Project Description

Project ID

04KMH002

Project Type

Funded Project - Normal Project

Project Title

Speech therapy program for cleft palate patients in the peripheral sites of Nepal

Project Summary

After the completion of the speech therapy training in the beginning of January 2005, four paramedics/nurses will be posted in the peripheral sites to provide the speech therapy on a more regular basis.

Location

Several peripheral sites in Nepal

Time Frame

One year starting from January 1, 2005

Institution

Kathmandu Model Hospital

Exhibition Road, Kathmandu, Nepal

Contact

Shankar Man Rai
Telephone (Voice):  009810-51750,  (Office):  00977-1-4240806
ShankarRai@hotmail.com

ANMF/Nepal Project Manager

Aruna Pant
ArunaPant@anmf.net

ANMF/America Project Manager

Libby Wilson, MD
LibbyWilson@anmf.net

Project Description

1. Background

America Nepal Medical Foundation has been supporting a year-long training of paramedics in speech therapy for cleft palate patients since January 2004 at Kathmandu Model Hospital, Nepal. Four paramedics/nurses are undergoing this training in basic speech therapy for cleft palate patients so that they will be able to provide this much needed service out in the periphery where most of our cleft patients come from. More than 800 cleft palate patients have been operated free of cost by Interplast Surgical Outreach Program with Smile Train now based at the Kathmandu Model Hospital. Interplast, USA has been providing the funding support for speech therapy to these patients at different peripheral sites 6 times a year for a week. Cleft palate patients who had already undergone palate surgery are called with their parents/guardians to spend the whole week with the speech therapists. Food and lodging is provided to them for that duration. One or two speech therapists provide their service to all the patients during the whole week. These week long camps have been organized in smaller towns outside Kathmandu. Unfortunately, six camps a year do not provide adequate therapy for all the patients spread all over the country.

2. Proposal

After the completion of the speech therapy training in the beginning of January 2005, these four paramedics/nurses will be posted in the peripheral sites to provide the speech therapy on a more regular basis. Each paramedic/nurse will cover two sites a month, spending two weeks at each site. Thus, four of them will cover eight sites a month over the whole year. Wherever the children needing therapy are in schools, the paramedics will visit them there as far as possible and provide therapy.

All four paramedics will be visited by the faculty speech doctor (attending speech pathologist) every two months for supervision and guidance for at least two days. One speech faculty will be able to cover all eight sites in a month. He/she will assess, diagnose, and formulate a plan for speech therapy for each patient with the paramedic. The plan will be executed by the paramedics who stays in the community. The faculty will also re-enforce the training and education of the paramedics. All the activities , assessment and plans will be documented both by the faculty and the paramedics.

Every three months, all the paramedics will spend a week in a group with the faculty speech therapists for continuing education /training in speech therapy( lectures, demonstrations, case studies, presentations, etc).

To make the speech therapy available to the poor people in the peripheral sites on a more regular basis, paramedics (CMAs, ANMs, AHWs, etc) trained in basic speech therapy for cleft patients will thus travel and stay in these peripheral sites closer to the homes of our patients and provide the speech therapy under intermittent supervision of qualified speech therapists.

Thus, this program will a) take the speech therapy service to the peripheral sites closer to the homes of the patients, b) continue the training/education of the four paramedics in speech therapy.

Material Requested

None

Training Requested

None

Advisors/Instructors Requested

Advisors:

Shankar Man Rai, Plastic Surgeon, Kathmandu Model Hospital
Basant Mathema, Plastic Surgeon, Kathmandu Model Hospital

Instructors:

Bhawani Pradhan, Speech Pathologist and Audiologist
Rosie Slater, Speech Therapist

Travel/Expenses Requested

None

Grants/Stipends Requested

Stipend for paramedics:

$100/month/paramedic for one year =100 X 4 X 12 (including for food, lodging, travel) = $4,800

Remuneration to the Speech Therapy Faculty:

$500/month X 6 times a year = $3,000

Other Items Requested

$200 (educational materials, stationery, sound recording, documentations)

Total Funds Requested

$8,000

Budget

None

Additional Information

Duration of the Program:

For one year starting from January 2005. An evaluation by ANMF, Nepal will be requested and depending on its recommendation, a further funding for the continuation of the program may be requested for the subsequent years.

Additional Information:

To give the full benefit of the cleft palate surgery, especially when the surgery is done in an age above the ideal one (12months) , post operative speech therapy is very important. The therapy has to be protracted to be of any benefit. Since most of our patients are coming from the periphery, it is essential that the service is available to them at a place nearer to their homes. The small number of speech pathologists in Nepal has been a limiting factor for speech therapy service available to the majority who need them. The necessity of training the paramedics in post palate surgery speech therapy was recognized and a year-long training of four paramedics since January 2004 has been funded generously by the America Nepal Medical Foundation. The aim of training has been to make the paramedics able to assist the speech pathologists who will diagnose and formulate a therapy plan which could be carried out by the trained paramedics under intermittent supervision of the pathologists.

Funding support for having four such trained paramedics provide the therapy in the periphery sites with intermittent supervision and support from the speech pathologists every two months is being sought for.

Project Status

4/28/04
Request received by ANMF/Nepal
11/1/04
Request approved by ANMF/Nepal
12/12/04
Request approved by ANMF Projects Committee as a Fund Raising Project
1/30/05
ANMF Board approves $5,000 for project as a Funded Project
4/24/05
$5,000 distributed to project
11/18/06
ANMF Project successfully completed, program continues in Nepal. Donations to the program can continue to be made through ANMF (see below).

If you wish to make a contribution to Kathmandu Model Hospital, please go to Donate and specify that your donation is targeted to Kathmandu Model Hospital.

Thank you!