Swallowing Disorders – Nutrition Advice

Around 18 million Americans suffer from dysphagia, a swallowing disorder, which can make every meal and sip of water feel like drowning as the disorder makes swallowing difficult. The main risk is aspirating, or inhaling food/liquid into the airway and lungs, which then can cause pneumonia. These individuals must rely on thickened liquids, but options are limited and often unappealing. As a result, more than 200,000 short-term hospital stay patients with dysphagia are discharged with dehydration each year.

In efforts to support caregivers and those with swallowing disorders, speech language pathologist, Jennifer Baquet, was able to join me in a quick interview to share more about this swallowing disorder for our Michigan Mom Living readers.

Here are some topics Jennifer covered:

*Statistics regarding patients with swallowing disorders

*Signs and symptoms of swallowing disorders (Dysphagia)

*Does the swallowing disorder affect the patient’s speech also?

*Treatments for this disorder

*Ways to keep these patients hydrated

*Recipes available for those on a nectar thick or honey thick diets?

*Where can patients go to learn more information?

Check out the complete interview at https://vimeo.com/175745564

More about Jennifer:

Jennifer Baquet, MA, CCC-SLP, is a senior clinician with Language Fundamentals, which provides services at the Amsterdam Nursing Home in New York City.  She was part of a team at Amsterdam that helped develop and implement an innovative dining service program for those with dysphagia. They created new and popular drink flavors like kiwi strawberry, and even were able to serve broths or a resident’s own favorite tea.

For more information, visit http://thickit.com.