Forbes Regional Medical Center

So, we are coming you on Labor Day weekend and I thought it would be a good idea to cut the grass on Saturday before Labor Day.   I got out my 800 pounds riding mower and began the process of cutting the lawn.  How complicated could it be?

 

We have a huge brick patio behind our home and on each side, there is a four-foot retaining watt holding the lawn up above.  One spot under the kitchen window is a little tricky and should really be cut with one of our smaller lawn mowers.  I took it on with the riding mower and sort of got turned around.  I was facing the house, got my gears mixed up and managed to put the tractor in reverse and depressed the accelerator.  At full speed a drove off the retaining wall, fell four feet on my back and head.   I was unconscious.  My son managed to help me stand up and I fainted and fell on my face.  I have more abrasion, bruises, and stiches that you can image.

 

The ambulance showed up and I was taken to our community hospital, Forbes Regional Medical Center.  I felt like I was in Disney Land.  The emergency room physicians, The Trauma Team and staff were all first class.   I was taken from the emergency room to the CT Scan facility, and it was determined I had a bleed on the brain.   Minor, but there is no such thing as good brain bleed.

 

 

 

Then I was taken to an ICU bed and received care from some of the best ICU nurses I have ever met.

 

During the night another CT scan was performed, and it revealed no change.  I have a small bleed on the brain.

 

I developed a whole new appreciation for how hard nursing can be.   I was positioned in a large ICU bed on the sixth floor and my CT scan had to be performed on the first floor.  The nurse had to navigate this big bed through multiple corridors to the Radiology Department on the first floor and then reverse the process to get me back to my ICU room on the sixth floor.  This was no easy task.

 

As a joke, I said to the nurse, “It would be nice if I could get a Diet Coke.”  She said she would try.  I had no fantasy that she would deliver.  Within 30 minutes she returned with a six pack of Diet Pepsi.   You cannot make this stuff up.

 

The whole process was very personal.  I learned that one nurse has three brothers.  One is in the performing arts and making independent firms.  One of the other brothers is an ER nurses and Forbes Regional and her mother works in transport in the hospital.

 

Another nurse is married with three furry children: two cats and a dog.  She is not so sure about the one cat, but the other cat behaves like a dog.  It follows here around the house like a little puppy dog.

 

 

 

Well, I am all banged up but on the mend.  In about a month I will have an outpatient CT to see how the brain bleed is doing or if it has resolved.

 

For 22 years my next-door neighbor has been Dr. Mark Rubino.  He is the President and CEO of Forbes Regional Medical Center.  Ironically, I do not know much about Dr. Rubino.   One thing I do know, he has established a standard of caring and a culture of excellence unlike anything I have ever seen before.  It is an honor to know him.

 

 Jan Ricks Jennings, MHA, LFACHE

Senior Consultant

Senior Management Resources, LLC

Jan.Jennings@EagleTalons.net

JanJenningsBlog.Blogspot.com

724.733.0509 Office

412.913.0636 Cell

September 6, 2021