Update on Diane Nielsen’s Injury

Troy,

I wanted to update you and the club on my wife, Diane’s, status following her spill on court 5 on Wednesday 2/27. She suffered a break in her upper humerus as well as a shoulder dislocation. After many frustrating and painful hours spent in the ER and hospital, they finally (Thurs a.m.) performed a reduction to put her humerus back in the shoulder socket. She is doing much better today with her arm in a sling and will look forward to therapy to rebuild muscles, etc. so she can get back to playing pickleball with her network of friends.

We were very appreciative of the quick and caring response of the court monitors. They offered their support (as well as their jacket for padding). They provided an incident report form which we filled out.  I witnessed Diane’s fall, as did the others on the court (John Billetz, Don Huston, Karen Paulsen, and Walt ?). I was very thankful for the signs posted on each court reminding us of the exact address!  Knowing immediately where to find that information was a relief that helped me keep my calm and focus on what needed to be done.

I called 911 immediately on my cell phone. Fire department EMT’s arrived within 10 minutes and provided care. We determined that an ambulance would be our best means of transporting Diane to the ER at Del Webb Hospital so they called for one. EMT’s helped stabilize her arm/shoulder and administered pain medication until the ambulance arrived. The ambulance delivered her to the ER and waited with her until a room was available.

Diane and I would like to express our gratitude to the monitors, the Grand Pickleball club for having emergency procedures and signs in place, and those on the court who offered assistance. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have access to a top notch pickleball facility and an amazing network of friends (that we met on the SCG courts).

Dan Nielsen