Meet Our Staff
Linda Allen, PT
Physical Therapist
Linda earned her AA in Pre-Physical Therapy at St. Benedict’s College and her BS in Physical Therapy from the University of Minnesota in 1976. She joined SJA in November 1991. Her primary interest and clinical experience is in pediatric physical therapy with a special interest in adapted aquatics. Linda has been certified in use of the Interactive Metronome neurofeedback program. She has training in the use of the body weight supported Lite Gait treadmill therapy, kinesiotaping, strength training programs and assessment/ management of the young child with torticollis.
Megan Eleid, PT, DPT
Physical Therapist
Megan obtained a BA in Psychology in 2006 fromCreightonUniversityinOmaha,NE, and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from A.T.Still University,ArizonaSchoolofHealthSciences, in Mesa,AZ in 2009. She began her career in a skilled nursing facility in Arizona and then joined SJA in 2010. Megan works in all areas of our company, including early intervention, adult and pediatric home care, pediatric rehabilitation, and school based therapy.
Mary Dutton, PT
Physical Therapist
Mary graduated from the Mayo School of Health-Related Sciences with a Physical Therapy degree in 1983. She joined SJA in 1996 after working in many local skilled nursing facilities. Mary’s specialty is geriatric rehabilitation in the homecare setting.
Kelly Ellavsky, PT
Physical Therapist
Kelly earned a BS in Exercise Physiology from the University of Minnesota in 1999 and a Masters of Physical Therapy from the Mayo School of Health-Related Sciences in 2001. Kelly’s passion is working with the pediatric population. For the past 10 years at SJA, she has worked with children in the home care setting, school and outpatient rehabilitation. Kelly currently works as a contract therapist for the Zumbro Education District in the Byron,Pine Island and Stewartville school districts. .
Ann Gastineau, PT
Physical Therapist
Ann received a BA from Carleton College and a Physical Therapy degree from Northwestern University. She has worked at SJA since 1988. Her primary interest is pediatric physical therapy, and she has many years of experience as a school physical therapist.
Marilyn Pike, PT
Physical Therapist
Marilyn earned a BA from Kansas State University and a Certificate in Physical Therapy from the Mayo School of Health Related Sciences in 1967. She was certified as a Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga instructor in 2009. Marilyn’s main interests are acute care, geriatrics, orthopedics, and manual therapy.
Kathy Tanabe, PT
Physical Therapist
Kathy graduated with a BS and Certificate of Physical Therapy in 1970 from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. Kathy has been an employee of SJA since 1987, except for three years spent living in Japan. She specializes in pediatrics, but occasionally works with adults. Kathy assists in three service areas at SJA: homecare, contracts with group homes, and contracts with schools.
Chris Walters-Smith, PT
Physical Therapist
Chris was born and raised in eastern Iowa. He graduated with a BA in Biology in 1994 and a Master of Physical Therapy in 1996 from theUniversityofIowa. He has been with SJA since 1997. His specialty is geriatric rehabilitation working in home care and nursing homes.
Carol Youdas, PT
Physical Therapist
Carol graduated in biology fromThielCollegein PA and received her Physical Therapy degree from theUniversityofPittsburgh. Since 1998, Carol has worked in a variety of settings for SJA and is currently working as an on-call therapist in adult home care. Carol’s area of expertise is with SJA’s geriatric patients.
Jeremy Braun, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Jeremy Braun graduated with a BA in Communication Disorders in 1999 fromAugustanaCollege in Sioux Falls,SD; he received his MA in Communication Disorders in 2000 from theUniversity of South Dakota. His clinical interests include autism, apraxia, articulation/phonology, developmental language disorders, and social thinking skills. Jeremy is active in the Minnesota Speech Language Hearing Association and currently serves as the Vice President for Communications and as the treasurer for Twin Cities Speech Language Pathologists, Inc.
Marilyn Crowder-Wile, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Marilyn received her bachelor’s degree from AugustanaCollege, Rock Island, IL, and masters from Eastern IL University. She has worked in Illinois, Iowa, Montana, Kansas, and Minnesota as a speech language pathologist. Marilyn has been a certified Hanen Center instructor, has worked in the public schools in several states for 17 years. She has been at SJA since 1997, and enjoys working with pediatric clients of all age. Her primary areas of clinical interest are working with clients who have ASD, language processing disorders and apraxia.
Wendy C. Dennison, MST, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Wendy graduated with a BS in Communicative Disorders/Secondary Education in 1978 and a Master in Communicative Disorders in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin River Falls. She joined SJA in 2004 after working in local school districts for 26 years. Wendy’s specialty is working with children of all ages with developmental speech/language delays and autism; however, she enjoys all challenges.
Sara Karpman, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Sara received her BA in Spanish in 2004 and her MHS in Communication Science and Disorders in 2006 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She joined SJA in 2008. Sara enjoys working with both adults and children. She has experience with communication delays/disorders, reading instruction, feeding and swallowing disorders, aphasia, fluency, voice disorders and executive functioning.
Susan Schmidt, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Susan earned a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She worked at a hospital in Taiwan for three years prior to joining SJA in June 2005. She works primarily with adults with speech and language needs.
