Terri Grzebielski
Terri Grzebielski saved Travis Mason-Bushman’s life. At least that’s how he sees it.
Mason-Bushman had always been relatively healthy, but when what he thought was bronchitis took a turn for the worst at the start of his last semester of college, Grzebielski did everything she could to figure out what was wrong.
Mason-Bushman, a 2011 University of Idaho graduate, spent several hours at the Student Health Clinic on campus while Grzebielski ran tests and examined him. By the time Student Health was supposed to close, she still didn’t have a diagnosis for Mason-Bushman’s symptoms, but she wasn’t about to let him leave the clinic alone.
“She said, ‘I’m not sure what’s wrong, but you’re not leaving. You need to go to Gritman,'” Mason-Bushman said. “She wouldn’t take no for an answer. But I was healthy — I thought — and 25 and a student at the time, so I wasn’t about to take an ambulance there. She wouldn’t let me walk, so she drove me to Gritman herself, saw me straight past the triage nurse in the ER and straight into a CT scanner.”
It’s a good thing she did. Mason-Bushman was rushed to the intensive care unit minutes after Grzebielski got him into the scanner. He had a blood clot blocking most of his pulmonary artery, and he said doctors told him it was a miracle he didn’t die from the clot.
“If it wasn’t for Terri, I wouldn’t be here now,” Mason-Bushman said. “That’s the most caring thing you can do for someone, save their life, and she did it for me.”
Grzebielski, 61, a physician’s assistant for Moscow Family Medicine, worked primarily in the Student Health Center on UI campus. Stories of her compassion, dedication and care for her patients began to surface only minutes after her name was released as one of the victims in Saturday’s shooting spree that left three dead and one injured.
Facebook and Twitter were flooded with memories from UI students and patients who’d been helped by Grzebielski’s work as a health care provider, as well as from community members who danced and sang with her across town.
“If more people were like Terri, the world would be a better place,” said Jeff Geier, Moscow Family Medicine CEO. “She’s one of those folks that if you were in the same room that she was in, it would be impossible to not know she was there. Not in an overbearing, or boisterous or obnoxious way. She had an aura about her that was very inclusive and infectious. She was a beautiful human being.”
Geier, who knew Grzebielski for her medical work and for her impressive entertaining abilities, said he was often struck by her desire to make people around love life as much as she did.
Grzebielski was involved in several local musical groups. She was known for her singing, and almost anyone who knew her seems to have a story about dancing with her.
Moscow resident Alan Rose knew Grzebielski from dancing with her at local music shows.
“She loved to dance and sing,” Rose said of Grzebielski at a Sunday prayer vigil for the victims. “When she was on the dance floor she epitomized what life was about.”
Rose and Geier both made note of Grzebielski’s ability to put people at ease. Geier said that trait was particularly helpful in the office because she could make patients feel welcome and comfortable. Not once in the 12 years she worked for Moscow Family Medicine did she have an issue with a patient, Geier said.
“That’s not a knock on the rest of our staff,” Geier said. “It’s a testament to Terri’s ability to positively interact with people. It was just part of her personality. Her loss is going to leave a big hole at Student Health. It’s going to leave a hole in the community, it’s a big hole everywhere she was involved.”
As for Mason-Bushman, he said Grzebielski changed his life forever.
“To go through almost dying, it changes your life,” he said. “But she made sure my life was changed and not ended. She visited me in the hospital in the days I was there, and she really cared. It’s a debt I’ll never be able to repay.”
Grezebielski is survived by her husband Jerry, daughters Kasi and Shinai and son John Lee.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]