SITKA – SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital (MEH) welcomed Speech Therapist, Suzan Hess, MS, CCC-SLP and Occupational Therapist, Jamilee Adams, MS, OTR/L as full-time providers.

Both speech and occupational therapy are critical for patients with certain medical conditions gain or maintain the ability to perform everyday activities ordinarily taken for granted.

Ms. Hess provides speech and language services for SEARHC patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. She provides therapy that includes help with feeding and swallowing, stroke rehabilitation, and other speech and language disorders.

Suzan has worked as a Speech and Language Pathologist in the Sitka area since 2000. She earned both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Speech and Language Pathology from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. She has a particular interest in early intervention, child development, infant-child mental health, swallowing disorders and stroke rehabilitation.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]As an Occupational Therapist, Ms. Adams works with patients to improve or develop skills that allow day-to-day independence. For an adult, those skills include areas of self-care, taking care of one’s home, leisure, and work. For children, they may include playing, hand washing, drawing, and using scissors.

Jamie received a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. She began her career in Texas in an acute inpatient setting then moved on to become a travel therapist. Ms. Adams has experience working with multiple diagnoses, including orthopedic, cardiorespiratory, transplants, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), and various others. Having also worked with patients at MEH as a traveling provider, Jamie fell in love with Sitka and agreed to stay and work at SEARHC full time.

Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital is proud to offer these critical services. Those interested in these therapies should meet with their primary care provider and obtain a referral before making appointments through the SEARHC physical therapy department.

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