Photograph courtesy of SSM Health Care
In June, work began on a freestanding rehabilitation hospital in Bridgeton. The three-story SSM-St. Louis Rehabilitation Hospital will feature 60 private rooms, therapeutic gyms, a cafeteria, an outdoor courtyard, and an outdoor ambulation course, where patients can learn to use wheelchairs, walkers, and other aids. Slated to open in late 2011, the facility also will feature a 6,000-square-foot outpatient gym, a secured head-injury unit and brain-injury unit, as well as small therapy stations for one-on-one sessions.
SSM Rehabilitation Hospital will cater to patients with brain or spinal cord injury and strokes. Operated by SSM-Select Rehabilitation, a joint venture between SSM Health Care–St. Louis and Pennsylvania-based Select Medical Corporation, the facility will have access to resources at Select Medical’s Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, one of six federally designated Model Systems nationwide for the treatment and research of traumatic brain and spinal-cord injuries.
Patients staying in the hospital will find a more homelike atmosphere than in acute-care hospitals; the facility was designed for stays of 15 to 20 days, with plenty of space for daily rehab activities, as well as patients’ families. “We don’t just retrain a stroke patient how to walk or talk or swallow again,” says Doug Brewer, vice president and market executive for SSM-Select Rehabilitation. “We also teach family how to deal with limitations.”
SSM Health Care-St. Louis recognized the need for a separate rehab facility several years ago. “Rehab is all about teaching people how to live again after a catastrophic event, and acute-care hospitals just aren’t built for that,” says Steven P. Johnson, president of hospital operations and chief operating office at SSM Health Care-St. Louis. “We are moving into this new era in health care, on how we get the maximum outcome for the smallest amount of resources,” he adds. “We are working to get more patients into the right environment.”
