St. Francis Inpatient Rehabilitation Center offers more patient-care options

BEECH GROVE, Ind. – The Inpatient Rehabilitation Center (IRC) at St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is expanding to meet the growing needs for patient care in central Indiana.

The unit, which opened in 2005 with 16 beds, has faced increasing demand for acute inpatient rehabilitation beds to assist patients in maximiz­ing their independence and return­ing home.

“Acute rehabilitation provides a level of care and expertise which exceeds services available in other settings,” said Robert Kravitz, M.D., medical director for the center. “For example, the St. Francis program is one of the few acute rehabilitation programs with the ability to care for patients receiving dialysis or requiring remote telemetry.”

The expansion adds eight new private patient rooms, new therapy gyms, a nursing station and patient dining room. With a 24-bed pro­gram, St. Francis will be one of the larger rehabilitation programs in central Indiana.

The new eight beds have remote telemetry capability – technology that allows clinicians to monitor patients’ conditions at a central location.

The IRC provides intensive, inter­disciplinary rehabilitation (three hours of therapy a day by at least two disciplines). Patients include those who have had strokes, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, orthopedic injuries, amputations and other orthopedic /neurological conditions.

“Many people don’t know that we are here,” said Program Director Annette Seabrook, M.P.T, M.H.A. “They don’t realize how many pa­tients are being discharged to other levels of care who may be better served in our inpatient rehabilita­tion program.”

The program exceeds national benchmarks for discharges to the community (more than 77 percent) as well as functional outcomes and average length of stay, Seabrook said.

To learn more about the Inpatient Rehabilitation Center call 317-782-6963.

























With CMO Dr. Alan Gillespie looking on, Dr. Christopher "Topper" Doehring takes a swing at a virtual golf shot via a Wii gaming device. It's one of the tools being used to help patients in recovery at the newly renovated Inpatient Rehabilitation Center. Both doctors and other St. Francis leaders were on hand for a June 16 open house showcasing the facility.

Photo by LeeAnn Abercrombie-Logan