Thahira Kallumurikkal, AuD '22, has already had quite a career. And, by the time she walked across the stage at commencement on May 26, 2022, to receive her Doctor of Audiology degree from Salus University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA), she was ready to head back to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) even more prepared to do greater things.
Dr. Kallumurikkal, an audiologist at Abu Dhabi Health Services Company's (Seha) Oud Al Touba Diagnostic & Screening Center in Al Ain, UAE, has played an important role in spreading awareness and support about the pandemic in her community.
And, now she’s written a book about the experience. Titled “This Too Shall Pass,” Dr. Kallumurikkal hopes the book will used as a reference guide should another pandemic, or another pandemic-level situation, come along.
“I wrote this book for the community, for the future, if the same situation happens, how we can all — healthcare workers, social workers, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) — work together to overcome it,” said Dr. Kallumurikkal.
The book details the challenges faced by social workers and organizations that helped expatriates — someone who lives outside their own native country — during the pandemic. Approximately 200 different nationalities live in the UAE, according to Dr. Kallumurikkal, and that presented some communication challenges during the pandemic.
"It was clear that not everyone knows English or Arabic, so finding a person with the mother tongue to address certain nationalities was truly difficult,” she said. “Travel issues, fear and emotional instability about their health, their job and travel restrictions all needed to be addressed.”
An expatriate herself, Dr. Kallumurikkal was born in the Palakkad district in Kerala, India, where she earned an audiology degree. She has worked at leading hospitals, including Al Nahda Hospital in Oman, and now serves as a clinical audiologist and team lead of Asian Community Care Coordination at Seha's Ambulatory Healthcare Services in Al Ain, UAE. She has served as a mediator between the UAE government and several NGOs, such as ISC (Indian Social Centre) and NORKA Helpdesk in India, during the peak of the pandemic.
Dr. Kallumurikkal first wrote and published the book in her mother tongue, which is called Malayalam, and debuted it at the Sharjah International Book Fair in November 2021, an 11-day international event held annually in Sharjah, UAE.
Demand for the book was such that it has also now been translated into English and Arabic to reach a wider international audience. Dr. Kallumurikkal also decided to give the book’s proceeds to the people or families in the UAE who lost their lives due to COVID-19 in an effort to support their children’s future education or any medical treatment.
She was excited to return to the United States to participate in the University’s 124th commencement in Philadelphia.
“I joined this program during the pandemic, and I am taking this opportunity to convey my sincere thanks to (OCA faculty member) Dr. Girija Sundar and other faculty members,” said Dr. Kallumurikkal. “They have provided support and proper guidance to complete my degree.”
