NSSLHA MARCH MEETING - WORKING IN THE VA MEDICAL SETTING

Anne Preddy graduated with her MA in Communication Disorders from CSULA in 2008. She now works as an SLP at the Long Beach VA Medical Center and came back to tell us about what she does every day at the VA.

SLPs at the VA do a little bit of everything and treat a variety of communicative disorders including speech, language, voice, dysphagia, cognitive disorders, and swallowing.

Anne’s job which was at first overwhelming has turned out to be a rewarding opportunity to pursue a career she’s extremely passionate about. She referred to SLPs at the VA as “jacks of all trades ” because in this setting every day presents new challenges and opportunities to use the latest technology in assessment and intervention.

Patients at the VA are veterans ages 19 to 99 that have served our country over the decades. Working in this setting has enabled Anne to provide services to this population and assist them in their return to their lives at home.
Since Anne started working at the VA about 2 years ago she has gained experience with a number of assessment and intervention strategies in a range of areas. Anne mentioned a number of different assessment tools that she has had the opportunity to utilize and gain valuable experience with on a daily basis. Working at the VA in her opinion is “heaven for a gadget geek” because there are so many opportunities to work with cutting edge technology. The VA setting provides valuable experience with the most current assessment and intervention devices and technology like fiber optic endoscopes, electrolarynx devices, TEP, AAC, oral motor exercises, Barium swallow tests, standardized tests, cognitive prosthetic devices and cognitive group therapy.

She has worked with a number of patients who have sustained injuries like TBIs from blasts, IEDs, and grenades. SLPs working at the VA use a multidisciplinary approach to treatment and provide a host of functional cognitive group therapy programs like College Connection and Brain Boot Camp that teach patients compensatory strategies and provide opportunities to learn to problem solve in a number of activities of daily living.

Working at the VA hospital provides SLPs with the opportunity to provide these brave veterans with the treatment and compensatory strategies they need to resume a life that in some ways resembles the one they had before going to war.
Anne’s Pros and Cons of working at the VA

Pros:
The positive impact you have on the lives of veterans
The opportunity to work with adults
Collaboration with other SLPs and medical professionals
The potential to participate in research projects
Access to cutting edge technology

Cons:
Longer work hours
Less vacation time
The “Yuck Factor”