ClearSky Health, a premier rehabilitative healthcare provider, has announced plans to open a medical rehabilitation hospital in Lancaster, Ohio. The new 30-bed facility is the organization’s second planned site for a hospital in Ohio, with South Point previously selected as the other location. The hospital is expected to open Winter 2023.
ClearSky Health currently owns and operates five medical rehabilitation hospitals in Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico, and will open new facilities in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Wisconsin, and additional Texas locations in the near future.
The new hospital will provide specialized rehabilitative services to patients living with disabling injuries or illnesses such as strokes, brain injuries, hip fractures, spinal injuries, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and other medically-complex conditions such as COVID-19.
The facility will treat about 650 patients annually, providing a level of therapy that’s available only through medical rehabilitation hospitals. “Rehabilitative care differs,” says Darby Brockette, CEO of ClearSky Health. “Services provided in other settings are not comparable to the higher level of care found at rehabilitation hospitals.”
Brockette explains that medical rehabilitation hospitals are required to:
- Be licensed and accredited
- Use an interdisciplinary team approach to care
- Have a physician with specialized training in rehabilitation supervise medical services
- Provide rehabilitative nursing 24/7
- Offer patients therapy for a minimum of 15 hours a week
A national study shows additional benefits of medical rehabilitation hospitals include allowing patients to return home sooner, remain home longer, have fewer hospital readmissions and ER visits, and live longer versus those treated at nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities.
Brockette says the hospital will set itself apart from other rehabilitation programs through its highly trained team, specialized equipment, and dedicated facility.
“Our staff will go above and beyond normal service expectations,” he says. “They’ll continue to support our patients even after they’re discharged from the hospital to ensure they get the resources they need to fully heal.”
“The new hospital will complement existing healthcare in the area, while bringing about 100 new jobs to the area,” says Mike Pettit, Executive Director, Lancaster Port Authority. “The hospital’s services will fill an unmet need that currently exists in our community for a higher level of rehabilitative care. It’ll allow patients to remain in the area instead of leaving to receive it elsewhere. This will reduce emotional and financial stress for patients and their families.”
David Scheffler, Mayor of Lancaster, agrees. “Lancaster welcomes the highly skilled and professional jobs that ClearSky Health will bring to the city, along with the quality-of-life enhancements, especially for our senior population, provided by having advanced, comprehensive rehabilitation treatment close to home,” he says. “The facility will complement the acute services of Fairfield Medical Center and allow patients with long-term medical needs to recover with the support of nearby family members and friends.”
Patients who are treated at the hospital will interact and set individual goals with an interdisciplinary team that includes a physician; rehabilitation nurses; physical, occupational, and speech therapists; case managers; respiratory therapists; dietitians; and other healthcare professionals. The new 40,000-square-foot building will feature all private rooms, a rehabilitative gym with specialized equipment, a dining room with a dedicated chef and food service staff, and an activity of daily living space to allow patients to receive therapy in rooms that emulate home conditions.
“We’ll provide the highest standards of care to patients,” Brockette says. He cites the hospital’s comprehensive stroke rehabilitation program as an example. The program includes review of 228 evidence-based recommendations from the American Stroke Association. Nursing and therapy personnel, who will be specifically educated in stroke rehabilitation techniques and modalities, will review every recommendation and apply the ones that fit the individual needs of each patient.
“We plan to help patients achieve exceptional outcomes so they can return home quickly and get back to their daily lives,” Brockette says.
