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ARCHBOLD.ORG
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FALL 2016
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Roberts, who helped to braid
her hair, which she hadn’t
been able to wash since the
accident. She also took her
on a visit to the emergency
floor so that she could see
her coworkers.
In someone else’s shoes
“I think it allowed me to
understand that the pa-
tients are worried,” Williams
explained. “When we’re
at work we have so much
going on, and we just focus
on the problem and try to
get it fixed. But it’s also really
important we listen and un-
derstand what each patient
is going through.”
The experience also
confirmed the old saying
that “nurses make the worst
patients,” Williams said with
a laugh. She remembers
snatching the blood pressure
cuff she wore to track her
vitals off of her arm, and her
mother reminded her that
she even tried to hide it from
her nurses.
After several days in the
ICU and on the general
medical floor, Williams began
a two-week stay in Archbold’s inpatient
rehabilitation department, a 20-bed,
self-contained unit that provides inten-
sive rehabilitation services.
Her main focus during inpatient rehab
was strength training for her muscles,
and learning to walk on one leg. She also
learned how to walk with a walker and
transfer from a wheelchair to a walker.
“That was when I got to focus on
getting my life back to normal,” Williams
explained. That focus came with a new
motto Williams claimed from a sign that
her friend gave her after the accident:
“Every long journey begins with a single
step.”
A new normal
Moving on to outpatient therapy at
Archbold, Williams worked with physical
therapist Kerri Kelley to build what she
calls her “new normal.”
While Williams waited for her pros-
thetic leg to come in, Kelley helped
her get comfortable on crutches. They
worked together to build up Morgan’s
endurance and strength.
“If an obstacle came across in my daily
life, we’d figure it out together,” Williams
says of Kelley. “I spent months with her,
and it meant a lot.”
When it was time to get back to
work, Williams started out doing desk
work with flexible hours. During this
time Williams experienced some healing
setbacks that resulted in the delay of her
prosthetic leg fitting. Still,
she persevered.
Keep calm and carry on
“I never thought that I
couldn’t
do it, but it was
discouraging,” Williams
recalls. “I just wanted to
be normal again. I had to
realize that my ‘going to be
normal again’ was going to
be a new normal, and I had
to get ready for that. Now my normal is, I
get up and I put on my leg.”
Williams’ new normal still includes dirt
track racing, and the former track and
field racer is now working on running
to build stamina. She’s also back on the
floor in the emergency department full-
time now, and says she has a new appre-
ciation for the access she has to medical
care at a Level 2 Trauma Center.
“You don’t ever think that it can
happen to you, so when it does, it’s
good to know that there are people who
have dedicated their lives to take care of
you and make sure you get the excel-
lent medical care you need,” Williams
explained.
THE NEED FOR SPEED: There’s no way Morgan
Williams would give up dirt track racing.
DETERMINATION: Morgan worked with physical therapist Kerri Kelley at Archbold
Outpatient Rehab to build what she calls her new normal.