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10 Speak Out June 2016
Thank you to everyone who participated actively
in the campaign to promote Swallowing Awareness
Day. There was a tremendous amount of activity in
the lead up and on the day itself.
There was considerable interest from the media on
the day, with Speech Pathology Australia National
President, Gaenor Dixon, doing around half-a-dozen
radio interviews. She was ably supported by a
number of other Association members who, using the
template media release were able to interest their own
local media. Congratulations to Michelle Cimoli who
spoke with Red Symons on Melbourne ABC Radio
and Anne Huang who secured time with ABC Radio
in Cairns.
The Swallowing Awareness Day Campaign Kit was
well used and there was lots of evidence that Dizzy,
our mascot for the day, was busy promoting the
campaign.
Social media ran hot with #900swallows and
#dysphagia highlighting the involvement of speech
pathologists everywhere. Our social media campaign
received a strong following on Twitter, with a good
showing on both Facebook and Instagram.
According to Symplur Healthcare Hashtags the
#900swallows tag had over 1.2 million impressions
in Twitter with over 200 tweeters supporting the
event. At its peak in the late afternoon of 11 May
(Swallowing Awareness Day) the #900swallows tag
was trending in Australia.
Swallowing Awareness Day
New SPA website
launched
awareness day
PEOPLE SWALLOW 9TIMESPERDAY
(ONAVERAGE)
Wednesday
May 11 2016
One in 17peoplewilldevelop some
formofdysphagia in their lifetime.
dysphagia
A swallowingdisordermayaffect:
around3 times
anhourduring
sleep,
Onceperminutewhileawake,Humans
swallow:
andevenmoreduring
meals!
Dysphagia
(dis-fay-juh)
noun,difficultyor
discomfort in swallowing.
ofolderadults innursing
homes 50%
84% ofpeoplewithParkinson’s
disease
100%ofpeoplewithAlzheimer’s,
at somepoint in theirdisease
progression
ofadultswithmentalhealth
disorders 20%
15-30% ofpeopleaged65+ living in
thecommunity
ofpatientswithheadand
neckcancer,post
chemoradiotherapy
45%
40% of stroke survivorshavean
ongoingneed for support for
swallowing
26
muscles
Swallowinguses More than
1 million
Australians
havedifficulty
swallowing
25% ofpatientswithMultiple
Sclerosishave swallowing
difficulties-increasing toas
manyas65%of thosewith
severeMultiple Sclerosis.
Association news
On Friday 6 May the new Speech Pathology
Australia website went “live”.
The Association’s redeveloped website has a new
look and feel and cleaner lines to make the whole
experience of visiting the site more enjoyable.
The menus have been reordered and the content
reorganised to make the structure of information on
the site easier to find and access.
A feature of the revised site is that it is mobile friendly,
meaning the site can be viewed on smartphones and
tablet devices.
The website is now seamlessly integrated with the
Association’s membership and events databases,
making it easier for members to renew and book
events.
In addition, the website has a new exciting Jobs
Board to make it easier to advertise or secure a new
job.
All the content migrated from the old site has been
updated and all the attachments reformatted to reflect
the Association’s new address and Brand Guide.