TRANSFORMATIONS
Dr. Dale Hull, MD ’85, MPA
Distinguished Alumni Award
After graduating from the University of Utah School of Medicine and completing his obstetrics and gynecology residency at University of Utah Medical Center, Dale Hull, MD ’85, MPA, was recruited to join a Salt Lake Valley OB/GYN private practice started by two of his former colleagues. He was on his way into a very promising career, but in 1999, just a decade into private practice, a backyard trampoline accident changed everything for the husband and father of four—and removed any illusion he had that he controlled the direction of his own life.
“Typically as we go through life, we’re the ones who decide where to go to school, who to marry, what car to drive, or job to take. We contemplate and fuss about those decisions, but occasionally one of those things happens where you don’t choose the outcome. In my particular case, it was the day my spinal cord injury occurred.”
Hull spent four months in the hospital and another two plus years in rehabilitation at home—experiences that were largely disappointing, in part because of the limits on what insurance benefits will cover. “I was very frustrated that the therapists only have time to get you ready to live with your disability—they change your door handles and teach you how to maneuver your wheelchair—but not a lot of time to change you as a person,” said Hull.
For him, that change began seven months after his injury, when physical therapist Jan Black filled in for another therapist for a week. “She’d been told I was a cantankerous doctor dictating his own care, which I was because I was so frustrated by the system. She said, ‘You only have to put up with me for four days, just let me do my thing.’ I knew within the first 30 minutes I had an extraordinary PT.” With the ability to pay her privately, Hull hired Black to work with him almost daily and together they began brainstorming ideas for how to deliver care despite the many barriers.
In 2004, they opened the doors to their nonprofit Neuroworx. What started with $500 in the bank and a 1,000-square-foot empty room is now a 24,500-square-foot, custom-built rehabilitation facility with a staff of 26 that draws people from across the nation to Sandy, Utah, for state-of-the-art care. As a nonprofit, Neuroworx seeks to eliminate financial barriers and other challenges that keep people from getting the care they need. “We have a terrible business model, giving away care every day, but a great people model,” joked Hull, who serves as executive director. Neuroworx offers physical, occupational, and speech therapy for adults and children affected by paralysis from spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, stroke,
cerebral palsy, and similar neurological conditions. They also offer a wellness program, adaptive arts and crafts, a junior wheelchair basketball team, and more, including a recently added clinical psychology program.
Success means different things for different people. “Even though I walk as a quadriplegic, we can’t make everybody walk because every injury and recovery is so different. However, if we help their spirits walk, we’ve provided an enormous benefit.”