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Palomar Health Rehabilitation Institute will provide latest in rehabilitation innovations

ESCONDIDO – The latest expansion to the Palomar Medical Center Escondido campus brings a stand-alone, 52-bed acute rehabilitation hospital that will serve patients suffering from neuro disorders, stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury and amputation. The facility was officially unveiled to the public Friday, April 23, through a ribbon-cutting ceremony and small group tours.

The Palomar Health Rehabilitation Institute expects to accept its first patients next week and will provide physiatry; physical and occupational therapy; speech-language pathology; rehabilitation nursing; internal medicine; medical and surgical subspecialty consultation and nutritional services.

"We are more than excited to offer these critical services to our growing community," Diane Hansen, president and CEO of Palomar Health, said at the facility's ribbon cutting. "This dream took 10 years in planning and execution to make a reality."

On the continuum of care scale, acute rehabilitation is the most intensive with patients receiving at least three hours of rehabilitation a day, at least five days a week, divided up in 60-90-minute sessions depending on patient needs. Patients stay in private rooms until their rehabilitation is completed.

The institute will maintain a five to one patient-to-nurse ratio guaranteeing quality individualized care. The average length of stay is 12 days. The average national benchmark is for an acute rehabilitation unit to send 78% of its patients directly home. Palomar Health has maintained an 83% discharge-to-home rate, reducing the number of patients needing to be transferred to long-term acute care or a skilled nursing facility.

The 58,000 square-foot, two-story building will serve an estimated 1,200 plus patients per year and be operated through a joint-venture between Palomar Health and Kindred Healthcare. The facility realizes a commitment Palomar Health has made to provide leading health care services in North San Diego County.

The hospital will contain 52 private rooms; a secured acquired brain injury unit with private dining and therapy gym; a dialysis suite; large interdisciplinary gyms; a therapeutic courtyard with golf, basketball and varied surfaces and a transitional living apartment designed to simulate a residential home to prepare patients for their daily living tasks before they are discharged home.

Construction began in August 2019 to replace the temporary 25-bed unit currently operating at Palomar Medical Center Poway, which replaced the same capacity unit at Palomar Medical Center Downtown Escondido which closed last year to make way for a housing development.

Submitted by Palomar Health.

 

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