From Stroke to Recovery: Dorothy Kennedy’s Journey Through Mobile Infirmary and Rotary Rehabilitation

On Feb. 14, Dorothy Kennedy was admitted to Mobile Infirmary after experiencing a brain bleed. Her daughter, Kamela Kennedy, had noticed changes in her mother’s behavior, including confusion and difficulty recognizing family members. At Mobile Infirmary’s Emergency Department, the family learned Dorothy had suffered a stroke.

“Everyone in the E.R. was extremely attentive to what was going on,” Kamela recalled. “There was a sense of urgency with her.”

Dorothy was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, where her condition was closely monitored.

“When she got in ICU, they were also very attentive to making sure she was comfortable and making sure everything was going to be OK,” Kamela shared.

As Dorothy transitioned out of the ICU, Kamela grew concerned about her mother’s progress. Dorothy was sleeping frequently, struggling to communicate and was later diagnosed with aphasia. Kamela knew the woman she was seeing was not the mother she knew.

That’s when Mobile Infirmary 3 Northeast Nurse Manager Gary Montgomery stepped in.

“Mr. Gary Montgomery was awesome. He came in and he listened,” Kamela said. “He took time out and attentively listened to everything I was saying, the good, bad and ugly. After that, things just started happening.”

Montgomery worked with Dorothy’s physicians to determine the next steps in her care.

“I was able to talk to some of the doctors and get them to investigate and do some more exams,” Montgomery explained. “Then we discovered that there were some more issues going on, and we were able to get her to Rotary.”

Dorothy transitioned to J.L. Bedsole Rotary Rehabilitation Hospital, where she began working with the rehabilitation team to regain skills affected by her stroke.

“We got in there, they immediately started assessing her,” Kamela recalled. “I was like, ‘I’m loving this. We are on the road to true recovery.’”

Montgomery continued checking on Dorothy after her transition to Rotary and witnessed the progress she was making.

“She was talking, she was smiling, she was alert,” Montgomery shared. “You could just see life again compared to how she was before she got to Rotary.”

Since leaving the hospital, Dorothy has continued speech therapy and made further progress with her speech and communication.

For Montgomery, who has worked in nursing for more than 35 years, seeing Dorothy’s recovery reinforces what has kept him committed to caring for patients and their families.

“As a nurse, you see a lot of things with miracles and the blessing of God,” Montgomery said. “It makes a big difference to see the care that we deliver here at the Infirmary create this kind of outcome and help get a patient back to baseline.”

Kamela’s gratitude extends beyond Montgomery to the nurses, therapists and other team members who cared for Dorothy throughout her stay.

“I can’t say anything but great things,” she reflected. “The nurses, they loved her. They loved her so much they would come in and check on her, and they have called since we’ve been away.”

For Kamela, those relationships made Mobile Infirmary and J.L. Bedsole Rotary Rehabilitation Hospital feel “like a family away from family.”

Now back home, Dorothy continues working toward recovery with the support of her family and care team.