SPECIAL HONORS: Speech Pathologist
Amanda Smith (Photo by Jay Paul)
Nobody likes to tell somebody else bad news. But for Amanda Smith, a speech-language pathologist who has been working at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital for almost 12 years, it’s a necessary part of her job.
“One of the most important things I do is teach family members and patients what their medical conditions are, what their disorders are, ways that they can recover, strategies that they can use to help them become more successful,” she says. “The most challenging part is when you’ve worked with a patient for a very extensive time, and they don’t have the outcome that you were hoping for.”
Smith earned a master’s degree at Auburn University in 2007, then came to work at St. Mary’s, where she has remained since. As a speech-language pathologist, she works with a team of physicians, neurologists and other medical professionals to treat problems with swallowing, speech and communication. She spends a lot of her time with patients and their families.
“When I get a difficult consult, and I see that it’s Amanda I’m working with, it’s a relief,” says Cara Jennings, a physician at St. Mary’s who has worked with Smith for five and a half years. “Things go so much smoother because Amanda’s involved.”
Of course, those difficult consults can be draining for someone who works with multiple patients every day.
“You get very emotionally invested in your patients,” Smith says. For her, it’s important to focus on the successes. “I can think of one particular stroke patient who years ago had severe swallowing difficulties, speech difficulties, physical difficulties. He went to rehab, and he walked back in the hospital to hug all of us and tell us thank you.
“In an average day, I can see a NICU baby that was born prematurely, followed by a 100-year-old patient that had a stroke,” she says. This variety helped her to correctly diagnose a patient, even though as a speech-language pathologist, that’s not a part of her official job.
Several months ago, she saw a patient who was having difficulty swallowing, among other problems. “Nobody knew what was wrong with this patient,” Smith says.
As she began to talk with the patient, Smith recognized, from past experience, that the person had a condition — myasthenia gravis — which is a treatable neuromuscular disorder. “She left the hospital walking, eating a regular diet and returning to her life the way that it had been prior to her admission,” Smith says.
Jennings also worked with the patient and wasn’t surprised that Smith had gotten it right. “She’s definitely one of the brightest people — not only speech pathologists — that I’ve ever met,” she says. “The whole medicine department at St. Mary’s listens to her and respects her advice.”