Understanding Aphasia – Perspectives from Medicine, Care and Daily Life (Podcast)
Aphasia can change life from one moment to the next – language, communication, and everyday life suddenly become a challenge. The podcast series of the Swiss Neurological Society (SNS) offers professional and personal insights into living with aphasia.
Physicians, healthcare professionals, people affected by aphasia, and their relatives share perspectives on diagnosis, therapy, personal experiences, and coping with the condition. The series provides authentic insights into a neurological disorder that has a lasting impact on communication and quality of life.
The series highlights the importance of interprofessional collaboration and makes current developments in neurological care accessible.
Podcast I: Aphasia from a Neurological and Research Perspective
“Being unable to communicate creates major challenges. In such situations, the entire care team is often involved.” – Prof. Dr. med. Susanne Wegener
This episode explains the medical background of aphasia, including how language disorders develop, available therapies and current advances in neurological research.
Prof. Dr. med. Susanne Wegener, SNS board member, is a neurologist and has been a senior physician at the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) since 2011 and an SNSF professor at the University of Zurich since 2017.
Click here for the transcript of the podcast:
Podcast II: Aphasia from a Care and Speech Therapy Perspective
“At the beginning, we gather information from relatives about patients’ needs and habits. Since language no longer works, this helps us find the right way to communicate.” – Nursing expert Stephan Behr
In this episode, nursing expert Stephan Behr and speech therapist Jennifer Weber discuss the central role of nursing care and speech therapy in the treatment of people with aphasia.
They share practical insights into strategies and tools for dealing with communication disorders, including challenging situations in everyday care, and explain why close interprofessional collaboration is essential for successful therapy.
Click here for the transcript of the podcast:
Podcast III: Aphasia from the Perspective of Patients and Relatives
“The most shocking thing is realising something is wrong but being unable to act. You can’t call anyone for help.” – Urs-Peter Michel, patient
From one moment to the next, language, communication and everyday life changed fundamentally. In this personal episode, Urs-Peter and Verena Michel openly share their experiences of living with aphasia – the challenges the condition brings, but also the new perspectives, experiences and strategies they have developed together over time.
Click here for the transcript of the podcast:
Links and further information
- Aphasia suisse
- Research reports on interprofessionalism in healthcare
- SAMS Charter 2.0 "Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare" (2020)
- Learning video: Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare (DE)
If you are interested in an intensive week for aphasics: Please contact s.kuehner@rehab.ch (Deputy Head of Speech Therapy at Rehab Basel).