every week. He also goes to the gym, swims, and spends time with his friends.
Ruby said he can drink a beer with his buddies using a straw because of the work he did with an SLP.
"He's only a young fella. That's what he would do anyway," Ruby said. "If it was not for her, they would have closed the door on Tyler."
More referrals, limited SLPs
The union representing speech-language pathologists working for NL Health Services, the Association of Allied Health Professionals (AAHP), is advocating that the province hire more SLPs.
Spokesperson Erin Curran told CBC, there hasn't been an increase in SLP resources since 2010, despite referrals almost doubling in the last three to four years.
"Our members are being asked to do more with less everywhere," Curran said. "In rural areas, the situation is even worse as they work across multiple populations, including pediatric, adult, long-term care, inpatient, and outpatient—often with no additional staffing."
Scope of practice misunderstood
Colleen Kearney is an SLP working in private practice in St. John's. For the first 16 years of her career, she worked for the provincial health authority.
Kearney believes the province hasn't invested in SLP services because it doesn't understand an SLP's scope of practice.
"I think it comes from a lack of understanding of what the profession does and how much or how intense the therapy is, and that it's a long process for many," she told CBC.
Kearney works with a lot of children in her practice, but early intervention is key for all patients.
For children, she said, language development issues can create literacy problems.
"You can't have learning without good communication skills," Kearney said.
Also in her scope of practice is speech sound production, cognitive communication, and the treatment of feeding and swallowing disorders.
As a private clinician, Kearney is advocating for the public system to do better.
"I'm a private clinician. Why am I here talking about public services? Because it's in my scope of practice to be an advocate for people who have communication impairment and the parents of children who have communication impairment," she said.
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