Major rise in referrals to early intervention service
Referrals to an early intervention service have increased by 96 per cent since it was set up in Galway in 2009.
The inter-agency initiative for children with complex needs, involves the HSE, the Brothers of Charity, and Enable Ireland, a meeting of the HSE West’s regional health forum was told recently.
Cllr Mary Hoade, a Fianna Fail councillor for the Tuam electoral area and a forum member, asked what resources had been allocated to the service and how many speech and language therapists are employed in Galway.
In reply, Tony Canavan, the chief officer for community services, said the total allocation to early intervention is 10.4 fulltime speech and language therapists. The HSE added an additional 0.5 fulltime post in 2016 as part of the speech and language therapy waiting list improvement initiative.
He outlined there were 35.8 speech and language therapists employed in Galway city and county across a wide range of services.
CuanBeo to host public meetings in south Galway
A series of public meetings will take place in Maree, Kinvara, and Ballyvaughan, hosted by CuanBeo, a community-based organisation established to improve the quality of life, environment, economy, and heritage around Galway Bay.
CuanBeo, which translates as the living bay, will host the meetings in the Maree Community Centre (Tuesday April 17 ); Merriman Hotel, Kinvara (Wednesday 18 ), and the Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan (Thursday 19 ). All meetings start at 7.30pm.
For more information see www.cuanbeo.com or contact Diarmuid Kelly (087 - 2455032 ). The meetings are supported by the Waters and Communities Office.
