Meet Our Support Team
Stephanie Connell, Practice Manager & CVPM
Stephanie Connell has been with Wilmington Animal Hospital since 1988. She has held many positions at WAH before taking over the responsibility for management of the business, customer service, and support staff.
Stephanie is extremely dedicated to WAH and its employees. She is an excellent problem-solver and strives to provide clients and pets with the very best veterinary experience.
At home, Stephanie’s dedication is to her husband, John and her four children. She lives with her dogs Karma, Annie and Poppi and enjoys gardening, home decorating, and sipping coffee at the mall with her girls.
Technicians
Janey Kramlik, LVT
Janey Kramlik has been with Wilmington Animal Hospital since 1997. She has a BS in Animal Science with a minor in Biology from the University of Delaware and works as a licensed veterinary technician at WAH. Janey is also the Zoo Hospital Manager at the Brandywine Zoo.
Janey’s work as a zoo-keeper gives her a unique set of skills that enhance patient care and client education at WAH. Her dedication to patients and attention to detail mean that all of her patients get thorough and high quality care. Janey considers WAH a family and treats her patients and clients as part of the WAH family.
Janey is a member of the Delaware Bee Keepers Association, the American Association of Zoo Keepers, the Association of Zoo Veterinary Technicians, the North American Veterinary Technician Association, and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. She spends her free-time with her husband and daughters. Janey enjoys gardening, cleaning, reading, and being outdoors.
Rachael Raman, LVT
Rachael Raman, LVT joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2020 as a veterinary technician. Her previous veterinary experience was in shelter medicine. Rachael absolutely loves learning and loves providing client and coworker education. Her enthusiasm for veterinary nursing care is amazing and contagious.
Rachael works as an anesthesia, surgery, and dental technician at WAH, in addition to helping with appointments and patient care. She takes every opportunity to encourage good dental care for her patients and educates pet owners on all aspects of healthcare for their furry family members.
In her free time, Rachael likes to get outdoors for hiking and kayaking. She also enjoys jigsaw puzzles.
Denise Dilenno, LVT
Denise Dilenno, LVT started at Wilmington Animal Hospital well over a decade ago as a kennel technician. She went on to get her degree in veterinary technology and became a licensed tech. After moving back to Delaware, she came back to WAH in 2022 to share her over 17 years of technician experience.
Denise’s favorite part of her job is helping sick patients to recover. She feels that work with animals is her passion and this career is very fulfilling.
In her free time, Denise is very busy with her fiance and 3 daughters. She loves to go to the beach and on hikes. Denise has a chihuahua named Q.
Michele Rudolph
Michele Rudolph joined the nursing team at Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2019. She has 14 years of experience as a technician in both internal medicine and emergency and critical care.
Michele has worked in general practices, as well as an emergency hospital. She likes the compassion everyone at WAH demonstrates for the patients and the clients. There is a genuine joy that her coworkers get from caring for the animals.
Michele has two dogs: Tank, a Rottweiler and Tori, a Pit Mix. When she isn’t working, Michele spends her free time with her family – her 11 year old daughter Ada, and her boyfriend, Pat. They enjoy visiting and exploring new places and sharing new experiences. Being outdoors is important to them, especially in the cooler Fall weather.
Aliyah Parsons
Aliyah Parsons joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2020. She has 5 years of experience working in the animal field and is a pre-vet student at the University of Delaware and is certified in veterinary cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Aliyah’s responsibilities include assisting the senior technicians and doctors with patient and client care for appointments. She is grateful to be able to build relationships with clients and their pets and it also excited to learn low stress handling techniques and more advanced patient care.
Aliyah loves to travel and go to the beach. She plays and coached field hockey and cooks. She has a pitbull named Ace and a shih tzu named Bear.
Patricia Kent
Patricia Kent joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2019 as a veterinary technician with fifteen years of experience working as a technician and assistant. She is currently the shelter manager for Chesapeake Feline Association, a cat rescue based in Cecil County, MD.
Patricia’s responsibilities include comforting pets, running labwork, and client education. She brings positivity and compassion to every interaction with patients and clients. Patricia notes that WAH goes above and beyond for every pet and client – her coworkers treat every pet like his/her own.
Patricia has three cats, two foster cats, and one dog. She and her family live at the animal shelter that she manages. She enjoys snowboarding, reading, hiking, gardening, and furniture refinishing in her free time.
