Rehab center holds ‘open house’ Friday

MONTROSE  — Valley Manor’s rehabilitation center had small rooms and shared bathrooms; it was in need of an update.

After six months of “gutting” the building at 1401 S. Cascade, the Montrose Rehabilitation Center opened Friday with tours, refreshments, and a few patients.

“This is what people have told us they want,” Executive Director John Fitzmaurice said.

During the center’s open house, visitors viewed the new 16-bed wing. The center’s long hallway, just off the gym, is wide and spacious. The doors open up into large private bedrooms, all equipped with cable television, phone service, wireless Internet and a private bathroom.

“Our thinking was we wanted this place to be a place people really enjoyed coming to,” Fitzmaurice said.

The rehabilitation center is a short-term inpatient facility offering physical, occupational and speech therapy. Fitzmaurice said patients will come in after medical procedures and stay anywhere from one week to 30 days.

The center has a 24-hour nursing staff, including one registered nurse and one licensed practitioner nurse. He said the nurses work directly with the therapists “as a team.”

Friday, visitors sat in the gym area, which was build in 1995, enjoying refreshments after their tour. Younger visitors found entertainment playing the center Nintendo Wii.

Fitzmaurice said the remodeling entailed gutting the entire wing, rewiring and plumbing. Planning took three years, and construction was finished in six months.  During renovation, the center could not take patients.

“We are excited for Valley Manor and their new rehab wing,” said Leann Tobin, Montrose Memorial Hospital spokeswoman, in an e-mail to the press.

There are currently four inpatient rehab facilities in the Montrose/Olathe area. Tobin said the centers provide a place for patients to get stronger after surgery or  to get help through therapy. For example, people might need assistance swallowing or talking after a stroke.

Among the visitors Friday was Ben Keefer, director of Mesa State College’s Montrose campus and extended studies.

Fitzmaurice said Keefer toured the facility and inquired about the educational needs of the program. Mesa State is looking into providing a therapy assistant program, Fitzmaurice said.

“If Mesa State can do something locally, it would be huge,” he said.

For more information on the Montrose Rehabilitation Center, contact Valley Manor at 249-3183 or Volunteers of America at 240-0139.