After a recent surgery related spinal injury I had no controllable function below my waist, along…read morewith severe pain. After a 10-day hospitalization I was transferred to the Green Bay Rehabilitation Hospital for sub-acute care.
At the time of my arrival to that hospital I was restricted to a wheelchair. I took two people to transfer me out of the wheelchair for any reason, such as getting into bed, bathing, or using the toilet. I was completely unable to remain standing on my own after being picked up. Walking was out of the question. As you can imagine, I was very anxious and depressed about the future. Another minor fact is that I have celiac disease, which restricts my diet from containing gluten.
I am now retired, but I have a 50-year history of experience in hospital and medical care in various different areas. I cannot emphasis strongly enough the sincerity and truthfulness of the following report.
I have never seen a dedicated specialty hospital as organized and committed from CEO to, housekeeping, including Medical Director, social work, dietary, nursing, OT rehab, and PT rehab so truly focused on patient welfare and healing. It was clearly obvious that for every staff member it was not just a job but was truly a calling to give genuine empathetic care to the patients under their care. By the end of my first day of treatment my mental state had changed completely. After interacting with the various staff members, you cannot help but feel safer and more optimistic regarding the future.
I received at least 3 hours of mixed intensive 1 to 1 OT or PT therapy every day. On a few special days I also received an additional 2 hours of therapy. When I say intensive, that is exactly what I mean. Each therapy session was tailored to my particular healing needs. I was able to work hard enough that most days I would return to my room sweaty and worn out, but this was a good thing.
I must mention the dietary staff. I was the only patient there with a gluten problem. This meant that most of the time I could not eat the majority of the food offered at each meal in the dining room. The dietary staff enjoyed coming out to my table and giving me choices of food for the next meal. It was obvious they were enjoying using their talents to prepare very good and tasty meals for me. Often, they would prepare, and set aside, a version of the meal being served that was gluten free. Other times they would prepare something completely different for me. Every single meal was excellent. One of them made a ranch type salad dressing just for me, and by the time I reached the end of the food line another of them had made me a special salad. And they enjoyed it and would tease me about it.
The rehab staff were my heroes. Each of them was so enthusiastic and skilled at their craft that you could not help but be motivated to work and heal. They were an amazing group of individuals, without exception.
The nursing staff were my angels. Any time, day or night, their concern, care, and kindness were unfailing. The manner in which the nurses and aides took care of their patients made all the difference in the world. I never felt like a burden to any of them.
The most important fact was that after 16 days, I was not back to normal, but I walked out of the hospital, to outpatient therapy, on my own using a walker. To me it was nothing short of a miracle. It was genuinely difficult to say goodbye to such a group of wonderful people.
If you, or anyone you care about, ever requires inpatient OT, PT or speech therapy do whatever it takes to have them treated at Green Bay Rehabilitation Hospital. Do not settle for anything less.
