Therapist Thursday Spolight!
Meet Veronica DeSelms! Veronica is a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) who works in multiple areas throughout our clinic with both adult and pediatric patients. She is certified in VitalStim (a treatment for swallowing that uses nueromuscular electrical stimulation specifically for the face and neck), Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) directed toward patients with Parkinson’s Disease (to increase vocal loudness and ability to communicate with others), Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Feeding Therapy (to address sensory needs in children with feeding difficulties).
Veronica is from Derby, KS. She says that there was a tree line on the backside of her property where she would make forts. She and her best friend spent several hours playing there as kids! Veronica went to K-State with a full ride scholarship on the rowing team and states that she now likes to keep up with the team and also watch K-State Football.
Veronica has visited Pelotas, Brazil where she stayed with a friend whose family had a pet Emu! She also learned, while there, to not wave a police officers because it means you are in trouble or being abducted! In her spare time she likes to spend time with her husband Jake, daughter Clara, and their various animals.
Veronica says her funniest work experience was when she was an Interim to the Interim CEO of Newman Regional Health for 30 minutes one day and got the entire administrative hall to have a dance party with her. She says “Life is better when you’re laughing and having fun!”
Veronica chose speech therapy for the opportunities that the career has. Veronica’s title is “Speech Therapist” because speech-language-hearing-resonance-voice-swallowing-fluency-pragmatics-cognitive-communications-modalities pathologist won’t fit on a name badge! Veronica says that the way the brain works fascinates her. When she took her first anatomy and physiology class she knew that this would be a career that would continue to intrigue her and challenge her. No brain is the same, and she loves being able to help both children and adults enjoy their life to the fullest! Communication is the essence of human life.
What Veronica says she finds most rewarding about her job is finding treatments that work for each individual person. She says, “The same treatment doesn’t work for everyone, so finding what my patients excel at and matching a program with it to see improvements make my heart soar!” In the near future, Veronica plans to increase her knowledge of myofascial release as well as pediatric feeding and swallowing.
