The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - After taking a fall that caused a broken hip, Evelyn Himmelberger had her first interaction with emergency medical staff in Dayton. Himmelberger spent the next nine weeks learning about a side of Columbia County she had never experienced - and was pleased to have met.

Himmelberger met her first Columbia County emer­gency medical staff in the ambulance, after her neigh­bor found her on the ground in her Dayton home's ga­rage.

Himmelberger said she knows she was lucky to have received help so promptly, just a few minutes after her fall, and to have been taken to the Columbia County Health System (CCHS) by kind and skilled profession­als.

"The people are con­cerned about you," Him­melberger said. "I had never broken a bone before."

Himmelberger spent the next nine weeks in the hos­pital where her bones recov­ered and she worked with physical therapists to regain her range of motion. Dur­ing that time she had to rely heavily on the medical staff and rest, a challenge for the independent and highly ac­tive woman.

The rooms like the one Himmelberger stayed in are all painted different warm colors, like rooms in a home. They each have pictures on the walls and don't feel starched and bleach-white like a stereotypical hospital.

"(CCHS) is like a second home to me," Himmelberger said.

Himmelberger can list off doctors and physical thera­pists she worked with as if they were members of her own family. During a tour of the hospital, she recounted the time the spent together exchanging family stories or sharing a package of licorice and the stories sound less like days in a hospital room and more like time at home with friends.

As we toured through the hospital, the friendly staff stopped to smile and say hello, all of them asking about Himmelberger's hip and recovery. The hospital seemed to be full of friends.

"It's not hard to be nice to (Himmelberger)," CCHS CEO Dale Polla said. "She's just delightful."

Darlene Lambert and Pearl Bickelhaupt stopped during their visit to the hos­pital to say hello to Him­melberger.

"( Columbia County Health System) is the best place anywhere," Lambert said. "They take care of you here."

Lambert, whose husband is staying in Booker Rest Home, said she has had bad experiences in other hospi­tals and knows her husband is getting the best care pos­sible in Dayton.

"I don't have to worry and (repeatedly) check in on him," Lambert said. "It's a relief to know he's going to be taken care of."

Bickelhaupt also sang praises of the hospital, say­ing that while she doesn't have anything to compare it to she knows she is lucky to have been in Dayton.

"In other hospitals, you're a number," Himmelberger said. "(In CCHS) it's the same staff daily. They care if you're doing better."

While most of Himmel­berger's care could be pro­vided through CCHS, there were occasional necessary visits to Walla Walla, which proved difficult when she was unable to even lift her foot an inch off of the floor after her hip was repaired. Himmelberger said she was impressed to discover the affordable transportation service provided right in Co­lumbia County - Columbia County Public Transporta­tion (CCPT).

CCPT general manager Stephanie Guettinger said the service currently has 21 vehicles and requests are always growing.

Himmelberger was able to use the demand-response public service to attend ap­pointments in Walla Walla the way anyone in Columbia County can use the service for any kind of trip.

Guettinger said CCPT has many regular clients and new people calling every day. CCPT has yet to have a client call that they were unable to accommodate, Guettinger said.

And with a rate as low as $7.50 from Dayton into Walla Walla round trip, it's clear why locals have turned to the service.

Himmelberger said she had seen the CCPT vehicles around town and pulling up to the hospital, but it wasn't until after her accident that she started using the service.

CCHS contracts with CCPT to transport patients to appointments or trips around town and out of town. So for people like Himmelberger, the trips were covered by Medicare like the rest of her stay.

The transportation was essential for Himmelberger while she was recovering and working through physi­cal therapy. Now that her therapy has completed and she is able to drive again, she knows that CCPT is still a service worth using.

Himmelberger also has use of services at the hospital even though her therapy is complete and she is able to walk and drive freely. She has free use of the physical therapy equipment there anytime she wants it

When it all comes down to it, Himmelberger said she can rest assured knowing if she ever needs anything, her hospital system can take care of her.

"You're in good hands," she said.