Message from the Chief Executive Officer

From beginning to end, this issue of our journal is filled with examples of rehabilitation in action. We’re grateful to three former patients – Tato Stanley, Jacob Smith and Brandon Johnson – for sharing their stories of hard-won success. After sustaining life-changing injuries, all three young men have moved forward with determination to live their lives to the fullest.

Quite a few other congratulations are in order. In April, the TIRR Memorial Hermann Adult Hotwheels Wheelchair Basketball Team won the National Wheelchair Basketball Association’s (NWBA) Division III national championship for the first time in its history. At the same tournament, our junior Hotwheels team fell just three points short of defending their 2015 national title, and the team’s volunteer head coach, Trice Ham, was named NWBA junior division Coach of the Year. In addition, our quad rugby team, the TIRR Memorial Hermann Texans, placed third in the 2016 U.S. Quad Rugby Association National Championship Tournament. Through TIRR Memorial Hermann’s participation in the Memorial Hermann Employee Campaign, we have raised funds to create a sport court at the hospital in honor of these athletes, who refuse to let disability stop them from playing.

These men and women exemplify excellence in their personal lives. I would also like to congratulate our physicians and researchers for their professional accomplishments. Among the many who deserve recognition is our chief medical officer Dr. Gerard Francisco, who was selected to deliver the prestigious 2016 Sidney Licht Lecture at the closing session of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine’s annual meeting in Malaysia in June. The work of Dr. Francisco and others has expanded TIRR Memorial Hermann’s impact to the global level. In March, ILRU director Lex Frieden was named to the Harris County METRO Board of Directors, based on his track record of published research and successful advocacy in transit policy, urban planning and livable communities.

All of these people are working individually and together to achieve things that once seemed impossible. They exemplify the mission and spirit of the physicians, caregivers and researchers at TIRR Memorial Hermann: to reach as high as they can, and then reach a little higher.

Carl E. Josehart
Chief Executive Officer
TIRR Memorial Hermann
System Executive for Rehabilitation Services
Memorial Hermann Health System