Retired Rush CEO has cautionary tale

Wallace Strickland began driving a tractor at age 10.

So at age 74, it seemed rookie mistakes were surely behind him.

Then came May 3, the day he admittedly “went stupid.”  While driving downhill on his 450-acre Decatur farm, he lost control of the tractor as it sped up. He clipped a tree and the 8,800-pound vehicle tipped over on top of him.

Trapped underneath, Strickland worried he wouldn’t be rescued.

“I was in a place where I don’t usually have cell service, and I was allowed to make three phone calls. That’s divine intervention,” he said.

In another stroke of good fortune, someone who heard the emergency call had a piece of needed rescue equipment already loaded up. “He made it in 13 minutes to my house,” Strickland said.

It took 45 minutes for rescuers to free Strickland. And he’s grateful for the volunteer first responders who risked their own safety to help him. 

“I remember one volunteer, John, was crawling under the tractor to shore it up, and I begged him not to five or six times,” Strickland said. “Afterwards, he even checked on me every other day.”

Strickland cracked two ribs, broke another, fractured his left thumb and severely injured his hip socket and pelvis. For a man who prided himself on staying healthy, it was humbling.

“I’ve worked out an hour five days a week since 1980,” he said. “For 74 years old, I was in as good a shape as a man can be.”

In his whole life, Strickland had only spent two days hospitalized. Still, he knew more than most about health care. He recently retired as long-time CEO of Rush Health Systems and is now board chairman.

So as he pondered where to go to overcome his injuries, Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson immediately came to mind. “Its reputation is such across the state, it is the place to go for rehab,” he said.

Strickland’s “totally reconstructed pelvis” made him unable to bear weight on his right leg. He also had limited use of his left hand.  But his therapists taught him how to work around his lopsided abilities.

“He had to put all his weight on his left leg and brace himself with his right arm,” said MRC occupational therapist Mia Tynes. “It was tricky.”

“But once he got used to it, he took off,” said MRC physical therapist Mary Smith. “It just took a little bit of time before he realized he had control.”

After a couple of weeks focused on strength, balance, endurance and compensatory techniques, Strickland headed home feeling grateful to staff for helping him make “tremendous progress.”

“I can stand up and move from bed to wheelchair and wheelchair to bed, and I have walked 150 feet,” he said upon his discharge on May 27. “They taught me all that, and it’s so nice to have someone teaching you things you need to know.

“The staff is outstanding. Even the lady who does the housekeeping, we would chat, chat, chat as she did her job. She was just so nice.”

At first, Strickland had simple goals for his recovery. He wanted to go to the bathroom independently and be able to sleep on his side.

In the future, though, he hopes to get back to farming. He’s got cows, chickens, donkeys and a thriving vegetable garden that need his attention.