Melissa knew at a young age that she wanted to be a speech pathologist. When she was young, her grandfather had a stroke which helped influence the path she wanted to eventually take in life. After school, she would often walk to her grandparent’s house to play cards and visit until her Dad could pick her up. Often, after walking to their house she would arrive, and her grandfather was receiving his speech therapy sessions. Watching the therapist work with her grandfather and the care she took looking out for him, she decided she wanted to do the same thing.
Melissa says, “Through my time in undergraduate and graduate studies I often found myself drawn to working more with children. I have always loved the energy and spirit that children often had and loved the possibilities of helping them grow and progress in their speech and language skills. I graduated and decided to move to Pennsylvania from Buffalo, NY as I couldn’t take the large amounts of snow any longer 😊. In moving to the area, I always had my eye on working at Nemours and when the opportunity arose, I was very lucky to gain a position in the Outpatient Therapy Department. I worked in the therapy department at the main hospital and a satellite site from 2010-2018. In 2018 I had the opportunity to move to the Audiology department and become the Outcomes and Outreach Coordinator giving more time to patients with hearing loss and being an advocate for them and a liaison to their education teams. I have also been able to update and create improved methods for tracking outcomes about this population.”
Working with the Audiology team, Melissa finds that they are very welcoming and appreciative of the expertise she has with her background as a speech pathologist. Her team has been very open to ideas and support and she has created ways to improve processes and outcomes of the department. They also appreciate the improvements in the care and support that families of children with hearing loss need and deserve.
Melissa says, “Nemours has provided me with a way to continue to grow personally and professionally. I have had the unique opportunity to take the years I spent working one-on-one in therapy rooms with patients and translate that into a new role. The care and support that I can now offer to families of children with hearing loss is like no other. I am happy to continue to help grow within the department and Nemours as a whole. It is my greatest pleasure to be able to provide this new unique help and support to each family’s journey with their children diagnosed with a hearing loss.”
“As a clinician, I am someone who cares very deeply about each family and child. I had a family once that was struggling to get their current school district to offer the support needed to help this bright child continue to grow. I was able to use my professional expertise and resources to get the family’s help. In researching and finding others that were able to help the school was able to recognize their inability to fully see the potential in this student and agreed that they were unable to provide the adequate support needed to help her grow. They have since helped to find an appropriate school that can not only provide the support, she needs but also see her potential and ability to continue to develop and grow. She is now attending that school and thriving. I see the family around the hospital now time to time and mom has shared that while at home this child continues to play ‘therapy’ with her dolls and calls herself Miss Melissa.”
