STORY BY JOY PRUDEK

PHOTO BY JESSE FOSTER

Paul Ramm’s life changed forever when he fell down a flight of stairs in August 2021.

Suffering a traumatic brain injury, Ramm was transferred to St. Luke’s in Boise from St. Luke’s Wood River, needing emergent high-level care.

A breathing tube, a feeding tube and a craniotomy to address blood clots and reduce brain swelling was necessary before six weeks of inpatient therapy, which finally allowed him to return home.

When he returned, he was using a wheelchair and needed help with self-care tasks. He also had difficulty speaking due to Aphasia, a disorder caused by his head injury that impacted the way he communicated.

Ramm and his wife Lynn own property in Bellevue where they care for their animals and land. Before his TBI, he enjoyed working with horses, fixing things and managing their property. He was an expert tiler, installing tile in his own home, as well as many others in the Wood River Valley. And, most recently, he had worked in animal control for the Blaine County Sheriff’s department.

He also drove a school bus for Blaine County School District.

“He is skilled with building and using tools and our desire is to help him return to these tasks that are meaningful to him and Lynn,” said St. Luke’s occupational therapist Jackie Einerson, who has worked with Ramm for the past year.

Einerson and speech language pathologist Kristi Reynolds brainstormed functional tasks that would be meaningful to Ramm and came up with an idea – building a birdhouse They knew he wanted to use tools again, and this would require him to use both hands, even with limited coordination in his right hand. It would also allow him to communicate in a functional way, including reading directions and talking with the therapists.

“I feel that this is pretty unique to be able to have speech and occupational therapy working together in real-life situations to help a patient get back into the community, doing what they loved to do before,” said Jesse Foster, who had previously worked with Ramm as senior manager of Rehab Services at St. Luke’s Wood River. “This is more than just being able to read--it is being able to follow instruction on how to build something and then using tools, and it is beyond doing curls and triceps exercises in the gym.”

The strategy proved successful.

“When the nails proved difficult to hammer in the wood, Paul jokingly said, ‘I would have used smaller nails,’ ” Reynolds said. “A short sentence like that may not seem like a big deal, but for Paul, who has worked hard to get even one word out, this was a huge success in functional and meaningful conversation with others.”

“And that’s the whole point of our therapy: to engage and encourage meaningful tasks both physically and via effective communication,” added Einerson.

Einerson said that Paul and and his wife Lynn are the definition of resilience and a great team. Lynn never misses a therapy session, and she applies the skills practiced in therapy to her husband’s functional life outside the clinic. She also recognizes and provides opportunities for him to use his right hand, whether it’s fixing fences or picking up pinecones around their property.

“Lynn has also supported his communication along the way so that he can be as independent as possible when expressing his own thoughts and ideas, careful to never speak for him or over him,” Reynolds added.

The couple has always lived a life full of family, caring for their home, camping, vacations, and fun outdoor recreation. And they’re not letting Paul’s TBI define him or keeping them from continuing to do the activities they love to do.

Paul has already become much more independent in completing projects on their property, and the St. Luke’s team is hopeful Paul can continue to regain even more skills.

Their mantra consists of one simple phrase: “Let’s keep going!”