Meet Ambassador Megan Kinzler
- Megan Kinzler
Megan is a Pittsburgh native who now lives in the Bay Area of California. When she isn’t working, she enjoys reading, hiking, and singing. Understanding that laughter serves as its own form of medicine, Megan brings her sense of humor with her wherever she goes. She has a hard time sitting still and enjoys trying out new hobbies like woodworking and traveling as much as possible!
Megan’s Burn Injury Journey
While Megan has experience working in burn units, she feels her journey with burn injury (BI) truly started when she cared for a patient with over 44% total body surface area, with 3rd-degree burns to his face. His injury took his vision, and he needed multiple facial skin grafts and flaps, all of which severely impacted his ability to speak and swallow. This patient showed Megan how crucial the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) role is to the BI population and how often their services may be overlooked for treatment and recovery. She began to better collaborate with her Physical/Occupational Therapists, attended burn unit rounds, and read about burns off the clock to maximize the care she could provide. Through her work, Megan developed a passion to help not only patients but help lead the SLP field of research and advocacy for the burn injury population.
Why does Megan think people should consider referring to the MSKTC resources?
Given her high involvement with patients with TBI, SCI, and Burn Injury, Megan finds the plethora of MSKTC’s resources to be directly relevant and beneficial for her patients. This user-friendly, free, research-based information is helpful for patients from all different backgrounds and is so easily accessible. She also loves how they have options for English and Spanish ready at the click of a button. Megan shares these resources with patients, families, and colleagues to better promote advocacy, healing, and care for her patients.
Why does Megan want to be an MSKTC ambassador?
Megan would like to be an MSKTC ambassador to promote available resources, improve patient care, improve patients’ confidence in returning home after the acute care journey has ended, and promote the role of the SLP in this patient population. She would also like to continue expanding her knowledge of burn injuries to best treat burn survivors and understand their medical complexities both in the acute stages and beyond.
What has Megan done as an MSKTC ambassador?
Megan has provided suggestions to MSKTC on how to further improve handouts and resources involving orofacial burns and stretching. She provides MSKTC resources to patients, shares handouts with coworkers, and works to increase awareness of all that MSKTC has to offer regarding burn injury, TBI, and SCI. She is currently working on ways to help advocate for the SLP role in burn care and feels as though these resources are helpful to patients and help her improve her knowledge and insight into the burn survivor’s journey through care and beyond.