PLAINVILLE — Sunday marks the official opening of Rooks County Health Center’s new dedicated Rehabilitation Center and a key piece of the hospital’s two-phase expansion. RCH invites the public to attend an open house from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday offering tours of the new facility, demonstrations and light refreshments. Visitors to the open house, as well as all patients attending rehabilitation appointments, are encouraged to use the new north-side parking lot and entrance for direct access to the new hospital wing at 1210 N. Washington.
After an 18 month construction process, RCH received its certificate of occupancy from the fire marshal’s office which enabled the Rehab department to start seeing patients in the new building on October 21.
“We moved all the Rehab equipment in as soon as we could after getting the OK from the fire marshal so that those attending appointments for Cardiac Rehab, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy were able to start using the space last week,” commented AJ Thomas, the CEO of RCH. “We still have some final touches before interior construction is completed but we can work around those areas for now.”
Visitors to the open house will see live demonstrations of the new zero-entry aquatic therapy pool with treadmill floor. The pool is the only one in western Kansas. Unlike most therapy pools which requires stairs or a hoist, RCH patients can walk or be wheeled onto the flat surface of the pool floor that then submerges to the desired depth for therapy work. According to Sumearll, aquatic therapy is desirable because it gets patients moving sooner and faster with less pain.
“Water supports the weight of the patient, lessening the force of gravity on the body, so that the prescribed therapy can work more efficiently on improving your strength and balance,” stated Scott Carpenter, RCH Rehabilitation Department director. The pool utilizes underwater cameras so that therapists can monitor a patient’s progress, while patients can observe how well they are responding to the therapist’s direction.
The spaces being vacated by the expansion will be renovated to provide expanded outpatient services, a larger cafeteria and two new conference rooms. This final phase of construction, scheduled for completion in April of 2020, will take the spaces formerly housing Cardiac Rehab, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy and transform them into their new roles.
The capital campaign being conducted by the Rooks County Healthcare Foundation to help fund the cost of this expansion will continue until the final $250,000 is raised to meet the original $2,000,000 goal.
— Rooks County Health Center