Colleen’s sister, who was also in town, was complaining of a headache
and her father, Paris Fortner, got up to retrieve some headache medicine.
That was when the sisters noticed their dad staggering down the hallway.
“He made it back with the medication and tried to say something but
it was unintelligible,” Colleen remembered. “He told us that
his leg was numb and after 30 minutes had passed, we asked him how he
was feeling and what had happened. He shrugged his shoulders and began
to cry. My dad is 80 years old and I have never seen him cry.”
Paris could not lift his arm and he could not speak when he arrived at
the hospital. It was soon determined that he had a stroke. He was transferred
to Catawba Valley Medical Center where he began inpatient rehabilitation,
eventually moving to outpatient rehabilitation.
“They’ve been real good,” said Paris. “They are
interested in letting me do what I can do and not overworking me. They
push you to the limit and they knew what that limit was. The staff is
very conscious of my feelings and how to get me to do all I could, while
not overdoing it.”
Colleen remembers, “We knew we had a lot of work ahead of us. I was
so thankful this hadn’t happened on the way down from Michigan or
when they were on the road. We were grateful for a lot of things and I
would have done everything exactly the same way.”
After months of rehabilitation, Paris looks at the CVMC staff members as
family. “When you get to a position where you can’t help yourself
and they treat you like you are their relative, it makes you have a deeper
feeling for them than you would any other hospital. If someone treats
you like they care, it gives you a better feeling about yourself and tends
to perk you up a little a bit.”
Jeremy Frye, PT, DPT, Director, Outpatient Rehabilitation Services, appreciates
and agrees with Paris’ assessment. “CVMC is known for many
things, such as its excellent nursing care, but spend any time around
the rehabilitation departments and you will see that these clinicians
are every bit as special. Treatments are centered on the patient and involve
physical activities such as therapeutic exercise, balance and gait training,
upper extremity motor coordination and functional activities. When you
combine hardworking patients like Mr. Fortner and caring therapists like
Matt O’Neil, PT, DPT, OCS and Leah Greene, OT/L, CLT and their assistants,
great results happen.”
Colleen says her dad will be heading home to Michigan soon, and changes
are in store. “He will probably continue to use a walker, but this
will bring about other changes. My parents have a two-story house in Michigan
and they’re going to have to decide whether to buy a new one-story
or, perhaps, move permanently to Catawba County.”
For Dolly, Paris’ wife of 56 years, the experience has taken her
from worried to assured. “Not knowing what’s happening, it’s
scary. But, the good lord helped us through it all. When something like
this happens, you think you can’t do it but you do what you have
to do. Even though we have hospitals at home, I just don’t know
that he would have gotten the kind of care he got at Catawba. And, now
we’re going to be OK.”