Meet with Hatim
I had the opportunity to meet with one of our patients on the stroke/ brain injury unit, recently. Hatim. He suffered a stroke while vacationing in Hawaii. He and his family heard good things about SCVMC Rehab and wanted to get back closer to home, and they were able to fly to San Jose.
Hatim wanted to express his gratitude to our team at SCVMC Rehab, and he was most especially appreciative to Kristina Meyer-Reed from recreational therapy. Hatim is a voracious reader and rec therapy had an outing to a book store. Because of his right sided weakness, and using a wheelchair, Hatim did not feel confident he could navigate an outing like this. Kristina was able to convince him to go with her kind, understanding, yet persistent nature. Long story short, it was a tremendous trip to the book store that Hatim enjoyed very much. It was also helpful to his wife to see what is involved with getting out in the community. This brought confidence as well as a renewed sense that important things in life can still be accomplished, just in a different way.
Hatim has also really enjoyed the therapy pool, which Kristina introduced him to early in his rehab stay. The warm water and gentle exercising is very helpful to relaxing and stretching muscles. Hatim’s wife mentioned to me that Kristina has a very healing nature, and it has a strongly positive effect on her husband.
Dr. Thao Duong is Hatim’s physician at SCVMC Rehab. He mentioned that he could tell right away she is somebody who really cares. She “goes the extra mile” and is very available to explain things to him and his wife. In fact, he shook my hand with his right hand, weak and contracted from the stroke, and he said “I can shake your hand because of Dr. Duong. I have improved so much while I have been here.”