For Veryl Rosenbaum, a resident of Vista Grande Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Cortez, the month of February was about much more than just Valentine’s Day or Ground Hog Day. Also dubbed American Heart Month, February brought Ms. Rosenbaum a well-deserved sense of pride. The wife of the late Jean Rosenbaum – inventor of the pacemaker – Veryl knows better than most that the word “lifesaver” is no exaggeration, at least in the case of her husband. “He was an idealistic person and refused to make money on the device. He wanted to give it to the world,” she stated. How the Pacemaker Came to BeDistressed at the sight of people dying while he was a hospital intern at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., Jean Rosenbaum developed his pacemaker (the name he coined for it) in 1951 at age 24. Inspired by the movie Frankenstein, which he had seen as a child, the young doctor understood that the heart can respond to electrical stimuli. According to Veryl, after tinkering for some time with a prototype machine – despite being mocked by his own professors – Jean and a colleague had the opportunity to try it out on a dying patient one evening while the rest of the staff was away at a meeting. When the patient “came back to life,” said Veryl, Jean called a local newspaper, both to report this incredible event and prevent his invention from being unjustly claimed by someone else. The handmade original machine – constructed of wood, leather, plastic, and metal, is now the property of and on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C. That newspaper story was Veryl’s first introduction to the man who would later become her husband. Veryl moved to the states from Canada at the age of 12, she lived for a while in Detroit, enrolling in Wayne State University at age 16. After marrying her first husband, Dr. Ron Blatt, the couple socialized with the families of other medical providers, including Jean. Veryl and Jean eventually married in 1969. Moving to Southwestern ColoradoVeryl explained how she came to live in Colorado. She and Jean moved to Durango in 1972 after working in Santa Fe, N.M., with the Medical Missionary Sisters at the Natural Childbirth College. By that time, she was a nationally certified psychoanalyst. They picked Durango after a patient invited them to Colorado and showed them around the town. Deciding that they wanted to raise their children there – rather than Santa Fe, which they felt was too money-oriented – they made the move. With heart disease as the leading cause of death in the U.S., Heart Month provided an opportunity to increase awareness and knowledge about heart health and cardiovascular disease. Veryl understands this more than most. "Many times, Jean was flooded with people who were so thankful for him and his lifesaving device,” she said. Still, she said, it was Jean’s determination and persistence that allowed him to create such a wonderful thing. “No matter what anybody tells you, you need to follow your heart,” she said. Actor Mel Brooks Lends a HandVeryl tells an amusing anecdote about her husband and actor/director Mel Brooks. Pointing out that her husband had always wanted to be a doctor but had trouble getting accepted into medical school because he was Jewish, she said her husband wrote to Brooks, asking for footage from his movie to use in a video. “Jean wrote Mel Brooks and said, ‘From one Jew to another, I have not made a dime on the pacemaker device,” Veryl said. “Will you give us some footage of Young Frankenstein?’” Jean got the footage, and Veryl recorded the resulting video, Frankenstein and The Heart Machine, demonstrating the pacemaker’s life-saving abilities. Felicia Folsom, Director of Social Services at Vista Grande Rehab, said she is both proud and enriched to have Veryl at the Center. “We always talk about ways to care for our hearts during Heart Month and Veryl’s presence helped to raise our residents’ awareness of the important topic of cardiovascular care,” she noted. “Veryl is a cherished resident here and we love hearing her stories about the creation of the pacemaker and other adventures.”
Vista Grande Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Cortez, Colo., has earned Align’s “Workplace Excellence Award” for its dedication to workforce engagement during the past year. Vista Grande was one of only four skilled nursing and senior living providers in Colorado to receive the Workplace Excellence Award, and among just 160 in the U.S. to earn it. The award was determined through a third-party employee engagement survey conducted in 2022, where eligible facilities needed at least a 25 percent employee response rate, and had a minimum of 80 percent of survey participants respond either “Excellent” or “Good” to the statement “Rate us as a place to work.” “This employee satisfaction survey underscores our effort to create the best workplace for our staff,” said Carla Lydic, Vista Grande’s administrator. “At Vista Grande Rehab, we feel it’s important to engage every member of our team so they can provide the highest quality patient care.” “Attaining a high level of favorable responses to ‘Rate us as a place to work’ is an indication of Vista Grande Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center’s attention to creating a positive work environment,” said Neil Gulsvig, CEO of Align. “Their achievement clearly demonstrates that they care about their people and are committed to their engagement and success.” Align, the applied research and quality-improvement solutions provider that presents the annual award, supports leaders across the entire senior care profession with tools to measure staff engagement and make meaningful improvements to create a more engaged workforce. Learn more at www.align30.com.
Employees in immediate financial need at Vista Grande Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center can now get economic help to tide them over during difficult times, courtesy of the facility’s just-created employee assistance fund. The unique fund, which is set up as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is administered for the skilled nursing facility by a third party, the Emergency Assistance Foundation (EAF). Employees can apply for financial grants – which may range from $500 to $2,500 – to help meet expenses for unforeseen disaster or personal hardship. The applications and awards are handled directly by EAF, without the facility knowing who was awarded grants or their purpose, to maintain strict confidentially. Carla Lydic, Vista Grande administrator, said the facility wanted to create a benefit for its staff that reflects part of its mission – treating employees as family – and can help employees in their times of need. “There are many reasons extra money may be needed, whether to deal with natural disasters, accidents, epidemics, illness, domestic abuse, or a death in the family,” she said. “In this season of giving, Vista Grande is grateful for our staff and is providing additional means to support their well-being,” Mitchell said. “This is another way we fulfill our mission. While our commitment is to provide genuine hometown care while becoming a vital partner in the community, none of that can be accomplished without ensuring the health, safety, and happiness of our valued teammates.”
Call: 970-564-1122
Email: admin@vistagranderhc.com
Visit: 680 Hospital Drive, Cortez, CO 81321
