Morris Hospital nurse gives patient’s puppy a temporary home

An over-the-road truck driver is recovering from a crash with his 6-month-old Boston terrier on his lap, thanks to a Morris Hospital nurse who gave the puppy a temporary home.

Scot Rambo, 57, of Idaho isn’t certain what happened. His last memory was 2:30 p.m. on the day of the crash, which was in early October. He was told the crash, of which he has no memory, happened around 6 p.m. when he hit a parked vehicle. Rambo was the only person injured in the crash, he said.

“I don’t remember if it was sunny or raining,” Rambo, an over-the-road truck driver for three years, said. “People say I just slowly veered to the other side of the road. I never hit my brakes, nothing.”

But Rambo is following up with his health care providers to make sure he didn’t have a stroke, he said.

“Strokes do run in my family,” Rambo said.

Rambo also has no memory of going to Morris Hospital, he said.

“Somebody, in the ambulance, I think, put my puppy on my lap, and I was so glad to see him,” Rambo said. “He was all dusty and had glass on him. But he was not injured.”

Rambo’s only other memory was that “this wonderful nurse” at Morris Hospital could see Rambo was “very concerned” about losing his dog, Bruno.

“She just offered to take him home and take care of him until I was able to get him,” Rambo aid. “It was such a relief not to have to think about it.”

Janis Koren said she was working in the emergency department when paramedics brought Rambo – and Bruno – into Morris Hospital.

Koren, who isn’t a “dog person,” she said, thought Bruno was “so cute” and didn’t want to see him go to the animal shelter. So she told Rambo she would “hold onto” Bruno until Rambo was recovered.

Then Koren bought Bruno food and took him home for four days.

“He was great,” Koren said. “We walked every day. One day, we walked eight miles.”

Rambo was transferred to a trauma center. He had fractured several bones in his face and “a couple of ribs,” he said.

After his release, Rambo went to a cousin’s home in Aurora. And Koren personally drove Bruno there.

“It was only 30 minutes,” Koren said. “I was happy to do it.”

Rambo couldn’t believe Bruno when he saw him.

“He was all spruced up. She’d taken him to the dog spa,” Rambo said. “He was clean and smelling good and had a little bandana on. He had a new collar and leash. He was a little confused about what was going on. But he was happy to be back.”