Featured Patient

Mrs. Eloise Haynes

"I was driving when I had my stroke, so I know that God has been with me every step of the way!" Haynes said.

After sharing a meal with her family, Haynes decided to hit the after-Christmas sale at K-Mart. She'd had a cold, but didn't feel sick in any way. But when she left the house, she began to feel a bit down. "I reached over and got a tissue to blow my nose, and when I did, it seemed the traffic lights were swaying and they got blurry," she said. She shook her head to make it stop, but it only got worse. "I thought my car had flipped upside down and I was still driving it." Somehow, Haynes managed to get the car stopped, found her cell phone and pressed the right buttons to dial the last number called. That happened to be her daughter. Haynes managed to tell her general location and ask for them to come get her. After that, she passed out.

Haynes was taken to the hospital. She was unable to speak and had no response in her right arm or hand. Doctors did a CT scan and found that she had a blood clot on the left side of her brain. They told her daughter there was a three hour window to get her a certain drug to help her. Fortunately, she responded rapidly to the treatment. By the next morning, she could vocalize and began moving her fingers and toes a bit.

"They wanted me to be treated at Walton, and Lord, I didn't want to go. I wanted to go home. I'd never been away from home like this, and overall it was 21 day," Haynes said.

"But since the moment they got me to Walton, I have been blessed," said Haynes. "The facility was incredible. Everything was at my disposal, and the staff was readily available and so very caring," she said.

Mrs. Haynes was able to receive treatment and therapy in the new stroke rehabilitation rooms at Walton. "The therapy I did in my room was really with my daughter after hours. I was able to go to the gym right away during the day, so I was lucky. But the convenience of being able to do all of my exercises in the room later with the help of my daughter was just amazing," Haynes said.

Not only did Walton take care of Mrs. Haynes's needs while she was there, but they also helped her daughter learn how to further care for her mother upon arrival back home. The after-care at Walton truly spoke to Haynes as a patient. "They all go beyond the call of duty," she said. "They make sure you're going to be able to take care of yourself, and that your family can help, before they let you go home."

Mrs. Haynes was amazed at the amount of learning she had to do. "At Walton, they teach you the basics of life. They go through all of it - from putting pots and pans in the cabinets to hanging clothes in the closet. They taught me to walk with my clothes draped over the walker and get to the closet to put them away."

Mrs. Haynes also participated in speech therapy. "My mouth was working faster than my brain. My therapist said, 'Just slow down and let your brain catch up. It had a setback up there, you've go to go slower.' And she taught me how to slow down and take things easy so I could get my speech back."

Mrs. Hayes gives credit to the loving attitude and care from the staff at Walton. "They are just loving people. The facility is truly wonderful, but it's the people, with God's love that make the world go round. At Walton, they care about people. That's where the difference lies." She said. "I praise God for my stroke. Without it, I would have never known these beautiful people. And I would have never known about the service that Walton Rehabilitation Hospital renders to people."