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Ertha's Recovery Story

Ertha sitting on a chair smiling

Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength"

Ertha smiling

Ertha, a medical student in Atlanta, Georgia presented to a Bay Area acute hospital emergency department in early July 2023 during her medical school summer internship due to a sensation of swelling in her throat, nausea, dizziness, confusion and left arm weakness. 

She was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the acute hospital and had a lot of tests and monitoring performed in an effort to understand her symptoms. Once all the tests were completed and she was medically stable, she was transferred to the Rehabilitation Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC). There was no definitive diagnosis, but the physicians could see Ertha exhibited a significant decline in function and would benefit from physical rehabilitation in order to improve her independence. 

Ertha participated in 3 ½ weeks of inpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, neuropsychology, and recreation therapy, receiving care from the physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians and rehabilitative nursing. She recalls some of her favorite activities were using the warm pool to improve her mobility and going on a community outing with Recreation Therapy. She worked hard with all the therapists, increasing her functional independence. Ertha was able to fly home to Atlanta with her care partner/mom, Marie who received caregiver training. Ertha especially appreciated that her mom was able to stay overnight with her in her private room and that the nurses like Josephine treated her like family. She is very grateful for her everyone who took care of her at SCVMC.  

Today, Ertha is finishing her 2nd year of Medical School and happy to share that she is doing well! She still has to adapt to functional challenges and other activities of daily living but is managing. She uses a motorized wheelchair to get from place to place but she is able to move independently. Ertha looks forward to graduating from medical school and becoming a physician to give back and help others going through challenging medical situations.