MedStar Good Samaritan Opens $17.5 Million Inpatient Rehabilitation Center

BALTIMORE— MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital’s new $17.5 million Inpatient Rehabilitation Center opens its doors to patients Aug. 21^st, welcoming them to an enhanced rehabilitation experience with the most innovative technology, compassionate caregivers, and a 50-year history of reputable, expert practices.

Beginning at 9 a.m on Aug. 21, more than 125 members of the rehab staff will begin moving patients into the 37 new private rooms and six semi-private rooms of the modernized center, encompassing 60,000 square feet – the entire 5^th floor of the hospital. The inpatient facility can treat up to 49 patients.

“Our new state-of-the-art technology will complement our long-standing expertise in care, allowing patients to gain independence and return to the community,” said Kritis Dasgupta, MD, MBA, MSc, Chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital and Associate Medical Director for MedStar National Rehabilitation Network, Baltimore region. “We have provided high-quality inpatient rehabilitation care at MedStar Good Samaritan for more than 50 years. With the upgrade of our facility we are excited to offer a brand-new rehabilitation center that meets the increasingly complex needs of our patients.”

MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary last year, originally opened as a rehabilitation hospital. Since then, it has continued to treat patients recovering from strokes, traumatic brain injuries, amputations and other disorders with excellent, compassionate rehabilitation care. The new inpatient rehabilitation center offers the very latest in physical medicine and reinforces MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital’s reputation as a top inpatient rehabilitation hospital.

Patients will enjoy a more comfortable, private and welcoming stay due to the incorporation of advanced technologies and strategic architectural designs within the center such as:

• B’more Independent Way Room: features a modified car for transfer training, grocery store, crosswalk sign, and house with ramps, doors, and a mailbox which will help patients transition from the hospital to the community.
• Modern Activities of Daily Living Apartment: equipped with a washer/dryer, seating area, kitchen, and bedroom with bathroom where patients and families can practice daily tasks as they prepare to return home.
• Training bathroom with adjustable sink for hair washing, tub to simulate getting in and out for bathing.
• Therapy Gym featuring multiple devices to help patients regain mobility, including ZeroG™, a dynamic body weight support system track to assist patients with walking; Bioness, therapy devices for foot drop, thigh weakness and hand paralysis; Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES), PENS, and FES bike which provides electric stimulation to muscles to improve tone and facilitate motor pathway re-education. The ZeroG has a 210-foot track, the longest in the mid-Atlantic.
• All rooms have ceiling lifts, which allow for patients with limited mobility to be taken from bed safely. Three rooms have extended ceiling lifts, which allow patients to be taken from bed to bathroom.
• Technology Room that features many low- and high-tech devices, such as iPads, Roomba vacuum, low vision devices, robotic utensils, and automatic medication dispensers.
• Low-Stimulation Gym: enabling patients with brain impairment to have improved focus on therapy with reduced sound and light distractions.
• A room for Nash the facility dog, who helps patients practice everyday activities such as taking on and off a shirt, improving upper body strength or movement through brushing, or walking him in the department.
• A multipurpose area room which offers stunning views of Baltimore for patients participating in leisure activities during therapy. This area is also the location for rehab dining, an occupational and speech therapy driven lunch group for patients that benefit from assistance during meals.

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About MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital
MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital is a 201-bed community teaching facility, located at the corner of Loch Raven Boulevard and Belvedere Avenue in northeast Baltimore. Since 1968, MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital has provided compassionate, high-quality care to the community. Recognized as a specialty center for rehabilitation, our services also include geriatrics, diabetes care, cancer care, emergency medicine, orthopaedics, vascular care, wellness, and wound healing with hyperbaric medicine and limb salvage. MedStar Good Samaritan is part of MedStar Health, a not-for-profit, regional healthcare system with 10 hospitals and more than 20 other health-related services in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., region.

About MedStar National Rehabilitation Network
The MedStar National Rehabilitation Network is a regional system of rehabilitation care that offers inpatient, day treatment and outpatient services in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia.
The Network’s interdisciplinary team of rehabilitation experts provides comprehensive services to help people recover as fully as possible following illness and injury. Rehabilitation medicine specialists, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists work hand-in-hand with other rehab professionals to design treatment plans tailored to each patient’s unique needs. Rehabilitation plans feature a team approach and include the use of state-of-the-art technology and advanced medical treatment based on the latest rehabilitation research.

The Network provides comprehensive programs specifically designed to aid in the rehabilitation of adults and children recovering from neurologic and orthopaedic conditions such as amputation, arthritis, back and neck pain, brain injury, cancer, cardiac conditions, concussion, fibromyalgia, foot and ankle disorders, hand and upper extremity problems, post-polio syndrome, stroke, spinal cord injury and disease, and sports and work-related injuries.
Inpatient and day treatment programs are provided at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital located in Northwest Washington, D.C., and at more than 50 outpatient sites conveniently located throughout the region. MedStar National Rehabilitation Network is fully accredited by The Joint Commission, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), with CARF accredited specialty programs for Amputations, Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury and Stroke.

For more on MedStar National Rehabilitation Network and to find a location near you, log on to MedStarNRH.org.