Jewish Hospital: Working In Tandem To Save, Rehabilitate Lives

Copyright Jewish Hospital

With 70 facilities, 1,500 aligned physicians, 8,100 team members and more than 1,900 patient beds in Kentucky and southern Indiana, Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare JHSMH fulfills its lofty goals daily.

In fall 2006, Danny Ruzanka, 55, began feeling ill on his way back from a
U of L football game in Nashville. “I had pain in my left shoulder that would come and go and just wasn’t feeling well,” he said. “I was hoping it wasn’t anything serious, but if it was, I knew Jewish Hospital was the place where I wanted to be.”

The Ruzankas stopped at Jewish Hospital’s Medical Center South in Bullitt County. It turned out to be a life-saving decision. “The doctor told me everything looked normal, but my cardiac enzymes were slightly elevated,” he said. “He said I might be on the verge of having a heart attack, and they wanted to take every precaution.”

A cardiac catheterization revealed that Ruzanka had four blocked coronary arteries. Within 48 hours, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. “It was miraculous they caught this,” he said. “I can’t think the folks at Jewish enough.”

Two-year-old Chase Ford also found miracles waiting for him at the Frazier Rehab Institute.

Frazier has been a part of Jewish Hospital for more than 25 years, providing comprehensive in- and outpatient rehabilitation services for victims of spinal cord damage, brain injuries, strokes, and congenital, developmental and degenerative conditions.

An active toddler, Chase hit the back of his head on the wooden arm of a sofa. He lost all motor function and was paralyzed from the neck down.

“You never think this will happen to your youngster,” said his mother, Renee Ford. “I kept thinking, how do you tell a 2-year-old that he won’t run again or play on the swing set?”

The late Dr. Ethel Larosa believed Chase could benefit from Frazier’s Locomotor treatment program.

Chase became the first child accepted into the program, which “re-teaches” walking by providing cues that can be recognized by nerves in the spinal cord.

In the last three years, the Frazier Rehab team has helped Chase begin taking steps on his own.

Now, less than two years in the Locomotor Training Program, Chase’s remarkable recovery continues one amazing step at a time. Next up, he plans to raise money walking in this year’s Kentucky Derby Festival mini-marathon.

“The Locomotor program means so much to me,” says Renee. “It has given us the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Sometimes ordinary citizens save lives, too.

Patricia “Pattie” Dobbs-Tate, 48, of Monticello, Ky., has been a living organ donor and lifesaver — twice.



The first time was in April 2000, when she donated 60 percent of her liver to her mother, Flonnie Broyles. Broyles had contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion and developed cirrhosis of the liver. Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Hospital suggested organ donation.

“I knew immediately it was something I was supposed to do,” said Dobbs-Tate, a compliance officer at Monticello Banking Company and morning show host on 93.1 FM WMKZ.

In October 2007, Dobbs-Tate once again became a living organ donor at Jewish Hospital. This time, her friend and co-worker Kenny Ramsey was in renal failure. Although he had not asked anyone for help, Dobbs-Tate enlisted the help of Ramsey’s wife to convince him to let her be a potential kidney donor.

She donated her kidney through a minimally invasive procedure and was back at work in a little more than three weeks.

Today both transplant recipients are in good health. “Your reward is helping someone and that outweighs any pain or discomfort,” says Dobbs-Tate.