JOB TITLE: Speech Pathologist/ Therapist: Clinical Lead
DURATION: Two years desirable, one year considered
START DATE: June 2022 to September 2022, negotiable
CANDIDATE PROFILE AND JOB SUMMARY:
Join us for an exciting and rewarding position in Cambodia! We are looking for a dysphagia clinician (SLP, ST, SLT, Orthophoniste), who can be the Clinical Lead for our small and friendly team. Candidates must be qualified dysphagia clinicians with at least five years of experience in dysphagia management and at least one year of supervisory experience in dysphagia management.
Candidate must be a native speaker of English or have fluent English as an additional/second language, and professional written, spoken, and receptive English-language skills, at a Level 7 or higher (pre-advanced, C1 or higher).
Clinical supervision will include overseeing Cambodian clinicians performing swallow screens and evaluating acute hospital patients with dysphagia across three public hospitals. Supervisory assistance will also be needed with treatment plans, chart documentation, communication with medical staff and the like. Ideally, the candidate can also supervise Cambodian dysphagia clinicians carrying out FEES evaluations.
Duties will also include supervising our small administrative and clinical team, in order to help our general manager, our interpreter-translator, and our part-time speech pathologist to coordinate and plan activities in an appropriate and timely manner.
The candidate must have some experience living in or at least travelling in low-resource countries such as in Southeast Asia, Africa, Central America, and the like, and demonstrate an interest in and appreciation of cultures different from their own.
The candidate must have a strong sense of adventure as well as a healthy work ethic in order to take on a job that requires both a great deal of flexible thinking, solid organizational abilities, and emotional resilience.
BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZATION(S)
Speech Therapy Cambodia (STC) www.speechtherapycambodia.org is a US charity, set up in 2014 to fund the development of Speech and Language Therapy/Pathology in Cambodia. Its operational branch—Speech and Swallowing Therapy Cambodia (SSTC)—is a Cambodian registered NGO, established in 2016.
Currently, Cambodia has no local Speech therapists/pathologists, nor a Speech Therapy profession. STC began by addressing this at a grassroots level: providing dysphagia training and supervision to Cambodian health care professionals (doctors, nurses, physical therapists) in three Phnom Penh hospitals. SSTC Speech Therapists (permanent and visiting volunteers) now provide hospital supervision of Cambodian dysphagia clinicians whom we have trained over the years, and we provide continuing education and service development support to hospitals.
As a result of our efforts, Cambodia now has roughly 8 clinicians able to provide swallow screening and clinical bedside exams, as well as dysphagia management and rehabilitation appropriate to the Cambodian context. Five additional Cambodians have been partially trained in dysphagia management, with their training halted in 2020 and in 2021 due to the pandemic. We hope to resume this training. A nurse screening training program for 24 nurses across two public hospitals is in progress.
A number of Cambodian dysphagia clinicians have also received training in FEES and are supervised by SSTC as they carry out the procedure. The hospitals have also benefitted from FEES equipment that has been donated to hospitals by generous U.S. vendors, facilitated by FEES founder and expert, Dr. Susan Langmore, who has come to Cambodia as a volunteer trainer four times over the years.
SSTC is helping to create connections with relevant Cambodian people and organizations, using these to build awareness of and demand for professional Speech Therapy. A new initiative is underway to partner with the University of Puthisastra, a prominent private university in Phnom Penh to create a one-year post-graduate university course in dysphagia management for working Cambodian doctors and nurses
OUR TEAM IN CAMBODIA
We have a small, close, and friendly permanent team in Cambodia that carries out our projects and operations with the assistance of our remote team in the US and in the UK.
Mr. Leng Veasna, Cambodian general manager in Phnom Penh carries out the vast majority of SSTC’s non-clinical operations, such as negotiation with ministries, setting up formal meetings, managing our finances and acting as an overall great cultural link for us.
Ms. Emeline Mottais, Speech Therapist (Orthophoniste), a French specialist in dysphagia, who does hands-on supervision of our trained Cambodian dysphagia clinicians in their respective hospitals conducts online mini-courses in continuing education for them, and contributes to our ongoing program development.
Ms. Khan Dalin, Cambodian interpreter/translator, highly skilled in English, accompanies our western Speech Therapists as they do their clinical supervision and teaching. She also translates our documents, letters, and materials, and supports online communications. Highly qualified SLP volunteers complete our team and are scheduled for at least three weeks at a time in Cambodia to assist with special projects.
OUR REMOTE TEAM
Ms. Annie Johnson, an SLT from the UK, worked for Speech Therapy Cambodia/ Speech and Swallowing Therapy Cambodia as Clinical Lead in Phnom Penh 2018-2021. She has returned to the UK recently but continues to work two days a week for SSTC as a consultant and is in continual contact with the SSTC team and extremely active in our projects.
Ms. Elizabeth Chafcouloff founded Speech Therapy Cambodia in 2013 and is a speech pathologist specializing in dysphagia. She spent many months a year 2014-2019 set up the program and recruiting SLP clinical educators and trainers who created a solid training program. She is in weekly meetings with members of the SSTC team and participates in program development for SSTC.
Dr. Alice E. Smith conducted training in speech therapy in Cambodia over a period of 14 years from 2002 to 2016. A specialist in cleft lip and palate, she was a regular speech advisor for the Operation Smile Cambodia team, and lived in Cambodia for several years, teaching university sessions, and operating a mobile speech-language clinic around the country. Alice is also an expert in dysphagia practice. She is an advisor for Speech Therapy Cambodia and is a current board member.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Clinical Lead:
Supervised by/ Reports to Elizabeth Chafcouloff, President, Speech Therapy Cambodia
Provides Clinical Supervision and teaching:
• Supervises Cambodian dysphagia clinicians as they assess/treat dysphagia patients in acute, adult, inpatient settings (shared with existing SLP staff, and volunteer clinical supervisors).
