The Samaritan Physical Rehabilitation departments serving Lincoln County residents welcome a new speech-language therapist to their team, Kayla Murchison, MS, SLP-CF.
Murchison, who will see patients in Lincoln City and Newport, said she is very happy to have found a second career focused on helping people. Her first, decade-long career was as a government contractor working mostly alone on a computer. While she enjoyed the work, a company-wide layoff gave her the opportunity to re-evaluate her career choice. She loves language and once shadowed a speech-language pathologist, which gave her the spark to return to college to study this field.
“I knew I wanted to work with people, not just with computers. With speech-language pathology, I get to talk with people, see them face to face, and there is a lot of problem-solving involved, which are all things that I enjoy,” she said.
Murchison graduated from the University of Montana with a master’s degree in speech-language pathology and earned a certificate in clinical fellowship through mentored professional experience. She also received specialty certification in Lee Silverman Voice Treatment to help patients who have Parkinson’s or other neurological diseases.
She is experienced working with patients across the lifespan to improve quality of life for those with acquired and neurogenic disorders (disorders of the brain and nerves). Examples include stroke and brain injuries. These and other disorders can make it difficult to speak, swallow and comprehend language. It can impair cognitive communication such as memory, attention, and planning.
Growing up in Washington, Murchison is excited to call the Pacific Northwest home once again. In her free time, she enjoys backpacking, playing chess, hiking and is trying her hand at surfing.
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