LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio - Jim Gratton uses an Ekso Bionics exoskeleton device, aided by Jessica Winkowski, a clinical sales and application manager for the company, as he navigated the large therapy gymnasium at the new Mercy Health Rehabilitation Hospital.
Gratton, who suffered a spinal stroke and has been using the device for eight years, said it helps him regain his confidence and allows him to speak with people eye to eye instead of looking up at them from a chair.
Mercy Health and its partner, Lifepoint Rehabilitation, cut the ribbon on its new 66,000-square-foot, two-story hospital Thursday. Patients working to return to their lives following surgeries, strokes, traumatic brain injuries or amputations will be able to stay in a private room and use some of the newest technologies to help them regain functions.
Gabriella Gessler, an acute rehab therapist at the new facility, said many of the therapy technologies found in the room, including a harness system running along a track from the ceiling, are there to help those with stroke and spinal cord injuries reach their standing and walking goals.
"Unweighting systems allow us to get people walking sooner," Gessler said. "The sooner they walk, the more they walk, the better their recovery."
She said unweighted systems also reduce the number of people it takes to assist and support the patient, from several to as few as one.
Renee Swavel, a Mercy Health occupational therapist, demonstrated another rehabilitation device, a SaeboMAS arm, which supports a patient's arm while they work on their range of motion and increase strength. From picking up blocks to relearning how to brush their teeth or comb their hair, Swavel said the device allows the increase in resistance to challenge the patient.
The $43 million facility at 3180 Belmont Ave. not only has standard exercise equipment and new technology, but there is also a small vehicle so patients can work on the skills needed to get in and out of a car.
And an apartment is set up so patients can practice life skills in a home setting.
An outdoor area will feature more opportunities to work on recovering, including navigating sidewalks and ramps.
The public is welcome to tour the new hospital during an open house event from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday.
Melessa Scattino, CEO of Mercy Health Rehabilitation Hospital, said officials are excited to be able to bring the latest and greatest in therapy technology to the Mahoning Valley.
"We're excited about the rehabilitation they will be receiving, and many of them will be walking out of here - and they don't come in walking," Scattino said.
The facility currently employs about 50 people, but as patient numbers grow, so will the team, Scattino said. Starting next week, some patients will begin coming to the hospital, which will lead to Centers for Improvement in Healthcare Quality certification.
Patients do not need to be referred to the hospital from a Mercy Health facility. John Luellen, president of Mercy Health Youngstown and Lorain, believes patients will come from all over the region.
"Patients can come from anywhere," Luellen said. "We have enough patients being served at St. Elizabeth Youngstown, in particular, to provide the necessary volume to keep this facility busy. We haven't been able to provide those services in the smaller unit that we operate today. We're actually tripling our capacity to care for those patients, and we're doing it in what's now a purpose-built unit rather than a repurposed inpatient unit."
Additionally, Luellen said the new facility is more like a home than a hospital, with a cafeteria that feels more like someone's kitchen and an outdoor space to simulate the activities someone might want to do at home.
"This is a place for people to come and get better, but work hard at getting better," Luellen said.
Lifepoint Rehabilitation now has 46 hospitals across the United States, mostly partnering with local health care organizations, such as Mercy Health, to bring additional access to rehabilitation services to communities.
"Unfortunately, many people have traumatic events in their life, whether it be a stroke, an auto accident - different things happen to people," said David Stark, vice president of operations at Lifepoint Rehabilitation. "We're here to provide a place that can care for them physically and medically."
Stark said it is important to learn how to function again, and many need assistance in day-to-day activities as they relearn the skills they need to go home and care for themselves.
Stark said the hospital was based on the needs in the area and the levels of care Mercy Health believed needed to be provided. Stark said Lifepoint will use feedback to help connect the hospital to the community.
Lifepoint also is Mercy Health's partner for the Mercy Health Behavioral Health Hospital, which is being built next to the Mercy Health Rehabilitation Hospital. Once it is completed in November next year, the Behavioral Health Hospital will form a campus with the Rehabilitation Hospital.
Luellen announced that with the space freed up by the opening of the Rehabilitation Hospital, Mercy Health will open a neuroscience intensive care unit at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital to add to the intensive care capacity already available. The hospital currently has a surgical ICU, cardiac ICU and medical ICU.
"This new neuroscience unit will allow us to expand our services, particularly for the stroke patient," Luellen said, adding that patients with neurological injuries or spinal cord trauma could also benefit from the unit, which Mercy Health hopes to open before the end of 2025.
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