Omaha will soon be getting a brand new hospital — and it will have a close connection to UNMC/Nebraska Medicine.
In October, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital will open its Omaha campus at 175th Plaza and Burke Street in the Village Pointe area. Founded by the Benedictine Sisters in 1958, Madonna has operated the state’s only freestanding rehabilitation hospital out of Lincoln, Neb., since 1977.
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Madonna President and CEO Paul Dongilli Jr., Ph.D. |
The 260,000-square-foot-building in Omaha will serve as the home base for the new physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) program for UNMC/Nebraska Medicine.
On Thursday, Madonna officials provided the media with a sneak preview of the facility, which nearly spans the length of two football fields.
The hospital will fill a void in the Omaha area, said Madonna President and CEO Paul Dongilli Jr., Ph.D., noting that 25 percent of patients currently admitted in Lincoln are from Omaha.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop something specifically to meet the needs of people with serious disabling conditions,” said Dr. Dongilli, who is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. “Thanks to our partnership with UNMC/Nebraska Medicine, our patients will not only receive high quality care, but they also will have the opportunity to participate in research that can truly make a difference.”
The facility will care for adult and pediatric patients with disabling conditions including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and impairments from stroke, musculoskeletal and neurological diseases.
Dr. Dongilli said UNMC’s PM&R residency program, which is expected to launch in three years, will help alleviate the shortage of PM&R physicians (called physiatrists) in the five-state upper Midwest region.
The new building is divided into three major areas:
- An acute rehabilitation hospital;
- A rehabilitation specialty hospital; and
- A children’s rehabilitation hospital.
Other highlights include a main therapy gym, a warm water pool, and a chapel. The building also will include Independence Square, a simulated community for patients to practice and re-learn daily independent living skills such as driving, laundry and grocery shopping.
The hospital will include 14 rooms for children and 96 for adults, including 48 rooms on the lower level for patients who need additional medical care, such as ventilation. Patient rooms will be about 400 square feet – nearly twice the size of the normal-sized hospital room of 234 square feet.
Beginning April 1, the UNMC PM&R Department will headed by Samuel Bierner, M.D., who has served on the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas as professor and director of the residency program since 2004.