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.”
