The Sunshine Coast hosted the largest gathering of specialist speech pathologists in Australia last month, and welcomed international delegates from across the globe, thanks to funding from Wishlist via Just Better Care Sunshine Coast.

The Aphasiology Symposium of Australasia 2018 was held at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital on 28-29 November.

The symposium brought together speech pathology researchers, clinicians and students to build connections, share information and engage with one another to improve the lives of people with aphasia.

Aphasia is a condition that can affect people’s ability to speak and understand language (both written and spoken) and is caused by stroke or other damage to the language centres of the brain.

Dr Kirstine Shrubsole, chair to the conference committee and lecturer in speech pathology at the Southern Cross University, said the  symposium's aim was to improve the quality of therapy for people affected by aphasia.

“People with aphasia often know what they want to say, but have difficulties getting their message out.

“This event, held every two years in different locations across Australia, allows speech pathologists who specialise in working with people with aphasia to stay up-to-date with the latest research and learn from world-leading experts.

“Delegates can then take this research back to their workplace and use it to provide the highest quality, evidence-based therapy and support to people living with aphasia and their families.

“Because of Wishlist’s support, we can host delegates from across Australia and abroad in the state-of-the-art auditorium at the Sunshine Coast Health Institute,” said Dr Shrubsole.

Just Better Care Sunshine Coast Director, Tony Sandy, said they were delighted to part of the important event.

“The Symposium is a great step towards improving care for customers diagnosed with aphasia, while assisting in building a supportive platform for individual’s and their family dealing with symptoms of Aphasia, locally.

The Symposium hosted delegates from Singapore, Canada, USA, UK, New Zealand, Denmark, India, and Vietnam.