Man who suffered a life-changing stroke saved by Jackson North emergency and rehabilitation teams

By: Krysten Brenlla

After arriving in South Florida in 1985, Steven Peskin, 72, spent a lifetime as an educator, helping students of all ages and learning abilities.

However, as a smoker, Peskin was at a health risk. That, mixed with stress and a bad decision, changed his life forever.

“It was the evening of March 20, and I remember I was unpacking groceries and talking to my friend on the phone,” Peskin said. “She was telling me to eat something since I hadn’t eaten all day. Instead, I went outside to smoke a cigarette. When I started talking again, my speech began to slur and I couldn’t finish the conversation.”

Peskin tried to eat that evening, but could not chew any food. His friend, a healthcare worker, insisted he call 911. Instead, he decided to ignore his symptoms, and went to sleep for the night.

When he woke up the next day, his symptoms worsened.

Peskin’s friend called him in the morning to see how he was doing. When she heard his speech, she knew his symptoms were not subsiding, so she rushed to his house and took him to the emergency room at Jackson North Medical Center. Upon arrival, Jackson North’s emergency team immediately recognized his symptoms.

He was suffering from a stroke.

“When I was at the hospital, I asked the doctor if I was going to be admitted, and he said, ‘you already are.’ My first reaction to that was fear and anxiety,” Peskin said. “My mistake could have killed me.”

After stabilizing him, the Jackson North team admitted Peskin to the intensive care unit (ICU). He spent a few nights in the ICU recovering before being transferred to Jackson North’s rehabilitation floor.

During his initial evaluation, Peskin was suffering from slurred speech and stuttering, which were his biggest challenges.

“When I first started working with Steven, we focused on articulatory precision, strategic pausing, and breath control,” said Itamis Cordero, a speech-language pathologist at Jackson North. “He knew what type of exercises worked for him, and by the end of our treatment, he really improved.”

In addition to his speech, Peskin was also having trouble with his balance. He worked on different techniques with physical therapists, and interacted with Harmony, Jackson North’s facility assistance dog, through exercises like playing outside, throwing a ball and bending, and walking Harmony on a leash.

Peskin also worked with occupational therapists to learn new adaptive techniques, such as showering and dressing, to transition from a hospital setting to his home.

Additionally, through Jackson North’s transitional apartments, he worked with his occupational therapists on things like cooking or making coffee on his own.

After several weeks of speech, physical, and occupational therapies, Peskin made great improvement, and on April 9, he was ready to go home.

“Any time I spoke to Steven, he was excited and motivated for therapy,” Cordero said. “A lot of people struggle when they lose their voice, so being able to give patients like Steven their voice back after a stroke is really empowering.”

Today, Peskin has decided to stop smoking. He continues to work on his speech and physical therapies, and hopes to pursue his dream of publishing a book. He’s also looking forward to seeing his daughter in September, who is traveling from Seattle to help care for him.

Peskin’s forever grateful to the teams at Jackson North for not only saving his life, but for also turning his fear and anxiety into hope and determination.

“I always say, ‘if you can help one person, you may not change the world, but you change the world for that one person’, and that’s so indicative of everyone at Jackson,” he said. “The Jackson North rehabilitation team could be a model for the country; I can’t say enough about them. They saved my life.”