Victoria doesn’t remember the accident. She doesn’t remember
the diesel truck driving directly in front of her or falling asleep at
the wheel after working an eight-hour graveyard shift at the casino. She
doesn’t remember the impact of her SUV smashing into the back of
the diesel or the first responders cutting her door off in an effort to
rescue her. There is a lot about the accident that Victoria doesn’t
remember, but what she does remember is the care she received at Kaweah
Delta afterward.
"Everyone was so good to me and my family," Victoria recalls.
"The nurses treated me as if they were my mom. They told me to be
strong and that I was going to be okay. They brought my family lunch and
made sure my brother had a pillow and sheets at night when he slept at
my bedside. I knew they were doing their best for me. They even brushed
my hair."
Besides the compassionate care she received from the nursing staff, Victoria
remembers the trust she had in Seth Criner, MD an orthopedic surgeon specializing
in orthopedic trauma surgery who is affiliated with Kaweah Delta. Victoria’s
injuries were extensive and required three different surgeries to fix
a dizzying number of injuries including broken ribs, ankle, pelvis, and
clavicle, a punctured spleen, and a fractured femur that would need a
metal rod inserted to heal properly. In total, Victoria spent three weeks
in the hospital, including a week and a half in the Intensive Care Unit.
"My family is the reason I got through it," Victoria declared.
"Without them, I wouldn’t have made it. I remember waking up
in the ambulance and wondering what my family will do without me. I knew
I had to get better. Dr. Criner is always upbeat and told me I could get
through this. I’m thankful for him because I know if I had gone
somewhere else, things would have ended different."
Victoria continued, "Healing is all in your mindset. You have to be
motivated to get up and do it and look at things like this as your second
chance. Everybody is here for a reason and my family is my future. I’ll
always remember how they took care of me in hard times, and I’m
still here to take care of them."