Bennett award winners humbled by recognition

“I was the only one who could communicate with him,” she shared. “I didn’t realize what I was doing, but I had that love of helping, and language was important to me.”

In college, Alyssa thought she wanted to be a doctor, but the classes proved to be too much.

“That’s when I found linguistics,” she said. “That helped me learn about language in general, and I thought I might work in the school system.”

Further exploration led her to speech language pathology.

“A lot had to happen to find this career, but those little things made sense that this is what I wanted to do.”

Now in her fourth year at Outer Banks Health, Alyssa said she enjoys working with a variety of patients and diagnoses.

“We help people across the lifespan, and every day is different. A lot of people don’t realize what SLPs do; it’s a lot more than talking. In acute care, I get to be flexible and creative, and in outpatient, I get to build relationships with our patients.”

Acute or outpatient, Alyssa said the best thing about her job is seeing her patients meet their goals.

“Maybe that patient wants to drink a Dr. Pepper,” she said. “I’m in the swallow suite with them, a Dr. Pepper in my bag, ready to give it to them if they pass the swallow study.”

On a smaller scale, Alyssa said she likes making connections.

“You do a lot of talking in speech therapy, so you get to know your patients in a personal way. I like that,” she said.

As for her team, Alyssa said they’re the best.

“Everyone is a friend. We collaborate well and often co-treat our patients. You can bounce ideas off each other. We trust each other – you don’t always see that. And our leadership makes time for education and learning.”

Alyssa didn’t realize at first that she had won the Bennett Award, but she suspected something was up when her family appeared on a Facetime call while she was at work.

“I didn’t know I had been nominated, let alone that I had won,” she said. “I was shocked and humbled; I was grateful that someone took the time out of their day to nominate me. Working with patients is reward enough, but it is nice when your team notices.”

Alyssa said she hopes this award can bring more attention to rehabilitation services, and to SLP in particular.

“Sometimes rehab isn’t recognized, and our field of therapy can be misunderstood,” she said. “It means a lot that someone out there saw what I was doing, especially after the hard work I’ve put in. Hopefully this brings more awareness to SLPs and what we do. I want more people to know the resources available at ECU Health.”