Gail proves an inspiration on road to recovery

A stay in hospital to treat a staph infection took an incredibly serious turn for Ballajura resident Gail Shorten, but support from Juniper has helped keep the focus on her goal of walking independently again.

Losing her footing while in hospital in May 2024, Gail fell and suffered a tetraplegic injury to her spinal cord that resulted in paralysis of both arms and legs.

“No movement anywhere, other than these fingers,” Gail said. “It was pretty scary, those days – they said I probably wouldn’t walk again.”

Gail (70) underwent spinal surgery that involved inserting a rod and 16 screws to stabilise her neck.

After more than a month of recuperation, Gail took part in a university trial that upped the traditional one hour of physiotherapy on weekdays to three hours per day, six days a week.

“It was very exhausting, I would crawl into bed afterwards, but it helped get me up and going and back home on a walker,” Gail said.

“If it was just an hour, I don’t think I would have got as far as I am now.”

After a total of five months in hospital, which included retraining to carryout standard daily tasks, Gail returned to her home of 40 years and called on the support of Juniper Home Care.

Since October 2024, Gail has taken part in Juniper’s Transition Care Program (TCP) which provides short term care for up to 12 weeks for those who need additional support after staying in hospital.

Delivered by a multidisciplinary team comprising of nurses, allied health professionals, and support staff, Juniper’s TCP supports customers in being as independent as possible.

In addition to physiotherapy and occupational therapy services delivered via the TCP, Gail also received personal care and domestic assistance from Juniper during her ongoing road to recovery.

“Juniper has been absolutely spot on – the fact that they have these various services is one of the benefits of staying with them,” Gail said.

“I would highly recommend Juniper, the quality of the service and the people. All the different nationalities, I’ve loved learning about their stories, which also takes the focus off me.”

The retired primary school teacher continues to receive daily personal care from Juniper each morning as well as fortnightly domestic care support and twice weekly physiotherapy sessions as part of her Home Care Package.

From not being able to move any of her limbs less than a year ago, to returning home amongst her “beautiful neighbours” and enjoying a favourite pastime of entertaining her six grandchildren, Gail has made remarkable progress.

“It’s slowly, slowly, I’m starting to do a little bit of gardening, it will take a long time to get back to where I was, but I don’t say never,” Gail said.

“My next goal is walking around the house without the walker and getting stronger each month – we’ll get there.”