Marin County deputies rally to help a retired deputy injured in a fall
Marin County deputies rally to help a retired deputy injured in a fall
Retired Marin County sheriff deputy gets support from former coworkers after suffering devastating spinal injury.
MARIN COUNTY, Calif. - Kathy Ostrum beams when she talks about her 22 years as a sheriff’s deputy for the Marin County Sheriff’s Department.
"Best job I ever had," she says with a grin, "I couldn’t believe they were paying me to do it." So even now, even though she is retired, when she returned to the department to visit her old co-workers this week, the joy on her face was unmistakable.
This visit was different. It was the first time she’s come back since a devastating injury in June damaged her spinal cord so severely that she only now has small movement in her hands and feet.
Ostrum says she was at one of her grandchildren’s graduations in Eureka when she slipped and fell. She says a bone spur that she didn’t know had punctured her spinal column, and she fell straight into a wall and down onto the cement.
She ended up getting life flighted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and has been working to recover ever since. She says she’s never cried and says she’s determined to have a "great attitude about getting better all the time."
She was all smiles when she was invited by fellow deputies to come back to the department where they had been raising money for her recovery. The Marin County Sheriff’s Association President Justin Swift says people like Kathy retire but never leave the institution, calling her a tough cookie but someone who trained his generation of deputies, teaching them "how do this job" and how to "keep our heads straight."
So now, as they take over the job she loved, they also want to make sure they take care of her. The Sheriff’s Association helped build a ramp at her house and presented her with a check for $5,000 for her recovery. As they presented the check to her one by one, they took a turn wrapping their arms around her.
As Ostrum left in an ADA equipped van, she vowed to keep working hard at her rehabilitation. Through laughter, she told them, "You can’t keep an old bird down."
Contribute to the Gofundme.
Featured
Sheriff rescues Point Reyes hikers stranded on remote beach
Two hikers were rescued from Point Reyes National Seashore on Saturday by a helicopter crew from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office after being stranded by the tide.