Alyssa Kasher
Alyssa Kasher joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2020 as a customer service representative and technician assistant. Alyssa’s responsibilities include caring for patients and making sure that they get the help that they need. She loves working with animals and learning new things. She is currently a veterinary technician at our animal hospital.
Alyssa is enrolled in the pre-veterinary program at the University of Delaware. She has completed an emergency and critical care and veterinary professional certification program. She has experience working in doggie daycares and a veterinary hospital. Alyssa says that working at Wilmington Animal Hospital feels like being with a family and she couldn’t have asked for a better work environment.
Alyssa has lots of pets: a pitbull named King, an English Mastiff named Bailey, a chinchilla named Apollo, and a cat named Lucy. She spends her free time kayaking, hiking, and camping with her dogs.
Melisa Sims
Melisa Sims joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2021 as a veterinary technician. Melisa began her career in the animal field in 2016 as a volunteer. Since then she has been a manager at Forgotten Cats and veterinary technician in a veterinary medical center.
Melisa brings excellent patient care, client care, and laboratory quality control to Wilmington Animal Hospital. She speaks Spanish and is able to use her skills to help with client communication. Additionally, she brings her “spicy” cat handling skills to WAH. Melisa likes the family-type atmosphere that Wilmington Animal Hospital runs on.
Melisa spends time with her cats, Kra, Loki, Kichi, and Luka and her friends. She likes playing video games and watching medical dramas. She loves learning and attends webinars whenever she can in order to be better at her job.
Lauren Burkert
Lauren Burkert joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2021 as a veterinary technician. She had over 4 years of animal experience when she joined us. She just graduated from the University of Delaware with a pre-veterinary medicine and animal bioscience degree. She is planning to apply to veterinary school.
Lauren’s responsibilities at WAH include taking medical histories and vital signs, venipuncture, anesthetic monitoring, and administration of patient treatments. She loves trimming nails for patients who do not care for nail trims. She is challenged by determining which handling technique works best for each pet she works with. Her goal is to make the environment as low stress as possible for her patients. Lauren notes that the environment at WAH is a breath of fresh air. Even when things are hectic, we work together to take care of each and every patient.
Lauren has two dogs, two cats, and two ferrets. She also fosters for a Buddy for Life rescue. She loves traveling and exploring different cultures.
Michele Dustin
Michele Dustin joined Wilmington Animal Hospital as a veterinary technician in 2022. She has brought 35 years of animal care experience with her. She has extensive education in shelter medicine and a keen interest in caring for cats and orphaned kittens.
Michele is very passionate about cats and thoroughly enjoys educating clients on all things cat. She works with animals because she loves them and they need a voice to advocate for them. She is one of those voices.
In her free time, Michele takes care of her own animals. She loves to go to the mountains and hike, swim, and camp. She also enjoys gardening and game nights with friends. She especially loves helping cat people – particularly the ones who are rescuing the unwanted, abused, and abandoned kitties.
In speaking about her pets, Michele says, “Yes, I have a lot of cats, but each one is loved, cared for, and safe from the streets. They came to be broken, sick, scared, and starving. Now they’re spoiled rotten!” Her heart dog, Snickers, was also a rescue from a puppy mill the SPCA shut down. She came to her at 6 weeks of age and is now 16 years old! Her time with her is fleeting, but the adventures they’ve been through together are too many to count.
Pet Care Technicians
Nicki Paul
Nicki Paul has been with Wilmington Animal Hospital since 2008 as a pet care technician in the boarding kennel. She currently leads the pet care team, assists the veterinary technicians, and does therapeutic grooming.
Nicki runs the kennel at WAH and oversees day-to-day building maintenance and housekeeping. She is great at understanding animal behavior and cues and uses this skill to safely and compassionately restrain some of our more difficult patients. Nicki is an excellent photographer and uses her talent to capture wonderful photographs of patients and the care team at WAH. She is also quite bonded to the dogs and cats she cares for regularly in the kennel and enjoys this close relationship.
Nicki has many pets that include horses Wyatt, Thaddeus Martin, Huckleberry, and River; dogs Stormy and Mavis; chickens Wilma and Wanda, Norma and Francine, and Merle and Daphne; and a cat named Baby. She spends most of her time outside of WAH riding and grooming her horses. She also enjoys going to watch bands and playing bingo.
Receptionists
Sue Teagarden
Sue Teagarden joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2018 as a receptionist. She brings 3 years of animal experience working with Forgotten Cats with their Trap Neuter Vaccinate Release program. Sue holds a degree in Art and has completed education as a Certified Veterinary Assistant.
