RUMFORD — Cindy Dawson, who has been a part-time speech pathologist at Rumford Hospital for 10 years, now serves patients five days a week, both in the therapy department at the hospital and at Rumford Community Home. She provides speech and language evaluations for and treats people of all ages.

In the early days of the program, Dawson often worked until 8 p.m. to serve all the patients needing evaluations and therapy. The need for the service grew from a few hours each week to a few days and finally to a full 40-hour week.

Her specialty is patients who have swallowing difficulties and with a new teleneurology program linking Rumford Hospital’s Emergency Department with Massachusett General Hospital’s neurologists, a swallow screening program for patients will become even more important.

Dawson lives in Roxbury with her husband and golden retriever. The couple has two grown children.