By Holly Prestidge 

New Kent County, Va., resident Chuck Marsh sat in his room on the 11th floor of Main Hospital at VCU Medical Center last fall, lamenting about his footwear selection on a particular day back in September.  

Marsh, 91, fell in his kitchen. He was making his morning coffee, and he had rested his cane against the countertop. When he proceeded to the other side of the counter without it, the grip on the bottom of his old slippers caught on the floor. 

He hit the ground on his side, catching a kitchen chair on the way down, which fell with him. His legs were twisted under him, he said, and his head rested against his refrigerator.  

“That was the worst pain I’ve ever had,” he said. 

Marsh, a retired electronic engraver, is one of the hundreds of thousands of people over the age of 65 who suffer hip injuries each year from falls and accidents.  

Marsh said that September morning started like any other. It was chilly, so he put on his shirt before making his way to the kitchen. As a matter of habit, he had slid his cellphone into his shirt pocket.  

When he fell, he wasn’t able to move himself, but he called his neighbor, who called 911.  

Marsh was in pain on the floor until medics arrived. They took him to the nearest local airport, from which he was airlifted to VCU Health via helicopter. By then, he said, he had passed out.  

He arrived at the hospital, and he was swept into surgery later that same day. 

VCU Health’s standard of care prioritizes getting these patients into surgery within 24 to 48 hours of admission. In fact, from the moment patients arrive, a multidisciplinary team jumps into action to create a plan that incorporates every step of care, from initial evaluations and the surgery itself to rehab and preventive bone health education following surgery.  

Marsh said he remembers waking up in the hospital room. He remained there for nearly a week as doctors and others pushed him to start walking. Only a few days after surgery, he went from barely being able to stand on his new hip to walking down the hall.  

“I look out the window, and I just feel different about everything,” Marsh said — acknowledging how different he felt lying on his kitchen floor. Marsh, who lives alone but has children nearby, said he feared he would lose his independence.  

“I was sure I’d have no future,” he remembers thinking as he waited for emergency personnel to help him. “I won’t be able to do anything for myself.” 

To the contrary, Marsh is all smiles — and a few happy tears — these days. 

“My family and these people,” he said, choking up as he gestured around his hospital room, “I love them to death.”  

Nearby was Joshua Stallings, D.P.T., who worked with Marsh in the days after surgery, including initially helping him move from his bed to his room chair post-surgery so Marsh could begin his physical therapy.  

“He was the first person to give me a bear hug, and I’ll never forget it,” Marsh said about Stallings.  
Marsh said he had very little pain after surgery. He was looking forward to being back home, in his own bed, doing all of the things he took for granted before he fell.  

But this time, he’d be ditching the slippers. 

“They worked on me, they operated on me, and I love them to death,” Marsh said about his VCU Health team. “Every day now I wake up, I can look out the windows, and it’s just beautiful.” 

Chuck Marsh holds his great-grandson, Henry, following his return home after a September 2024 hip surgery at VCU Health. (Daniel Sangjib Min, MCV Foundation)

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