NEW AWAKENING

 

"Luckily I surprised them all."

          Josh Georges is reserved and quiet. He's not one to tell you about the hardships he's had to endure in the last year. He's got what Director of Radiologic Technology Ellen Collins calls that "Southern politeness."

          It's no shock then, that trying to learn more about Georges' struggle to return to school after a near-fatal car crash left him in a coma is nearly left up to the imagination. Partly because he's too modest to say, and partly due to him not remembering the incident.

          His friends and family know.

          "This kid is so lucky to be alive," Collins said.

          Georges grew up an "accident prone" kid in Barada, Neb., a town of just about 30 people. The oldest of four children, he has two brothers and a sister, in a town just south of Falls City, Neb. At 23, he's first in line of a cozy succession of siblings; his sister is 22, and brothers are 21 and 20, respectively.

          "My sister is only seven months younger than I am," Georges said. "She was born premature with her retinas detached. She's visually handicapped, but she's very independent."

          Georges attended South East Consolidated High School where his intentions of becoming a member of the health care team first began. His cousin, a pharmacist, inspired him to take pre-pharmacy classes at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Through a friend's aunt, a Radiologic Technologist (RT) at Nebraska Orthopaedic Hospital, he heard about the field. He took the steps to job shadow a technologist.

          "I wouldn't have as much patient interaction as a pharmacy tech as I would have in the RT/MI field," Georges explained.

          I remember getting many x-rays growing up and I was always interested in them. Once I found out the opportunities you have with radiology, I decided it was for me. The different modialities you can continue into gives a person many employment opportunities.

          After taking prerequisite classes at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Georges entered the Clarkson College program in August 2004. He's found it interesting being one of the oldest in his class.

          "I just go with the flow," he smiled.

          Four months after smooth sailing in his school routine, Georges and four friends crashed their vehicle. On Christmas Eve, the driver had rolled the truck, in which Georges and his two male friends were thrown out. The two girls remained in the truck.

          Paramedics rushed Georges to the hospital, where he stayed until Jan. 17, 2005.

"I don't remember a whole lot," he said. "Once I came to, I had rehab. I don't remember anything from the first week I was in the hospital."

          Re-learning the skills from decades earlier -- walking, reading, comprehending and holding his attention, kept him occupied over his holiday break. He missed the opening weeks of his second semester procedures, cross sectional anatomy and exposures classes.

          Collins contended that she and the rest of the teaching staff were devastated after hearing of Georges' accident. They became extended family members, communicating with his mother, and preparing his books for the forthcoming semester.

          "We didn't want him to have to step out of the program," Collins said. "Our concern on campus was, 'how do we get him to recall?'"

          When he did return to school, Georges' short term memory functions weren't working properly. He could speak Spanish, a skill he had acquired from working in construction with his father, but he struggled with the day-to-day assignments.

          "We tried not to push him," she said. "We gave him guidelines to follow, but we did not serve it to Josh on a silver plate. He successfully completed classes, and is back to normal. He's a success story."

          To facilitate his success, Collins and her team devised a calendar and coached Georges on how to study. A classmate, Jerilyn Hadenfeld, also took the time to bring him up to speed.

          "He had such a great attitude about it," Hadenfeld said. "I was really sad when I heard about his accident. He's one of my closest friends here at school; I wanted to see him get through the program."

          Georges hadn't realized how hard it would be to get back to his normal schedule.

          "I thought I'd bounce right back," he said. "But, they made me do rehab at home. A guy from Kansas came up to Omaha for two weeks. He said he'd let me try school. Luckily, I surprised them all.

          "I would have not been able to catch up if it weren't for everyone's help. I think the teachers here are unlike anywhere else. They are so special and caring. They care about each and every student and will do about anything to help you succeed. I think at any other university they would have said 'see you next semester.'"

          Georges said he has gained from his rehabilitation experience, not only an appreciation for life, but a new outlook on his career aspirations. His classmates and teachers say his humor isn't like it used to be. But, they're starting to see the "old Josh."

          "I've noticed a huge change in Josh," Hadenfeld said. "He's talking a lot faster, his mental process is quicker. He has such a great attitude about it. He's so positive -- that's one of the things I really admire about him."

          Collins said that any time a health care practitioner is a patient themselves, they are more sensitive to the feelings and experiences of someone they are helping. Georges agreed.

          "I feel that I will be able to show empathy towards my patients. I will understand the hard times they are going through and also what their family is going through. I just believe it gives me a better understanding of injured and sick people. I believe and hope that with my understanding I will be able to give my patients better care," he said.

          And Georges stressed, "You can't take anything for granted. You never know what is going to happen, and you have to live life a day at a time. You don't realize what you have until you lose it; that's how I feel about my memory. I see now how lucky I was to have such a good memory. I also realized that family, friends and caring people can get someone through just about anything."

by Melissa Kucirek