FORT SMITH, Ark. (TB&P) — A little cold, a little rain, a little mud did not stop Mercy Fort Smith from breaking ground Tuesday (Feb. 12) on the the 52,967-square-foot Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital Fort Smith to be located at Chaffee Crossing.
Dignitaries from Mercy, Kindred Healthcare and Arkansas Colleges of Health Education were on hand to raise shovels and ask for blessing of the new 40-bed hospital that is expected to cost about $21 million. Mercy Fort Smith is partnering with Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare to build the rehabilitation hospital on land donated by ACHE. The facility will be next to the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine on the ACHE campus and serve as a teaching site for students in ACHE’s School of Occupational Therapy and School of Physical Therapy, press information provided by Mercy said.
“The power of this one woman (Catherine McAuley) changed the world by giving hope to others. As we continue her legacy, we celebrate this new hospital that will change the lives of individuals for years and decades to come by giving hope,” said Juli Stec, vice president of operations for Mercy Hospital Fort Smith.
The new hospital will care for adults recovering from conditions such as stroke, neurological disease, injury to the brain or spinal cord and other debilitating illnesses or injuries. It will feature all private rooms; a secured brain injury unit with private dining and therapy gym; large interdisciplinary gyms; transitional living apartment, designed to simulate a residential apartment; therapeutic courtyard with golf, pickle ball and corn hole; specially designed rooms to treat dialysis patients; and specialty programs dedicated to neuro, stroke, brain injury and amputation.
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