Construction to begin on new rehab hospital

CONCORD — Hospital officials broke ground today for a 70,000-square-foot, $26.4 million rehabilitation center.

Carolinas Rehabilitation-NorthEast is a joint venture of Carolinas HealthCare System and Stanly Regional Medical Center. The 40-bed hospital is expected to open for patients in mid-2013 with about 90 full-time medical, administrative and support staff.

The new facility at 487 Lake Concord Road will offer inpatient rehabilitation services to patients from Cabarrus, Rowan and Stanly counties, a Carolinas Healthcare System press release said.

Many of these patients currently travel to Charlotte or out of state for rehabilitative services related to stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, major multiple trauma and other neurological and orthopaedic injuries, according to the press release.

“With this new facility, and the outstanding credentials and medical experience of our staff, Carolinas Rehabilitation-NorthEast will provide the very best care for patients suffering from catastrophic life altering injuries or illnesses that require extraordinary expertise,” said Robert G. Larrison Jr., president of Carolinas Rehabilitation.

“A specialized rehabilitation hospital with highly trained physicians and the latest technology like this facility will make access to these vital services more conveniently located to our patients and their families,” he said. “It’s a privilege for us to care for those patients, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to bring the highest level of rehabilitative care to people in this region.”

With Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte, Carolinas Rehabilitation-Mount Holly in Gaston County, and now Carolinas Rehabilitation-NorthEast, Carolinas Healthcare System will be the largest provider of inpatient rehabilitation services in the Southeast, with a total of 172 inpatient beds, according to the press release.

“This new facility will provide state of the art technology for patients from three counties — Cabarrus, Stanly and Rowan,” said Dr. William L. Bockenek, medical director of Carolinas Rehabilitation. “The location in Concord will make it much easier for family members from outlying communities to be involved in the care of their loved ones, and that involvement is critical to the recovery of rehab patients.”

“CHS has pioneered many rehabilitation concepts since opening Carolinas Rehabilitation in 1950,” Bockenek said. “Patients at Carolinas Rehabilitation-NorthEast will experience tremendous benefits from our physician specialists who routinely receive prestigious research grants from funding organizations such as the National Institutes of Health. Our physicians also administer teaching and fellowship programs to help prepare residents (graduates of four-year medical schools) to specialize in rehabilitative medicine.”

Carolinas Rehabilitation-NorthEast will include an indoor therapy gym and an outdoor therapy courtyard where patients will learn to navigate some of the common physical obstacles they will encounter after discharge. The hospital also will have a simulated residential environment where patients and their caregivers will learn to cook, clean, bathe and practice other household chores without special accommodations.

Today’s groundbreaking ceremonies marked the start of what is expected to be an 18-month construction project.

The state of North Carolina approved a Certificate of Need application for the rehabilitation hospital. The 40 beds will be relocated from the following facilities: 10 from Stanly Regional Medical Center, 10 from Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte, and 20 from Carolinas Medical Center-Mercy.