St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation Board recently voted to provide St. Luke’s Hospital with $100,000 from the foundation’s endowment. These funds will go towards paying down debt acquired from building the St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Center and Orthopedic Unit.

The St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 organization established in 1991 to support one of the community’s most valuable assets, St. Luke’s Hospital. It is made up of citizens who have joined together to raise funds for new equipment, facility improvements, educational programs and the foundation’s endowment.

St. Luke’s Hospital recently finished construction on its new 15,000-square-foot patient wing. The new wing, with large private patient rooms, full baths and pristine views, features several amenities including day-beds and flat screen televisions for the comfort of patients and families. From the patient care area, patients will have a short distance to reach the state-of-the-art physical rehab gym, treatment rooms and Hydrotrack for one-on-one aquatic therapy. A large therapeutic gym with expansive windows and sweeping views of White Oak Mountain, houses the balance and vertigo treatment program as well as an Activities of Daily Living (ADL) lab.

The ADL lab incorporates a full bathtub and separate walk-in shower so patients can practice standard tub/shower movements. The lab also consists of a fully functioning kitchen to simulate the home environment. Therapy stairs and a ramp/curb simulator help patients to walk and maneuver better. A car simulator allows patients to practice getting in and out of a vehicle after surgery or an injury.
The Rehab Center treats patients still recovering in the hospital, as well as outpatients who need physical and occupational therapy, speech therapy, lymphedema therapy, balance and vertigo treatment, aquatic therapy, orthopedic rehab, neurological rehab, custom upper extremity splinting, sports injuries, aphasia, voice and cognitive rehab, radiologic swallow studies and auditory retraining.

The new 15,000-square-foot addition was supported through gifts to the St. Luke’s Hospital Foundation and through local bank financing. The Foundation contributed $2 million of the $6.1 million expansion.

A gift to the foundation is tax deductible. Contributions are always needed and appreciated and enable St. Luke’s to maintain the highest level of patient care. Please visit the Foundation office at 89 West Mills Street, Suite B, Columbus, or call Meshelle Colvin, Executive Director, at 828-894-2693.

 

– article submitted 

by Jennifer Wilson