Correction: The patient’s name initially was misstated by the source for this story. His correct name is Michael Patrick Leary.
Michael Patrick Leary has not allowed cerebral palsy to slow him down, and will spend his 74th birthday with family and friends Friday, thanks to a collaboration between American Medical Response and Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center.
Leary is a four-year resident of Birch Patrick Skilled Nursing Facility at Sharp Chula Vista and will travel in style in an AMR ambulance – festooned with horse-themed balloons and streamers – to his sister’s home in San Ysidro for his birthday celebration.
“It’s an honor for our team to help celebrate Michael in such a meaningful way,” said Melendre Aquino, manager of Birch Patrick Skilled Nursing Facility. “Helping the AMR team help Michael celebrate his birthday in a way that rekindles his love for horses is a joy and a privilege for all of us. We honor and promote this meaningful experience as the bedrock of the care we provide at Sharp Chula Vista to each and every patient.”
Leary moved from Michigan to San Diego in 1957. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was born, he refused to let the neurological disorder stop him from doing what he enjoys. He held jobs delivering newspapers, and from 1976-1985, working with horses at Baja Mar Ranch in South San Diego.
According to the Sharp team at the nursing facility, Leary loves the Padres, football and classic movies.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to help Michael celebrate his birthday with family and friends,” says Eric Nixon, community relations manager with AMR San Diego. “We hope to make this a birthday to remember for years to come.”
AMR, in partnership with Sharp HospiceCare, provides courtesy round- trip transportation for patients on hospice service through their Sentimental Journey program. It is a “good-will program in which AMR ambulance crews pick up patients from their care facility or home and transport them to visit a place of their choosing that they can no longer access on their own,” a statement from the ambulance company reads.
