HASTINGS — The Mary Lanning Healthcare Physical Medicine and Transitional Care Units are moving from the hospital’s fifth floor to a renovated space on third floor.
An Open House from 4-6 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, will give the public a peek at the new floor, which features all private patient rooms and upgraded technology.
Barb Ninabuck, Director of Inpatient Rehabilitation Services at MLH, said the fifth floor was one of the only spaces not renovated during The Century Project, which ended in 2011. The move to third floor will provide a more family-friendly atmosphere and 20 private rooms. Eleven rooms are licensed for inpatient rehabilitation (physical medicine), which involves more intense therapy. Nine rooms are for skilled or transitional care, the area for patients who need help transitioning from the hospital to home.
Ninabuck said the Physical Medicine and Transitional Care Units are the place patients stay longest at Mary Lanning so the new floor provides a home-like feel.
“To be able to provide a private room should make a big difference in a patient’s recovery,” she said. “But the new floor isn’t just going to be a pretty place. We also are getting some new, exciting equipment to help better care for patients. Patients work hard when they’re on our units. Our focus is to get them back to a level where they can return home as quickly as possible.”
The new therapy gym will include two ZeroG Gait Systems, which are track systems mounted on the ceiling. A harness is used to support patients and prevent them from falling while undergoing therapy. Ninabuck said the new system frees up therapists to work on the patient’s problem areas without worrying about holding the patient upright. The ZeroG V.2 and the ZeroG Passive systems are not available anywhere else outside of Lincoln, Ninabuck said.
In addition, Ninabuck said the Mary Lanning Healthcare Foundation Charity Golf Tournament provided funding for an Interactive Metronome system, which has various uses from speech to balance to gait control. A private donation made possible the purchase of a Sci Fit bike, which helps stroke patients have better control when riding it than other stationery therapy bikes. The bike also can be used with a wheelchair, thus eliminating the transfer of the patient from wheelchair to bike and wasting valuable patient energy, Ninabuck said.
Another piece of technology arriving soon after the floor opens, NInabuck said, is the Bioness electrical stimulation system, one for legs and one for arms. Ninabuck said use of the system early on in therapy should help patients regain nerve conduction, relearn control and prevent foot drop.
Three of the new patient rooms on third floor have been set up for bariatric patients. Each contains a ceiling lift to increase patient and staff safety, Ninabuck said, while allowing for the care of heavier patients in Hastings.
The new patient dining room contains a small kitchen and dishwasher so patients can practice cooking and doing dishes before going home. There also is a working laundry room so patients can practice that task, as well.
“These are things they have to be able to do, especially if they live alone,” Ninabuck said. “It all factors into their ability to be successful.”
Ninabuck said patients will be moved to the new floor on September 2.