CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — The ribbon is cut and a brand new hospital is set to open to patients in the Lehigh Valley on Sunday, July 30.
With a few finishing touches still going up on the façade, Good Shepherd's new four-story, state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility in Center Valley held its ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday.
- Good Shepherd Rehabilitation is opening a new hospital in Center Valley
- The 78-bed facility opens to rehab patients Sunday, July 30
- It will serve patients recovering from injuries such as spinal cord injuries, stroke, and brain injuries among other things
The 78-bed facility opens to rehab patients Sunday, July 30 and will serve patients recovering from spinal cord injuries, stroke, brain injuries and other things.
"We needed more room, we needed more beds to be able to serve more people and we made a decision really, it was a little over three years ago, that the best choice for Good Shepherd would be to build a replacement hospital here in Central Valley," Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network President Michael Spigel said.
"The reason we decided to build a new rehabilitation hospital goes back to the fact that our hospital has been where it is for over 40 years and times change and people's expectation changes and technology changes."Michael Spigel, president and CEO, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network
Spigel said that after more than 40 years at Good Shepherd's Allentown location, it was time to upgrade and expand.
“The reason we decided to build a new rehabilitation hospital goes back to the fact that our hospital has been where it is for over 40 years and times change and people's expectation changes and technology changes,” he said.
Four floors of care
The new 23,000-square-foot facility will serve patients who may have had a stroke, spinal cord injury, or traumatic brain injury, among other ailments.
"This is a four-story hospital," Spigel said. "First floor is all of our visitor services, our Bistro, our supplies, and then we have three floors that are patient care floor two, three and four.
"It is an interactive education space for our patients, their families and members of the disability community to learn and access a wide variety of technologies that can help them live more independently.”Good Shepherd Creates Director Amanda Clark
"Our second floor is primarily dedicated to our spinal cord injury rehabilitation program, our third floor for people who've had strokes, and other medical complexities, and then the fourth floor is our brain injury rehabilitation program."
In addition to the varying patient services, the Empower+ section of the hospital shows off new technology used to make the lives of patients easier.
"It is an interactive education space for our patients, their families and members of the disability community to learn and access a wide variety of technologies that can help them live more independently,” Good Shepherd Creates Director Amanda Clark said.
“Some of the examples of the technology you can find here are technologies to help someone live in place to help them really thrive in their home and community like smartphones, medication reminders, fault detection systems.
"We have an amazingly fun adaptive gaming setup, so that people can experience the possibilities of gaming no matter your ability.”
'Dedicated to inpatient rehabilitation services'
In the Empower+ section, Good Shepherd also teamed up with Moravian University to create a 3D experience equipped with 3D printers that can print tools for patients to use in their everyday lives.
“It's going to allow us to really utilize the powers of 3D printing within rehabilitation, so that we can print custom devices for our patients and residents to help meet their unique needs and help them live more independently,” Clark said.
"This is the only hospital in Lehigh Valley that is fully dedicated to inpatient rehabilitation services."Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network President Michael Spigel
With the expansion, the health network also is looking to hire more talent to their team. Spigel said it will keep existing staff and hire about 50 new positions over the next year.
"This is the only hospital in Lehigh Valley that is fully dedicated to inpatient rehabilitation services," he said.
"We serve people after they've had some serious if not catastrophic event, where they have spent some extended period of time in an acute care hospital, and then require intensive medical and rehabilitation services."
Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network is moving its inpatient patient care from South Allentown to the Center Valley location, just off Route 309 across from the Promenade Shops.
Spigel said it hopes to renovate the older Allentown location and it remains the site of some business offices, outpatient, and long-term care patients, but the future of that location still is being decided.
The project was made possible by a generous donation from Al Douglass and Jill Raker Hudders Douglass, who are also sponsors of LehighValleyNews.com.
