Support Helps Rehab Center
Help Patients

Tom was on a ladder more than 20 feet high painting when suddenly he had trouble seeing. Everything around him looked blurry. He tried to shake it off, but something still wasn’t quite right with his vision. Then as he started to climb down, his right leg went limp. By the time he reached the ground, he couldn’t feel his foot.

Tom had just experienced a stroke.

He spent 10 days in intensive care. When he was released, he wasn’t able to walk, talk or stand. And he was told he probably wouldn’t regain much of his speech or mobility.

But Tom was determined once again to do the simple things he took for granted before the stroke—things like move his legs, or speak in complete sentences. He was admitted to Salem Hospital’s Regional Rehabilitation Center for rigorous weekly physical and speech therapy sessions.

“I can’t say enough wonderful things about the Center,” says Tom. “From the staff, to the facility, to the equipment I worked on to regain my mobility, it was like a home away from home to me.”

Every day staff at the hospital’s Regional Rehabilitation Center help people like Tom get on the road to recovery. Whether living with the consequences of a debilitating injury, stroke, or cardiac event, people receive state-of-the-art care right here in our community.

And thanks to the financial support that the Salem Hospital Foundation has received from staff, physicians and community members, funding has been provided for a number of valuable programs and services at the Regional Rehabilitation Center, including:

• Advanced training for staff helping patients with vestibular conditions, such as difficulty with balance, dizziness and falling.
• Specialized computer equipment to assist people with head injuries.
• Patient-education materials for people with congestive heart failure.
• Dynavision Therapy equipment, used by patients who have impaired visual and motor functions after experiencing a stroke. The equipment involves the eyes, brain and other senses.
• NuStep, cardiac-rehabilitation exercise equipment.

“Thanks to the amazing staff at the Rehabilitation Center, I’m now walking up to a mile a day, and my speech is getting better and better,” says Tom. “I feel like the people there are my friends, so I go back and visit every now and then to show my appreciation for all they’ve done for me.”

For more information about services at the hospital’s Regional Rehabilitation Center, or how you can help, contact the Salem Hospital Foundation at 503-561-5576.

Thank you, donors!
To see the current donor list online, visit the www.salemhospital.org/foundation and click on “Donor List.”