Monday, September 30, 2013

Run, Don't Walk


Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist InsideWalter Reed Army Medical Center [Kindle Edition]

Author: Adele Levine | Language: English | ISBN: B00DMCPI0A | Format: PDF, EPUB

Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist InsideWalter Reed Army Medical Center
Posts about Download The Book Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist InsideWalter Reed Army Medical Center [Kindle Edition] for everyone book with Mediafire Link Download Link M*A*S*H meets Scrubs in a sharply observant, darkly funny, and totally unique debut memoir from physical therapist Adele Levine.



In her six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Adele Levine rehabilitated soldiers admitted in worse and worse shape. As body armor and advanced trauma care helped save the lives—if not the limbs—of American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, Walter Reed quickly became the world leader in amputee rehabilitation. But no matter the injury, physical therapy began the moment the soldiers emerged from surgery.



Days at Walter Reed were intense, chaotic, consuming, and heartbreaking, but they were also filled with camaraderie and humor. Working in a glassed-in fishbowl gymnasium, Levine, her colleagues, and their combat-injured patients were on display at every moment to tour groups, politicians, and celebrities. Some would shudder openly at the sight—but inside the glass and out of earshot, the PTs and the patients cracked jokes, played pranks, and compared stumps.



With dazzling storytelling, Run, Don’t Walk introduces a motley array of oddball characters including: Jim, a retired lieutenant-colonel who stays up late at night baking cake after cake, and the militant dietitian who is always after him; a surgeon who only speaks in farm analogies; a therapy dog gone rogue; —and Levine’s toughest patient, the wild, defiant Cosmo, who comes in with one leg amputated and his other leg shattered.



Entertaining, engrossing, and ultimately inspiring, Run, Don’t Walk is a fascinating look into a hidden world.

Books with free ebook downloads available Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Chaotic Life of a Physical Therapist InsideWalter Reed Army Medical Center
  • File Size: 857 KB
  • Print Length: 281 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1583335390
  • Publisher: Avery; 1 edition (April 10, 2014)
  • Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00DMCPI0A
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray:
    Not Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,438 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
    • #7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical eBooks > Specialties > Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
    • #66 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Internal Medicine > Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
    • #87 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Exceptionally gifted storyteller author/physical therapist Adele Levine, though seldom asked about her job, presents this colorful outstanding book: "Walk Don't Run", recalling her work rehabilitating poly-traumatic combat amputees. These young, (mostly enlisted) Army soldiers and Marines arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center within 72 hours of severe traumatic combat injury from the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Highly skilled trained medics/surgeons were recognized for saving lives which in the past would have been lost.

The top floor of the Military Advanced Training Center (MATC), with the glass observatory walls, (to accommodate tour groups) was open for physical therapy from 0700-1600 hours daily, and began immediately. Military and civilian staff worked as a cordinated MATC team to deal with the large influx of patients walking around on stiff metal legs or pushing wheelchairs with stumps. Walter the therapy service dog, (with his proper service vest) was often called to nuzzle or lay his head on comforting an injured vet. On occasion, he would sneak past the Colonel, leaving his physical therapy duty station, to dine in the nearest cafeteria garbage can. There were also social workers, chaplains, Red Cross and other volunteers, who donated their time and energy to assist.

Especially with the challenging patients as double amputee Cosmo, who typically expressed himself with expletive F***, with an attitude to match; Levine used her unique gifts of humor, cheer, and positivity where in the MATC "everything was celebrated", to aid in patient recovery. Levine holds a doctorate degree in Physical Therapy graduating from the University of Maryland in 2005.
Wow! I've been trying to write this review for a couple of days now, but I am having a hard time articulating how much I love it and I so badly want to do it the justice it deserves...so I'll just try now! I have known and worked with Adele for the better part of a decade. She is an absolutely inspirational and insightful person in the way she can find humor during the most difficult and awkward times. That is a real gift - she makes people laugh in the face of tragedy and that laughter is what gives people a more optimistic perspective and motivation to move forward - whether they are staff members, patients, or sick family members.

I laughed and cried throughout this book. All of the stories are true, and it gives people outside of Walter Reed a really accurate glimpse into a world that nobody else has captured in this way. Most importantly to me, it gives the people who worked at "the old Walter Reed" a memoir of our own - stories that I'm sure would otherwise be long forgotten. The staff would often gather in the back of the clinic during times like the clown visits and just say "You can't make this sort of thing up - I hope somebody is writing this down!"...such surreal moments! Her book also captures some heartbreaking stories and sheds light on what so many of these brave men and women have gone through and continue to go through today. It was a different time, and so uniquely special and life changing to all of us there. It was truly the end of an era when we closed those doors. Adele's writing captures it all perfectly, but she maintains a sensitivity that is vital in a story like this. People would do well to read this book, as we really don't read or hear about these stories anymore in the news.

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