Staff Photo / Brandon Cantwell Eksobionics representative Jessica Winkowski guides Jim Gratton through a demonstration of the company’s exoskeleton, which provides advanced rehabilitation therapy to those recovering from stroke or spinal cord injury.

FREEDOM – A promise to provide specialized intensive care to people in the Mahoning Valley who need it to regain function after a major injury or surgery has been completed.

That’s because the new Mercy Health Rehabilitation Hospital on Belmont Avenue will begin seeing patients on Monday.

On Thursday, Mercy Health-Youngstown and its partner, Tennessee-based Lifepoint Rehabilitation, cut a ribbon to mark the ceremonial groundbreaking of their new joint rehabilitation hospital.

The 66,000-square-foot, two-story facility has 60 beds, all private rooms, as well as a 12-bed secure brain injury unit with private dining room and therapy room. There are additional multidisciplinary therapy gyms equipped with the latest therapeutic technology, outdoor courtyards and a small suite that includes a mock kitchen and bathroom.

John Luellen, market president for Mercy Health Youngstown and Lorain, explained before the ceremony that the facility had been talked about for years after a need was recognized in the area.

“As the health care needs of the Mahoning Valley continue to evolve, we felt it was very important to strategically evolve with those needs,” Luellen said. “Years ago, we looked at health care trends in the Mahoning Valley and realized there were unmet needs. One of those unmet needs was expanded acute inpatient rehabilitation capacity.”

Luellen said the hospital will help a section of people who have suffered trauma or other challenges that require care but cannot be delivered at home and should not be delivered to an acute care hospital.

The facility will maintain a homely atmosphere while meeting the clinical needs of patients, he added.

“What’s so nice about this facility is that it allows people to be cared for in an environment that’s much closer to home than a hospital setting, where you have the opportunity to go through those activities of daily living as part of rehabilitation .” Luellen said. “We have a cafeteria that feels much more like someone’s dining room would feel like home.”

Patients will come from anywhere, Luellen said, but there are already enough patients at St. Elizabeth Youngstown to keep the center busy.

Lifepoint Rehabilitation oversees a nationwide network of rehabilitation hospitals and more than 300 hospital rehabilitation units. This marks the 46th inpatient rehabilitation hospital.

Dave Stark, Lifepoint’s vice president of operations, said the facility is an accumulation of feedback they’ve collected from their other hospitals, sensing the needs of their partners as they normally do.

“During the design phase of the hospital, we do different things, usually different adjustments based on the patient population here in Youngstown and based on what our partner — Mercy Health, in this case — is doing,” Stark said. “If they have certain programs or certain care that they provide or specialize in, we like to adapt the hospital to serve that population as well.”

Lifepoint is also involved in the facility next door, a 72-bed inpatient behavioral hospital adjacent to the rehab center. Construction is expected to be completed next year.

Liberty Township officials attended the ribbon cutting and toured the facility afterward.

Trustee Arnie Clebone said the facility scored a “significant stage” for the community, noting its potential to increase trade in the area and contribute positively to its tax base.

“The field has been empty for a long, long time. It wasn’t very attractive, and now it’s turning into a very beautiful space.” Cleborne said. “Hopefully it will find even more business and other sites that are either underutilized or unused will be even better.”

“This facility serves as a model of what we can accomplish in Liberty Township, demonstrating our commitment to quality development.” he added.

NEUROLOGICAL CARE

Luellen said opening the facility allowed Mercy Health to make space at St. Elizabeth Youngstown for a new neuroscience intensive care unit, in which the ministry has already committed $20 million in investment.

St. Elizabeth has been considered a primary stroke center for years, but has advanced the level of stroke care its facilities can provide, Luellen said.

The facility has become what is considered a thrombectomy-capable Stroke Center, an intermediate level of accreditation introduced in 2018 for hospitals where acute ischemic stroke patients receive care.

Luellen said they plan for it to achieve the highest level of certification, a Comprehensive Stroke Center, which will allow them to receive and treat the most complex stroke cases.

The unit will take any type of patient who has suffered neurological trauma.

“To do that, we need to increase the level of service we offer. One of the ways we’re growing that service is to provide a dedicated neuroscience intensive care unit because that building is so full.” Luellen said. “One of the things we had to do was find a space to do that, and these two projects aligned so well because we serve the same patient population.”