Visitation at HealthSouth Valley of the Sun Rehabilitation Hospital
Glendale, AZ
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Visitation at HealthSouth Valley of the Sun Rehabilitation Hospital Glendale, AZ
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 Beth
Bacher, CEO of HealthSouth Valley of the Sun Rehabilitation Hospital,
welcomes the patients, family members, staff, and riders to the day’s
festivities. She also warns everyone not to let Doc out of their sight since
he totally disappears when he turns sideways and they are afraid that he’ll
make off with all the goodies at the buffet table without being noticed. |
 Abel
makes his whole speech today using a “helium high” voice. Summer Wittkemper,
DMO of HealthSouth Valley of the Sun Rehabilitation Hospital, was suspicious
when half of the balloons went missing but overlooked the thievery when the
audience paid better attention because they believed they were watching a
cartoon. |
 Since
Jerry Suggs (AAA veteran rider of 2002) wasn’t able to be with us this year,
Doc paid tribute to him with a 3 hour-long speech in true Jerry style. WE
MISS YOU, JERRY AND HOPE YOU CAN BE WITH US NEXT YEAR! |
 The
crowd that came out to support us in Glendale, Arizona was tremendous! They
were also very patient as they listened to AJ go on and on about how the
“dry heat” was affecting her extremely sensitive, delicate, southern skin. |
 “Well,
butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Yallses dryyy heat is shore makin’ me
feel like uh sweet gum tree in the middle of a big ole drought in the
Missippi (yes, she said Missippi—not Mississippi) Delta.” |
 Some
of the local amputee support group members receive special awards for being
outspoken members of the amputee community and for helping others learn to
deal with the ups and downs of being new amputees. Keep up the great work!
You’re making many lives better! |
 Derry waited patiently for AJ to sign her posters as only the best would do. Thanks to all you physical, occupational, and speech TORTURISTS for whipping people like us into shape to live our lives again! You may receive more dirty looks than words of thanks but what you do makes a difference and we love you for it! |
 When we say Karen is half the woman she used to be, we really mean it! She almost didn’t recognize her! Karen has a demanding job as a preschool teacher and AJ thoroughly enjoyed “talking shop” with her today. |
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The riders stick around for an emergency amputee
support group meeting to discuss the topic “Should Abel legally change his
name to Joe or not?”. After everyone weighs in on how they look like
identical twins (except that Abel is a full 9 inches taller than Joe), the
participants decide that both guys should change their names to Lester so
that the confusion about who is who can end and both of them will answer to
the same name. |
 Here,
the real Lester, confronts Abel and wants to know why he is moving in on his
territory as a Lester Impersonator. Abel, puts Lester into shock by
relating his story:“Last year about this time, my truck broke down because of a desert rattlesnake in the engine which caused a pulley on the air conditioner compressor to malfunction which caused a flywheel to stop turning that led to the power steering going out that preceded the air conditioning failing. That evening, the Princess was extra prickly and Luke, our 2008 super-boy rider, and I were unusually sweaty and in foul moods. All this because of one darn rattlesnake that was probably picked up during our misadventure in the desert that was, obviously, caused by the GPS system that Joe just LOVES. Thank heavens we didn’t use Joe’s GPS system to find our way to Wikieup this year!” At this point Lester, in deep auditory traumatic shock, begs Abel to assume the Lester name as long as he stops that infernal talking. Beth Bacher,CEO, Summer Witkemper, DMO, the PT, OT, and ST staffs, as well as every member of the hospital caring team, we are deeply impressed with the love and affection you afford each and every one of your patients. Thank you for all that you have done for us, for what you do every day for your patients, and for making a difference in the lives of so many. |
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