BENNINGTON, Vt. — Speech therapy patients in areas near Manchester and Wilmington, Vermont, can now schedule appointments closer to home.

 

Speech-language pathologist Kate O'Neill, MS, CCC-SLP, will be traveling from SVMC Outpatient Rehabilitation in Bennington to the primary care offices in Manchester and Wilmington. All three practices are part of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) and Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) in Bennington. 

 

Appointments in Manchester and Wilmington are open to all SVMC speech and language patients, regardless of where they receive primary care.

 

O'Neill works with adults and geriatric patients who have impairments in communication, speech, language, swallowing, voice, and cognition. She treats patients with voice disorders, hearing loss, head and neck cancer, and neurological conditions, including stroke, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), traumatic brain injury, Bell's palsy, and dementia. She conducts videofluoroscopic swallowing studies with the radiologists to evaluate swallowing in real time on an x-ray.

 

O'Neill earned bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Communication Sciences and Disorders from The University of Vermont in 2012. She went on to receive her master's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, in 2014. She holds her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and has clinical licenses in Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts. She is a certified Vital Stim provider, a form of neuromuscular electrical stimulation therapy, and is trained in Myofascial Release. She began working for Southwestern Vermont Health Care in 2016 at The Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, The Centers for Nursing and Rehabilitation, and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.

 

For information about becoming a speech-language patient at SVMC Northshire Campus or SVMC Deerfield Valley Campus, call 802-447-5140 to schedule.