Clinical placements play a vital role in a health care learner’s journey, bridging academic learning with real-world practice and helping students build confidence, competence, and professional identity. Through hands-on experience, learners develop essential clinical skills, teamwork, and an understanding of patient-centred care.

As an academic health sciences centre, our Hospital is proud to support learners by providing a safe, supportive, and enriching placement environment where future professionals can learn, grow, and contribute meaningfully to patient care.

We want you to meet some of the learners at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) who are currently on that journey — such as Molly Kunnas.

Hometown – Thunder Bay, ON

Program – Speech-Language Pathology at Western University.

What does an average day during your placement look like?

Our day typically begins with reviewing patient charts and any new swallowing assessment referrals that have come in. My preceptor and I then discuss our caseload and prioritize patients we’d like to see that day. One aspect of my placement that I have particularly enjoyed is the opportunity to work within the cancer centre, where we see head and neck cancer patients for swallowing assessments and follow-up appointments during and after radiation therapy. Much of our day involves conducting swallowing assessments, determining whether patients are swallowing safely, and developing recommendations to support safe and efficient oral intake. We work closely with registered dietitians and other members of the interdisciplinary team to ensure patients are not only eating and drinking safely but are also able to meet their nutritional needs. We also assess and treat patients with speech, language, and cognitive-communication difficulties.

Is there a mentor or faculty member who has significantly impacted you?

I’ve been really fortunate to have such amazing support from my preceptor Emily Hill. As a student entering an acute care placement, there is a learning curve, and Emily has been consistently supportive and encouraging throughout my placement.  It’s been great to watch and learn from her as well as the other amazing speech-language pathologists at TBRHSC. I feel very grateful to have had this as my final placement working alongside such wonderful clinicians!

What is one interesting fact others might not know about you?

I’m a former student athlete and played for the women’s hockey team at University of Manitoba.