Kathleen Blackham works for the City of Indianapolis in metropolitan development and zoning as a senior planner. The active mother of two adults, Blackham loves spending time playing with her three rescue dogs and working in her yard.

As she was looking forward to being outside after the seemingly never-ending frigid early months of 2019, Blackham had no idea that her plans for enjoying springtime as she was accustomed to would be short-lived.

On Easter Sunday, Blackham was in her house when she fell and broke her hip. Not knowing what to do, she called her daughter who wasn’t available to answer the phone and then called 911.

“I just remember them getting me into the ambulance and asking me where I wanted to go and they gave me three options, and I thought which is the closest because I’m in a lot of pain at this point in time,” Blackham said. “I thought from my house, Eskenazi Health is the closest, so I told them that’s where I wanted to go.”

For Blackham it was her first time ever in Eskenazi Health, and she’ll be happy to tell you she’ll keep going back.

“Everything at Eskenazi Health was amazing. Every nurse I met was fantastic and Dr. Watters (Dr. Jason Watters, orthopedic surgeon) was absolutely wonderful. I also had a geriatric specialist named Dr. Adnan Arseven, who checked on me every day, which was fantastic.”

After arriving on Easter Sunday, Eskenazi Health nurses and physicians had Blackham on her feet by Monday, and she was amazed at the little things the nurses did to help her heal faster.

“When a nurse would come in to help me into the restroom, she would know I was in a lot of pain and that it was difficult for me to move. So instead of having me go over to the sink to clean my hands, she would bring me a wet towel to wipe my hands with, which saved me some painful steps. Little things like that that you wouldn’t think about mean a lot to those of us who are in that situation.”

In addition to the outstanding care she received, Blackham also became a fan of Eskenazi Health food services. “The food was fantastic and I loved being able to go through and pick what I wanted, which was great!”

Blackham had surgery on a Monday, was released Wednesday and back to work the following Monday. She had a choice of places to go for physical therapy, but to Blackham her decision was obvious.

“They gave me the opportunity to do physical therapy at Eskenazi Health and I thought that I’ve had a pretty good experience so far, so let’s stick with the physical therapy program here and it was fantastic! I kept hoping it could drag out longer and longer because I enjoyed coming here once a week. For my last appointment, I jokingly went in there limping badly hoping they would say they’d need to keep me a couple more weeks.”

Blackham’s physical therapy ended in August, and until the end of summer and through the early months of fall, she was back doing everything she loves to do. Her primary doctor recently retired and she’s looking forward to choosing her new primary provider at Eskenazi Health.

“I cannot think of any complaint from the time they brought me through those doors until the time my physical therapy came to an end. I would tell everyone to seriously consider Eskenazi Health for your health care needs. This is the best hospital I’ve ever been in. Between the attention, the care and when you consider what is most important to you, this is the place to be.”