During his three-decade career as a building contractor, Gilbert Holt of East Nottingham, Pennsylvania, once fell 32 feet from a platform at an apartment building under construction.  Fortunately, he fell feet first into soft dirt and was able to walk away.

Holt was not so lucky on the first day of summer when he stretched out in his new rope hammock, which he had just finished hanging between two trees in his backyard.  "I saw my feet above me in the air and fell head first to the ground," remembers 73-year-old Holt, a bus driver for the Avongrove School District in Chester County for the last nine years.  "I heard my neck crack.  It all happened so fast."

Stunned, he gathered his strength to pull himself up, only to find that his arms would barely move and he had no strength to grasp.  Worse, he had no sensation in his legs.  He waited, helpless, for someone to find him.  "Don't touch me.  Call 911," Holt told his wife, Ginny, when she came searching for him more than 90 minutes later.

Recovery Begins
Following a helicopter ride to Christiana Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, and surgery to pin two collapsed vertebrae back into place, Holt was admitted in mid-July to Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital to begin therapy. 

His therapy began immediately, even though a tracheotomy tube made it difficult to for him to communicate except by a letter board.  Because his spinal cord was not severed, just severely bruised, his doctors have been hopeful that eventually he will move his legs and the tingling sensation in his hands will ease.  Until then, Holt relies on strengthening exercises and yet another type of hammock to give him much needed mobility.

Ceiling Lifts Benefit Patients and Staff
Two patient lifts that move along an overhead rail system were installed in January in the Spinal Cord Injury Unit.  The Voyager 550 lifts, funded by the Scholler Foundation, have greatly reduced the chore of transferring paralyzed patients between bed and wheelchair.  Patients are placed in a wide, adjustable sling that is designed for proper spinal alignment as well as head and body support, with a swivel hanger attaching the sling to the track.  The lift is activated by a hand switch or remote control.

So easy is the lift to use that some patients operate the controls themselves, once they are positioned in the sling.  Only one nurse or therapist is needed for the transfer, regardless of the patient's size or mobility.  When not in use, the lift returns to its charger with the press of a button, ready for the next patient transfer.

With the help of the ceiling lift, Holt's progress was steady.  Even before his tracheotomy tube and neck brace were removed, he began strengthening his legs on the Motoped - a wheelchair-accessible motorized pedaling machine.

Holt, who was discharged in September, is continuing his therapy at home.  Gil and Ginny's two children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren have been frequent visitors throughout his ordeal and are a great source of motivation.

"I had no idea how dangerous a hammock could be nor how quickly a seemingly minor fall could change my life," Holt said.  "Even with all the great help I received at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital and support from my family, I know the rest of my recovery is up to me.  I need to keep pushing myself."