JACKSON, Miss.—The day he laced on his first pair of football cleats, Fred Perryman began fantasizing about filling the shoes of NFL stars like Deion Sanders and Champ Bailey.
“I wanted to be the one on Sports Center,” said the Moss Point resident. “I wanted to be the one getting all the attention.” But the Gulf Coast Community College defensive back never wanted this – to have all eyes on him as he lay eerily still in the middle of a football field.
2/10/2005
JACKSON—Show your kids how much you love them this Valentine’s Day by making sure they are correctly buckled up in your car, truck or SUV.
That’s the message behind the Feb. 13-19 celebration of National Child Passenger Safety Week, and it’s one parents should take to heart, says Lauren Fairburn, coordinator of Think First, Methodist Rehabilitation Center’s statewide safety and injury prevention program.
“I can think of no better way to prove you care than to make sure your child is properly restrained while riding in a motor vehicle,” she said.
JACKSON, Miss.—To gauge your disease risk, health experts talk about “knowing your numbers”—your blood sugar, blood pressure and blood lipid levels.
Now comes word that black Americans might want to add another number to that list—their zip code.
A new study suggests that living in the South compounds a black person’s already inflated risk of dying from a stroke.
In Mississippi, the ratio of black to white deaths is 4 to 1 among people ages 45 to 54. Among New Yorkers in the same age group, the ratio of black to white deaths is 2.5 to 1.
JACKSON, Miss.—Rhonda Dedeaux of Kiln burst into the emergency room at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg fearing the worst.
Her 18-year-old daughter LaKrisha had crashed her car, and news from the wreck site wasn’t good. “A Highway Patrol officer told my husband Ricky to get to the hospital now!’”
Dedeaux said when she first saw LaKrisha, “I thought she was fine. She didn’t have a scratch on her.” But a head scan revealed LaKrisha’s brain was bruised and bleeding. And Dedeaux said she knew enough about that diagnosis to be afraid of what might be ahead.
JACKSON, Miss.—Adrian Benson arrived at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson reeling from the news that a car wreck had left him a paraplegic.
So he was only half listening as Methodist staff tried to teach him how to stay healthy once he got home. “I was hearing it, but I wasn’t hearing it,” admits the 30-year-old Canton resident. “I was just ready to get out of the hospital. Being paralyzed … it took some time for that to sink in.”
FLOWOOD, Miss.—Time and compassion are meant to be given away. That is a lesson that Robby Scucchi has learned in both his personal and professional lives. Scucchi, 33, is the first director of the new volunteer services program at the Methodist Specialty Care Center.
The $9 million center, which opened in Flowood in February, is a residential facility for people with severe disabilities.
A native of Greenville, he served as the volunteer services/workforce development Specialist for Delta Regional Medical Center for five years before coming to Flowood.
JACKSON, Miss.—Whether it’s a voice over the phone or a smiling face behind the front desk, for the past 28 years Lamar Myers has been the first contact many people have with Methodist Rehabilitation Center.
Few people can tell the story of the Jackson hospital’s long history of rebuilding lives better than Myers, who has been a quadriplegic since a 1971 car accident.
He was the 58th patient admitted to the Methodist Rehab when it opened in 1975, and one of the first people with disabilities to join the hospital’s work force.
FLOWOOD, Miss.—Methodist Rehabilitation Center staff celebrated the patriotic spirit of one of their own, honoring Capt. Steve Lindsley for coming to the aid of Iraqi citizens who have lost limbs as a result of the wars that have ravaged that country over the years.
In his civilian life, Lindsley manages Methodist’s orthotics and prosthetic office in Monroe, Lousiana and serves as a certified prosthetist, someone who fabricates and fits artificial limbs.
JACKSON, Miss.—In 2002, Methodist Rehabilitation Center researchers were the first to report that West Nile virus can attack the motor cells of the spinal cord, causing fatigue, muscle weakness and a polio-like paralysis, and the first to confirm those findings through autopsy results.
Now they are collaborating with colleagues at the University College of London in the United Kingdom to learn more about the severity of neurological injury associated with West Nile virus infection.
JACKSON, Miss.—Raymond Wong’s life used to operate on one speed—fast-forward.
A typical day found the Greenville restaurateur and graphic designer managing two businesses, working on construction of his 6,000-square-foot home, doing volunteer work and honing his magician skills.
Then all was put on pause the morning of Aug. 24. “All of a sudden my arm was moving like it wasn’t attached,” remembers Wong. “Then I noticed I couldn’t talk.”