JoAnn Berkley

"I was treated like a person. I wasn't treated like a number."

Click here to view JoAnn's video testimonial.

JoAnn Berkley of Cookeville originally thought it was vertigo when she started feeling dizzy and weak. When she began stumbling and lost her ability to talk, a good friend and his wife recognized that she was having a stroke.

They took Berkley to Cookeville Regional Medical Center, where the ER staff discovered she was having a brain stem stroke, one of the most severe forms of stroke.

Berkley spent four days in the hospital and then nine days in the inpatient facility at The Rehabilitation Center at Cookeville Regional, where she received comprehensive rehabilitational services, including physical, occupational and speech therapies.

“Now I’m talking like my old self, and I can walk again, too,” said Berkley. “I couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t come here. They took excellent care of me, and the girls down there who helped me get back on my feet were wonderful.”

The outpatient facility continued to work with Berkley to help her learn to walk without a cane, and she says she’s gotten better every day.

“I’m going to do good, and I am doing good, thanks to Cookeville Regional Medical Center Rehab.”