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FacingDisability Adds 300 New Spinal Cord Injury Videos

June 21, 2013

Magee RehabOur video team recently traveled to Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa. to get some new personal perspectives on SCI.  We videotaped interviews with former patients and their families and added them to the website.

We also sat down with Dr. Guy Fried, Chief Medical Officer at Magee to get his insights on “Empowering the Patient.”  Dr. Nancy Rosenberg, Clinical Specialist and Director of Peer Mentor Programs, spoke candidly with us about “How Family Life Changes” after a spinal cord injury.

We interviewed Mary, whose daughter became quadriplegic in 1988 at age 22. She said one of the most unexpected changes in her life was, “How normal our family is, and how we have a new kind of normal now that is just as comfortable as the old normal was.”

We also talked to her daughter, Marie, who said, “I think some people can go through life and never really know if they’re valued or not. When my injury happened, those were things that really came across to me. That’s something that I will always appreciate and hopefully I can give back in some way.”

Barry, whose wife became paraplegic in 2001 at age 56, said going home was scary at first. “I was petrified. I was trained at Magee to take care of the things that she needed at home. I never intended to train as a nurse, I never wanted to be a nurse, and all of a sudden I’m a nurse. With time, you get very confident in doing these things, but initially—it’s terrifying.”

Rose, whose husband, Andre, was injured in 2007 at age 22, said she dealt with stress at first by going on with her daily routine.  “I still worked; I continued to go to work, and I continued my normal everyday life, because it helped me to continue on. It made me realize that I still have to be me, I still have to be that person that does my normal everyday activities, aside from the injury.”

Andre found the best personal support in Rose. “She was there every single day until I got out of the hospital, so almost every day for four months. She definitely helped me get through everything. “

The Magee Rehabilitation Hospital team, led Kim Shrack, Social Media & PR Manager, who put together the large group of interviews for us, did a great job.  They did more than live up to their reputation as one of the best rehabilitation hospitals in America.

Contact: [email protected].

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