COUNCIL GROVE — The Morris County Hospital celebrated its new rehabilitation center on Thursday afternoon with an open house to show off the new space and equipment.
The hospital boasts two full-time physical therapists, Emily Manger and Adam Braxmeyer; a full-time physical therapy assistant, Orgene DesCoteaux; a full-time occupational therapy assistant, Melissa Whitson, and a part-time occupational therapist and certified hand therapist, Jeff Mathis. Before the expansion the therapists worked in about half the space they have now.
“It was crazy,” said Whitson. “There was no room to walk. I look at that room now and I think ‘How did we ever do that?’”
The idea for expansion came as the rehabilitation center got busier. Mathis said more therapists were hired to keep up with the number of patients, but the hospital waited to see whether the rush would die down. It didn’t.
“We waited three to four months,” Mathis said, “waiting for a lapse, but it never came. We just kept getting busier, so we started begging for more space.”
The begging worked.
The wall that separated the center from the materials management part of the hospital was torn down, and space for the center was more than doubled. With the expansion came new equipment.
“We added a few new treatment rooms, some cardiovascular equipment and weight equipment,” Mathis said. “We have more of a gym now. We can give people more options now for exercising.”
The expansion keeps patients from traveling around the hospital. Mathis said that, in the past, patients would have to go to different areas in the hospital to find parallel bars and other equipment.
“Sometimes you’d have to go to three different places with one patient,” Mathis said. “Now we can stay here in one spot.”
The increase in equipment also keeps patients from waiting. Mathis said before the expansion, patients would often wait up to 30 minutes to be able to use a machine or work with a therapist. With the expansion, that wait is gone. The new rehabilitation center opened for use almost a month ago. It now can handle up to 550 patients a month.
“I love it,” Whitson said of the expansion. “We needed more room. The patients love it, too.”
The expansion now allows patients to do exercises they couldn’t before. The center will also start a balance program, which evaluates patients who tend to fall or lose their balance easily.
“The balance program is a great addition to our program,” Whitson. “We had one before, but it was moved to our Manhattan location. We’re glad to be getting one of our own now.”
The expansion and equipment were totally funded by the hospital. Mathis said the hospital not only provided the space, but purchased the equipment as well. The hospital hopes the rehabilitation center will keep some Council Grove residents from heading out of town.
“For a community the size of Council Grove, you just don’t usually see something like this,” said Mathis. “For the therapists and the community, it’s a very positive thing that doesn’t happen for all communities.”