Our Rehab Patients Say It Best

Jun 10, 2016 Reporting from Niles, MI

I’ll Catch You if You Fall - Steve Nitz

https://www.spectrumhealthlakeland.org/medical-services/rehabilitation/our-rehab-patients-say-it-best/Detail/rehabilitation-steve-nitz/?utm_source=I’ll_Catch_You_if_You_Fall&utm_medium=PatientStory_Landing&utm_campaign=InternalPages

Jun 10, 2016

Jun 10, 2016

SpectrumHealth Lakeland

What seemed to be just another day at home for Steve Nitz, 59, a Berrien Center resident, quickly took a drastic turn for the worse while attempting to repair an electrical issue on his Bobcat skid-steer loader. It was a rainy afternoon, so Steve p

I’ll Catch You if You Fall - Steve Nitz

SpectrumHealth Lakeland

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I’ll Catch You if You Fall - Steve Nitz

Jun, 2016

What seemed to be just another day at home for Steve Nitz, 59, a Berrien Center resident, quickly took a drastic turn for the worse while attempting to repair an electrical issue on his Bobcat skid-steer loader. It was a rainy afternoon, so Steve parked the Bobcat under a lean-to behind the barn while he worked. The roof was too low to allow the mechanical hydraulic stop to keep the machine’s lift arms from coming down, so instead Steve decided to place a post under the arm – assuring himself that it couldn’t come down unless the machine was running. 

As Steve began to work on the Bobcat he saw a slow movement out of the corner of his eye, quickly realizing that the lift arm was coming down on top of him. He was trapped between the heavy steel arm and the machine across the back of his hips.

“At this point I realized that nothing was broken, however, each time I moved or wiggled, the 500 pound lift arm squeezed tighter and tighter on my hips,” recalls Steve. “No one was home and my neighbors were out of town, so I decided to start the machine and attempt to lift it off of me.” 

This proved to be a mistake as Steve shifted the wrong way causing the lift arm to clamp down on him completely crushing his pelvic bones. Luckily, he found his phone and was able to dial 9-1-1. 

A police officer arrived on the scene shortly after. Steve was able to start the machine, lifting the arm off of him. The officer then dragged him out of harm’s way. Within seconds the paramedics arrived and transported Steve to the trauma unit at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. For the next four weeks he was placed in an induced coma as he underwent seven different surgeries to repair the broken pelvis bones and the other internal damage. 

Steve then spent four weeks undergoing rehabilitation at Lakeland Hospital, Watervliet. While there, Steve worked with physical and occupational therapists who helped him regain his strength to walk again and prepared him to return to life at home.

“What a great staff of therapist and nurses – very organized, very caring, and all determined to get me home as quick as I was able,” said Steve. “On the day I was given the okay by my doctor to try and walk again I remember asking my physical therapist, Cindy Forrester, ‘You just want me to get up and walk?’ She smiled and said, ‘Yes, I’ll catch you if you fall.’ I stood to my feet with her help and we walked – in that moment I have never felt so tall.”

After those initial first steps, Steve’s care team continued to help him take strides toward his recovery.

“I would continually ask, ‘Oh do have I to do that again?’ said Steve. “My therapists would always smile and reply, ‘Yes, if you want to get better.’ They like to push you to the limit because they know you will not recover as well if they don’t.  No pain, no gain – and what a blessing it was when I realized that I could move both of my feet again.”

Since completing rehabilitation within Lakeland Hospital, Watervliet, Steve has returned home to his wife Joie, and is finishing his recovery with the help of nurses from Lakeland Homecare.