The executive director of nursing at Mission Viejo, Calif.-based Providence Mission Hospital was flown to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., for rehabilitation, just over a month after surviving "devastating and tenuous" injuries in an accident in Costa Rica, according to a July 6 Orange County Register news report.
Deanne Niedziela, MSN, RN, 53, who was crushed by a 5-foot, 100-pound tree limb in a jungle waterfall park in Costa Rica on May 28, had been in her hospital's Neuroscience Institute ICU since June 3. That's when she arrived by medevac at the hospital where she has worked for 30 years. She was paralyzed from the chest down, after undergoing a nine-hour surgery in Costa Rica.
Brian Hwang, MD, a neurosurgeon at Mission Hospital, took over Ms. Niedziela's care when she arrived back in California. "The measures that the Costa Rican team of doctors and nurses undertook in the first 12 hours likely saved her life," he said in the report.
"She had a devastating and tenuous injury and a great possibility she could have lost her life as a direct result of it," Dr. Hwang told the Register. "Her head fell off her spine due to the impact and, as a result, her neck had a complete mechanical failure and her spinal cord was compressed. … Looking at the outcome, I know they did a good job. It set her up for success."
She needed a breathing tube when she first arrived at Providence Mission, but is now able to breathe on her own, has some use of her hands and is able to feed herself, and has some sensation below the waist.
At Craig Hospital, she will receive four to six hours of physical therapy daily for 90 days.
Dr. Hwang said he believes Ms. Niedziela has a "double-digit chance to have some ability to walk" after continued therapy, noting "It’s important to stimulate the muscles so that when the spinal cord comes to life, she’s set up to regain her abilities."
While at Providence Mission, Ms. Niedziela received various treatments and kept asking for more because she knew she had to "keep functioning no matter what … to get her spine to come alive again," the report said.
Based on her own clinical experience, she has become an active voice in her own care, requesting specific therapies and assistance including an ergonomic bicycle she uses while laying in bed to prevent her muscles from atrophying and a foot brace boot to prevent foot drop, the report said.
"It's just my personality. I've got this attitude. I think positively and just keep going. I hope I find some silver lining, and I hope I inspire nurses to reinvigorate their careers by seeing what I'm doing," she said about her focus on getting well again.
Prior to the accident, Ms. Niedziela jogged 5 miles a day and did pilates.
Ms. Niedziela, who was traveling with her husband when she was injured, began her career in 1983 as a bedside nurse, became a charge nurse, manager and director, and now hopes to return to her current position soon. "My office is just beyond my [ICU room] doors," the nurse leader said. "I want to come back to work."
The medevac evacuation from Costa Rica to California was paid for with $100,000 raised in a GoFundMe campaign launched shortly after the accident.