Amy Clift’s job can be a real pain in the neck, or rather throat.
As a speech-language pathologist at Mercy Clinic Ear, Nose and Throat, Clift is part of one of the few clinics that employ on-site equipment to perform an in-house swallow study or laryngoscopy with a video stroboscopy. With it, Clift can assess voice damage and plan treatments. She is the only Springfield-area speech-language pathologist operating in a clinic setting.
“It would be hard to find a job like mine anywhere,” she says. “Especially one that allows someone with my degrees and background to only practice one thing, like I do.”
While earning her graduate degree in speech language pathology, she says students had just one class each in voice and swallowing. It wasn’t until externships at the Mercy Clinic and Springfield’s Center for Voice, Speech and Swallowing that she began to find her direction.
Today, in addition to bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication disorders, Clift holds a string of certifications, licenses and certificates. Her patient base consists of individuals throughout southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas, people who are having trouble speaking or swallowing.
On any given day, Clift will lead a patient in articulation therapy after laryngetomy surgery or reteach them how to swallow after neck cancer.
“Communications and eating are two of the most important functions in our lives,” she says. “Our voice allows us to express ourselves in unique and important ways, and voice disorders can have far-reaching professional, psychosocial, financial and emotional consequences.”
On the vocal side, Clift consults independently with Silver Dollar City performers, as well as theater, music and vocal performance majors at her alma mater Missouri State University and at and Drury University.
“I work with ministers, attorneys, teachers, volunteers, singers, elderly and children to facilitate improvement in voice,” she says.
Through her work in swallow disorders and therapy, Clift takes a more critical approach to patient health.
Improper swallowing can cause infection, tissue damage and various other consequences, she says. With a higher-than-average prevalence of smoking in Missouri Clift says the majority of her post-surgical patients are the result of smoking-related cancers, and she receives numerous referrals for follow-up care for patients who have undergone cancer surgery in St. Louis.
“I develop special relationships with all of my patients and their family members, which helps to best determine the best treatment plan to improve function at home and at work,” she says. “I am inspired daily by their perseverance.”[[In-content Ad]]
