Because of Siskin Hospital, I can be spontaneous!

In your early twenties, you never imagine your entire world changing in just a few seconds, but that is exactly what happened to 23-year-old Joe’l Ervin earlier this year. While driving home, Joe’l passed out behind the wheel and wrecked, causing a fracture in his lower lumbar spine at T12 and an incomplete spinal cord injury.

“At first with the adrenalin pumping, I couldn’t feel the pain and was mainly worried that I had caused someone else to get hurt. Thankfully it was just my car involved,” said Ervin.

Since middle school, Joe’l has suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that causes the heart muscle to enlarge resulting in insufficient blood circulation. His doctors believe a flare up of this condition is what caused him to lose consciousness and control of his vehicle.

After spending a month at Erlanger, where he received spinal fusion surgery repairing his fracture, it was clear he needed physical rehabilitation to work on regaining his strength and independence. Unfortunately, Joe’l is one of millions of Americans and over 11% of Hamilton County residents who do not have health insurance. Without assistance, he would be sent home without the proper knowledge or training to regain his quality of life.

Faith Horbinski, a nurse liaison with Siskin Hospital, became familiar with his case and approached his family with an opportunity for him to receive inpatient physical rehabilitative care through the Siskin Hospital Patient Scholarship Fund. On average, Siskin Hospital provides over $500,000 annually of in-kind patient care, made possible in part through generous gifts given by donors who understand the importance of physical rehabilitation after a serious injury or illness.

Once admitted and his medical team got his pain under control, Joe’l began making significant progress through the persistence of his therapy team.

“Within a week, he went from requiring a lift machine to get safely out of bed and being unable to stand, to standing and transferring with just assistance from his care team,” said Jessica Green, PT, DPT, one of his primary physical therapists.

Joe’l formed a unique relationship with his therapy team during his time at Siskin Hospital, describing Green as “cuckoo, but in a good way” and Madeline Robins, OTD, OTR/L as “sweet, but means business.” He said the tough love helped him stay motivated and engaged during therapy sessions, even on the hard days.

“It has been a pleasure working with Joe’l and helping him return to his normal life. He has been through many life-changing events at such a young age, but continues to be so motivated and positive in life,” said Green.

One of Joe’l’s biggest goals in recovery is being able to return to his spontaneous and fun-loving lifestyle. He described one of his favorite spontaneous adventures as “blind hiking” where only one member of the group knew where they were going and what to expect. He also wants to return to his other passion, coaching community youth football.

“I adore working with and teaching children. Again, it involves having fun, because I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t having fun,” said Ervin.

Through his positive attitude, hard work and the persistence of his therapy team, Joe’l walked out of Siskin Hospital’s doors independently, without an assistive device.

“I’m grateful for the people who donated to the Patient Scholarship Fund and made my recovery possible. Without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” said Ervin.

To find out more about how you can impact the lives of Siskin Hospital patients, visit www.siskinrehab.org/giving-support.