One Step Forward for UM St. Joseph Medical Center Orthopaedic Patients
The vehicle simulator donated by Bill Kidd's Toyota to UM St. Joseph Medical Center may not look quite as snazzy or run quite as fast as the Toyotas and Volvos they sell at their Cockeysville showroom, but to orthopaedic patients, it is every bit as valuable as a new car.
Pam Jamieson, former vice president and chief nursing officer at UM St. Joseph, had wanted a vehicle simulator for the hospital's Orthopaedic Institute for quite a long time. This important piece of equipment is used to teach patients how to get in and out of a car following spine, hip and knee surgery. What seems like a simple task for most, can be extremely risky and painful for patients who are recovering from orthopaedic procedures.
A customer of Bill Kidd's Toyota dealership, Pam thought they might be the perfect business to fund a vehicle simulator and approached them about a gift as she was picking up her new car. "Our company has been in Cockeysville for a long time and we are committed to helping our community. For obvious reasons, this was the perfect gift for us make," smiles Bill Kidd. Adds his daughter Lisa, who is general manager of their dealership, "I had my two children at St. Joe's, and I know what a great hospital it is. As it so happens, Paul McAfee, who is chief of spine surgery there, has been a friend of our family for many years."
Robin Henderson, an occupational therapist in the Orthopaedic Institute at UM St. Joseph Medical Center, says, "I simply don't know how we managed without it. By using the vehicle simulator, we have been able to reduce pain and anxiety for virtually all of our orthopaedic surgical patients. With nearly 20 patients a day learning on the simulator, we like to joke that we often have a "traffic jam" as patients wait to take it for "a test run." We can't thank the team at Bill Kidd's Toyota enough for their generosity."
Concludes Bill, "This gift is exactly how we like to use our business to help our community. St. Joe's had a real need for their patients, and we have a vested interest in anything that improves car safety for drivers and passengers. This is a win-win for everyone."
To make a charitable gift online, please visit our online donation form. For more information about giving to the medical center, please call 410-337-1397 or e-mail SJFoundation@umm.edu.