• Co-creates and delivers (in conjunction with existing SLP staff) new teaching content for clinicians.
• Identifies and problem-solves any issues impacting on clinical delivery by Cambodian trainees (e.g. record keeping/data collection, referral pathways, performance issues).
• Supervises and provides teaching for FEES (as qualified).
Participates in program development:
• Collaborates with Cambodian healthcare facilities to grow and develop dysphagia service structures, prioritizing quality and sustainability.
• Identifies clinical resource gaps (e.g. written materials, videos, equipment) and helps plan how to meet these needs.
Carries out collaborative management of SSTC team:
• Oversees SSTC Team activities, ensuring appropriate scheduling, task assignment, and timely implementation of activities. Participates in weekly team meetings to discuss activities and to support efforts and outcomes.
• Supports SSTC General Manager with clinical aspects of arranging venues, resources, permissions, and communications (e.g. for formal teaching)
• With SSTC General Manager, appropriately maintains records, communications and document management systems (e.g. team calendar, quarterly reports, professional email, shared document drive).
• Attends meetings with external stakeholders to ensure smooth coordination and planning.
Contributes to ongoing projects:
The role involves leading on/contributing to projects which create awareness, and resources for the future of Speech Therapy in Cambodia.
The following are examples, but input/ engagement /responsibilities can be highly variable, depending on the time available.
• Coordinates (with support) possible University courses with the University of Puthisastra in conjunction with both in-country and remote teams.
• Prepares content for and presents at conferences, lectures or other formal settings as required
• Designs and oversees small scale research into dysphagia/speech therapy
• Works with external agencies to develop dysphagia/speech therapy-related outputs to benefit Cambodia – for example, the creation of Cambodian IDDSI.
• Plans and delivers a variety of awareness-raising activities/events/materials.
QUALIFICATIONS
Essential Qualifications
• Speech and Language Pathologist/ Therapist (MS/MA, CCC in the US, or Qualified in other countries).
• Minimum 5 years post MA/MS, CCC, or post Qualification dysphagia management experience as an SLP/SLT/ SP
• Experience teaching and supervising others in adult dysphagia management
• Able to work with mental flexibility – e.g. in the context of rapidly changing plans and schedules
• Proven record of working well under the direction and providing direction/support to others
• Strong organizational and time management skills
• Innovative, enthusiastic and creative team player; highly effective professional communication
• Professional English language skills (a native speaker / fluent English as an additional language)
• Willingness to accept a living wage for Cambodia, but not a high wage
Essential Cross-Cultural Experience
• Record of effective working in cross-cultural /multi-cultural context
• Experience living in or extensive travelling in a low-middle income country
• Experience working with and through interpreters
Highly Desirable Experience
• FEES trained/ experience teaching FEES
• Experience working with developing health care projects in a low-middle income country
• Previous voluntary experience with SSTC/similar organization
• University lecturing and curriculum development experience
• Personal second language learning experience
BENEFITS
General benefits:
• Ability to shape hospital programs and to engage in program development
• Opportunity to work closely with and to teach Cambodian clinicians
• Opportunity to help Cambodian patients in great need
• Ability to influence the creation of the profession of speech pathology in Cambodia
• Work as part of a small but dedicated team
• Access to a global network of peers and mentors with expertise in speech therapy,
international development, project management, fundraising, communications, working with
disability, and more.
• Paid annual and sick leave, flexible working and compensatory time available, plus many
public holidays.
Salary and Extras:
• Salary of US $1,250, four days a week—30 hours. Sufficient for daily living needs with a reasonable apartment in a good area, and frequent explorations of Cambodia during time off.
• Employer obtains a work permit, and support for obtaining visa (official letters, etc.)
• Costs for a work permit and visa, and salary tax are covered by the Employer.
• Assistance in finding airline flights to Cambodia is provided by the Employer, as well assistance in finding housing in Phnom Penh.
• Leave is accumulated at 1.5 days per month for full-time staff (pro-rata for part-time—this position is 80% time), in accordance with Cambodian law.
• Comp time is very flexible and is encouraged but must be approved well in advance
• Paid time off also includes all Cambodian official public holidays (20-25 holidays/ year).
• Any work-related expenses are covered by the Employer (internal travel, work-related lodging, etc.)
• Paid sick leave is taken on an as-needed basis, with no set number of days. If long-term or frequent sick leave is needed, this will be discussed with management.
• Health insurance is the responsibility of the employee, but assistance will be provided for good carriers
• Airfare to and from Cambodia is the responsibility of the employee.
HOW TO APPLY
Before applying, we encourage you to visit our Facebook and website for further information on our mission, vision and projects: www.speechtherapycambodia.org; Speech Therapy Cambodia Facebook.
To apply, please send your CV, brief cover letter/email, plus a personal statement outlining how
you meet the qualifications (max. 600 words) to: speechtherapycambodia2017@gmail.com
For specific questions or an informal chat, please contact:
Annie Johnson (UK based, Clinical Lead): annie@speechtherapycambodia.org and/ or Elizabeth
Chafcouloff, (US-based founder/ program coordinator): chafcouloff@gmail.com
We are accepting applications throughout March and April 2022. Interviews will take place late
April 2022.