Internship Chronicles, Chapter 44: Grace Hagerty

One fall day, a Student Prince decided to go on a little adventure. “It won’t be long before I have a career,” the Prince said, “so I’d better start preparing now.” So with some ’Berg education under their hat, and some connections in their back pocket, the Student Prince began forging their way through an internship.
We continue with our web series, Internship Chronicles.

Chapter 44: Impacting the World, One Voice at a Time

Grace Hagerty is a senior Health Science major with a Communication minor from Tiffin. Following graduation from Heidelberg, she has her sights set on pursuing her Master of Speech-Language Pathology degree. Growing up passionate about speech pathology since supporting family members who were in speech therapy, Grace has become even more involved through her internship and even more fond of the speech world. One of her goals is to help overcome the misconceptions and mistruths of what an SLP does and how much this career impacts the world!

How did you find your internship, or how did the internship find you?

At first, my plans were not to intern for speech therapy, but because of my increased interest in the field, I told my academic advisor that I would be interested in interning somewhere else where there was an SLP therapy program provided so I could learn more about it. Therefore, my advisor was able to talk to some people and found a place for me at Mercy Health - Tiffin Hospital's Rehabilitation Department, where I got to work alongside some of the best speech pathologists.

What did you expect from your internship initially?

Honestly, on my first day, I was extremely nervous. Moreover, I wasn't sure what attire was necessary to wear as an intern and whether or not I should be writing things down the moment I observed things happening. However, I also had my preconceptions about speech at first too, I thought speech was simply just communication and working with kids, but after learning so much with the assistance from my supervisors, there are various areas you can go into when it comes to being an SLP.

What really happened in your day-to-day work?

Throughout the internship, I would describe the day-to-day work as an adventure. The day is always different, filled with new evaluations and patients, and things are consistently changing, whether it's patient progress or the change in the work setting. You see, the thing with speech therapy is that there are various areas of speech you can work with in the daily life of an SLP – areas such as feeding, splitting time between the schools and the hospitals, in-patient and out-patient care, home health, and so much more! For me though, I had the opportunity to observe sessions of both evaluations and treatments of a wide range of children to adults, articulation to stroke victims, and even behaviors and socialization in the communication field.

What connections have you made?

Being at the internship daily and weekly, you get the chance to meet so many amazing new people – people who are overcoming obstacles such as speech disorders, feeding disorders, strokes, and even the progression of Parkinson's Disease which can affect swallowing, cognition, and speech behaviors. Moreover, many patients and people out there who are referred to a speech therapist typically don't take it seriously because they fear there will be no progress, or after one session they don't see progress and never come back. However, after observing my supervisors, they connect so well with the patient that it makes it easier to transition and put in the effort and work that is necessary to overcome said obstacle at hand. I have learned that connections are so important when it comes to speech because it also serves as an emotional therapy for patients as well, and mental health is just as important as speechl. Personally, I have had the opportunity to make extraordinary connections with the therapists as well, including those who are not in speech as they too have helped me along my current and future journey.

What is the most valuable thing you’ll bring back to the classroom after this experience?

The most valuable thing I will bring back to the classroom after this experience is that being an SLP is more than just relying on the aspects of communication or talking. Speech Pathology involves swallowing studies, laryngectomies, cognition, and so much more. Moreover, it is just as much non-verbal as it is verbal as many patients use a device to assist in speech, even signing ASL plays a role in the progression of necessary speech goals. I will never forget the experiences I got to share with these patients, as they allowed me to be a part of their journey.