Sue likes meeting all of the people coming into WAH and wants to help keep their pets healthy. Her goal is to make sure every human and pet has a good experience at our hospital. One of her most important traits is that she is unafraid of ferocious felines.
Sue provides a home to many “foster failures” – Frankie and old lady torti and her annoying little brothers, Archie, Teddie Bear, Spike, Anonymous, and a house panther named BB. She also has a constant ever present flow of foster kittens. She makes art related to the cats she has met at the shelter and draws, tinkers, and makes jewelry in her free time.
Crystal Litteral
Crystal Litteral joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2018 as a receptionist. She brings 12 years of animal experience working as a founder of an animal rescue, a dog trainer, and Animal Care and Control Director, and a receptionist. Crystal holds a BS in Family and Community Services.
Crystal likes helping people and their pets in her role at WAH. She also has experience as an obedience trainer and a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator.
Crystal has a variety of dogs and cats (too many because of rescue). Her hobbies are mostly animal related, as she is the Director of A Buddy for Life, Inc. As she says, in her free-time, “All I do is take care of animals.” For Crystal, animals are truly her passion.
Courtney Garrison
Courtney Garrison joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2019 as a veterinary receptionist. She has previous experience working at a 24 hour emergency hospital.
Courtney loves to develop new relationships with her co-workers, clients, and of course, the patients. She thrives on positivity and making every day the best day possible. She appreciates the upbeat and friendly nature of Wilmington Animal Hospital.
Courtney has a 7 year old black cat named Onix. She enjoys reading and playing board games during her free time, as well as keeping her house plants alive.
Kyle Neely
Kyle Neely joined the team at Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2020. He brings two years of animal experience with grooming and many years of experience with client care. Kyle is a graduate of West Chester University and has a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts.
Kyle is excited to learn more about medical care for cats and dogs and is enthusiastic about providing quality customer service to our guests. He appreciates the WAH approach to medical and preventative care- where the needs of the individual pet are considered, and recommendations are not just one-size-fits-all.
Kyle spends his free time playing video games and doing arts and crafts, such as drawing, painting, digital art, sewing, and embroidery. He is a fan of horror films, bud does admit that he is easily scared by them too.
Abigail Townsend
Abby Townsend joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2022 as a client service representative. Abby is attending Penn Foster for her veterinary technician degree. She brings 4 years of animal field experience and passion for the field of animal health.
Abby tries to stay positive in all situations and uses this skill in all of her interactions with clients and staff members. She loves the positive and supportive atmosphere at WAH. She has always been determined to work with animals and is thankful that her position allows her to pursue her dream.
Abby has three pets – her dog, Capone, and her cats Chowder and Sam. She loves to go fishing and hiking in her free time. Abby also enjoys a good Netflix Marathon.
Brittni Hopkins
Brittni Hopkins joined Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2021 as a client service representative. She is the face of WAH – greeting people, answering the phone, and helping clients. She really enjoys the field of animal health and has 3 years of animal experience.
Brittni brings positivity to her environment and love for the animals. She is planning to attend college to become a veterinary technician. Her dream has been to work in animal health and she has never wanted to have any other job.
Brittni has two cats (Dexter and Stink) and one dog (Pepper). She likes to spend her free time going on long walks with her dog and relaxing. She races on weekends in her microsprint car.
Hospital Cat
Nellie the Cat
Nellie the Cat is a Delaware Humane Association Alumna who joined the staff of Wilmington Animal Hospital in 2017.
Nellie is a very soft fuzzy ball of confidence and decided right away that the hospital would be her home. She adopted the full staff.
She brings several years of experience being a cat but her main role at WAH is to provide joy and stress-relief to her humans.
Her early mornings are a mystery since she has the run of the place before we all arrive. We assume/hope she is patrolling the floor for intruders, or finishing up our paperwork. It would appear that running laps or other calensthetics are not part of her repertoire.
During the day she can be found hanging out in the offices or sneaking into the kennel to perform her dance and chorus for snacks. She likes to watch the staff while we do our human things.
She does set aside a portion of the day for naps. She efficiently avoids pesky dogs by matching her nap time with the hours that the most dogs are in the waiting room.
Nellie knows several words of the human language and purposely chooses to ignore certain ones she feels unimportant. She has keen hearing and knows quickly when a cat food can is opened.
Nellie has her own Facebook and Instagram pages: “Nellie the Cat”, where she likes to provide updates on her life at WAH.