A culture of care: grateful patients give back to IU Health neurology

After a routine hip surgery, David Short knew the way he felt was anything but routine. Physicians at his local hospital in northern Indiana believed there was an issue with the epidural he’d been given and decided to send him back to the Fort Wayne facility that administered his hip replacement. To ease his pain, the clinicians performed a blood patch — an injection of David's own blood at the epidural site to relieve post-surgical pain and headaches.

But David continued to suffer debilitating pain over several months and that pain is believed to have triggered multiple seizures. His primary care physicians gave him a choice — he could go to a larger hospital in Michigan or Ohio, or he could go to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital. David, who is a true Hoosier, chose IU Health.

“Right away, I could see the difference in the standard of care,” David recalls.

And that standard of care is what has inspired David and his wife Barbara to make an estate gift to IU Health Foundation supporting neurological care.

“From the hospitalist who completed his intake, to the nurses, physicians, and even the cleaning staff, we saw evidence of a deep and far-reaching culture of care,” says Barbara.

“We got the feeling that people cared about what happened to David,” she says. “And that they were going to go that extra mile to figure out what was wrong with him.”

David’s care team, which included Neurologists Ryan Gleason, MD, David Mattson, MD, and Ryan Overman, MD, worked together to medically attack the situation.

And medically attack is exactly what they did. With a regimen of testing, medications, and therapy, David’s pain and seizures were soon under control. In a matter of days, the team was able to determine that David had nerve damage in the left side of his neck.

Today, he leads what Barbara calls a “pretty normal life,” though he will continue with pharmaceutical and physical therapy for the rest of his life.

In addition to their generous gift to IU Health Foundation, the Shorts have also become members of the IU Health Foundation Legacy Society steering committee, a new organization that honors long-standing Foundation supporters around the state.

The Shorts were inspired to continue their involvement with IU Health because of something Dr. Gleason said to them during one of their many follow-up visits. He said, ‘That's what you hang your hat on. If you can help one person, then it's worth every bit of it.’

“That really resonated with me,” reflects David. “If we could do something to help even one person, it's worth every cent.”

If you’d like to support neurological care and help patients like David Short, contact IU Health Foundation Development Officer Jeffrey Roth at 317.416.4663. If you are interested in making a planned gift like the Shorts, please contact IU Health Foundation Planned Giving Director Marya Jones at 317.962.1891.