Oklahoma Woman Impressed With Stay at RiverLedge

Oklahoma Woman Impressed With Stay at RiverLedge

OGDENSBURG – An Oklahoma City woman injured while on vacation in Canada said she was impressed with her stay at United Helpers RiverLedge Campus.

Karen Stolte was in the midst of a two-week bus tour when she fell while visiting a museum in Quebec. “I walked over to a window and there was a ledge sticking out that I didn’t see,” she said.

Emergency medical personnel on the scene initially told Ms. Stolte that her hip was bruised, but she said she knew her injury was more serious than that.

“They told me it was bruised,” she said. “But I knew it was broken. I felt it crunch.”

Ms. Stolte said after being transported to a hospital in Canada she was informed the surgery she needed was going to cost $20,000.

At that point, she said she told hospital officials she wanted to be brought back to the United States for treatment, a task that was easier said than done.

“They called five doctors in the U.S.,” she said. “If Dr. (Thomas) Herzog wouldn’t have done it, they would have had to do it there. God really took care of me.”

After receiving word that Dr. Herzog, an orthopedic surgeon who practices at the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg, agreed to do the surgery she was brought to the hospital in Ogdensburg where her surgery would take place.

Ms. Stolte said that she had the operation on Oct. 2 and was released to begin a post hospital rehabilitation stay at RiverLedge on Oct. 7, where she would be for nearly three weeks before being discharged on Oct. 27.

“When I got here I had no clothes or anything and I didn’t know anyone within hundreds of miles,” she said, adding the support she received from the staff at RiverLedge and her “church family” helped her get through a situation that could have been even worse.

“I felt that everyone was very knowledgeable and caring,” she said. “One of the things that impressed me the most was how many people stopped in to wish me good luck.”

While Ms. Stolte said she didn’t get to really tour the museum, she said the vacation, which was actually a two-week bus trip was nearing its completion.

“I got to go to Maine and that’s what I really wanted to do,” she said, adding her trip back home wasn’t exactly going to be a direct route.

A couple of friends from Cleveland, Ohio made the 500 mile trip to pick her up and bring her back to Ohio, where she was planning to stay for a week. She was then going to fly from Cleveland to Kansas City, where another friend would pick her up for the five hour drive home.

Once back home, Ms. Stolte said she was planning to continue her physical therapy.

“They (staff at RiverLedge) told me they wished all their patients were as motivated as I was,” she said, adding that maybe if the other patients were in her shoes they would be.

“I just really wanted to get back home,” she said, noting she did enjoy her stay as much as possible.

“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, but if you’re going to go through what I went through this was a good place to do it.”