Kathy Smith, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Kathy received her BS in Secondary Education/Communication Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and her MS in Communicative Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1998. Prior to joining SJA in 2005 Kathy worked in the public school systems in southeastern Minnesota. She works with children in SJA’s outpatient rehabilitation clinic, sees pediatric home care patients, and is a contract therapist for the Zumbro Education District Birth – 3 program, seeing infants and toddlers in their homes.
Larry Stacy, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Larry received his BA and his MA from the Universityof Northern Iowa. He has been a Speech-Language Pathologist since 1975, and has been with SJA since March of 1988. He retired from the Stewartville Public Schools in January 2009, after 34 years of teaching. Still working part-time with SJA, Larry currently works with young children, adolescents, high school students, and adults. Larry still pronounces words for the Regional and State Spelling Bees. Larry continues to help with judging at various District, Sub-Section, and Section Minnesota State High School League Speech Meets.
Krissy Gillard, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Krissy earned a BS in Occupational Science in 2003 and an MA in Occupational Therapy in 2005 from the College of Saint Catherine. Since joining SJA, she has practiced in the outpatient rehab, school and pediatric home care settings. Krissy has a special interest in the area of feeding. She is trained in the SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to feeding with additional SOS Advanced Training in special populations. She also is trained in the Beckmann Oral Motor approach. Other training includes Therapeutic Listening Program, Sensory Processing Disorders, Handwriting Without Tears, and she is certified in Interactive Metronome.
Chris Hollman, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Chris has over 20 years experience working as a pediatric occupational therapist in a variety of settings including: Birth – 3; public schools; pediatric outpatient clinic and hospital setting. She has completed training in sensory processing disorders; oral motor skills; handwriting and visual vestibular assessment and treatment. She has specialty training in Therapeutic Listening; Advanced Therapeutic Listening; Integrated Listening Systems; Treatment of the Baby; Wilbarger Deep Pressure Protocol; Beckman Oral Motor Protocol; Handwriting without Tears; Certificate of Mastery in Basic Floortime Model and Interactive Metronome.
Nancy Nelson, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Nancy graduated with a BA in Occupational Therapy in 1989 from the College of Saint Catherine and received her Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis in differentiated instruction fromConcordiaUniversity in 2010. She works full–time for theRochesterPublic Schools, and on-call with all age levels for SJA; she also occasionally fills in at local skilled nursing facilities.
Cathy Reiter, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Cathy attended theUniversityofMinnesota, obtaining her BS in Occupational Therapy in 1981. She has been an employee of SJA since the company began in 1984. Cathy has enjoyed working in all settings; schools, homes, work sites and day activity programs. She currently works as an SJA contract therapist providing services for the Zumbro Education District in the Byron and Stewartville schools.
Tricia Steckelberg, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Tricia obtained a BA in Health Sciences in 1999 and a MA in Occupational Therapy from St. Scholastica in 2000. She began her career at the Mayo Clinic serving clients of all ages in the acute care and outpatient rehabilitation settings. Since joining SJA in January 2004, she has worked primarily with children in the school setting, but also sees clients in their homes and in our outpatient rehabilitation setting.
Michele Tonn, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist, Case Manager
Michele obtained a BA in Health Sciences in 1998 and a MA in Occupational Therapy from theCollegeofSt. Scholasticain 1999. Michele has experience in Traumatic Brain Injury, and spinal cord injury for pediatrics and adults. She also has training in Neurodevelopmental (NDT) techniques, Brain Gym, pediatric kinesiotaping, and dysphasia. Michele is a SAEBO trained therapist and has worked as a clinical education coordinator. Michele is the rehabilitation case manager and provides OT in our outpatient clinic as well as homecare.
Andrea Jennings, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist
Andrea received her Master of Arts, Occupational Therapy degree in 2012 from St Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. Andrea has experience working with pediatric clients in an outpatient and school based therapy practice in New York. She also has experience working with geriatric clients. Prior to becoming an earning her degree in OT, Andrea made use of her BA in Business Management & Communication Studies as a financial analyst at a large company in Rochester , MN.
Cheryl Endres
Office Assistant
Cheryl joined SJA in September 2008 as a part-time office assistant. She also works in the Plainview-Elgin-Millville school district as the special education secretary. This is a second career for Cheryl as she previously taught kindergarten and second grade atPlainviewCommunitySchoolfor 28 years.
Patrice Mrdjenovich-Hanks, BS
Administrator
Pat graduated with a BS degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1979. She has been with SJA since 1994 and has enjoyed every minute of being a part of such a dedicated and professional team! She is a co-owner of the company as well as the president. Prior to working at SJA, Pat was an assistant and interim director of a non-profit organization for 13 years.
Cindy Olson
Office Manager
Cindy Olson earned a degree in accounting and has been at SJA since May 1991. Cindy is SJA’s office and financial manager. Cindy is multi-talented and has developed many programs for SJA including implementing electronic medical billing and streamlining and integrating many of SJA’s financial processes.
Debra Pletta, BSN/PHN
Nurse Case Manager
Debra graduated with a BS in Nursing in 1980 fromLoyolaUniversityinChicago. She has been with SJA since 1991 and is secretary-treasurer and a co-owner of the company. Prior to working at SJA, she worked at Mayo in neurosurgery intensive care, inpatient rehabilitation and as a flight nurse.