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The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab DayRehabCenter® opened its new facility in Homewood with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 22.
Homewood village staff and DayRehabCenter® employees gathered at 19620 Halsted St. to welcome patients and specialists to a building that is designed to accommodate the important rehabilitation work that has increased in volume since the center first located in Homewood 16 years ago.
Dr. Joanne Smith, president and CEO of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, said “being in Homewood has been a terrific long run for us.” More than 8,000 patients have been treated in Homewood at the center’s first facility in an office building at 1055 W. 175th Street.
Patients of all ages are treated at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for neurological disorders, such as stroke, a brain injury or Parkinson’s disease. Patients have spent some amount of time in a hospital setting and come to the DayRehabCenter® for intensive, coordinated rehabilitation care. Most will be at the DayRehabCenter® three days a week, although some will come five days a week.
Scissors in hand, Homewood Mayor Richard Hofeld and Dr. Joanne Smith, president and CEO of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, prepare to cut the ribbon on Oct. 22 marking the official opening of the new DayRehabCenter® in Homewood.
The DayRehabCenter® offers “a step down from inpatient rehab,” Smith explained. “It’s not necessarily out-patient rehabilitation because it’s more intensive, but it’s a level of care that we are setting a benchmark for. This is one of the unique levels of service the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab delivers that nobody else in the United States delivers.”
The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, previously known as the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, had limited visibility in the original location, and over time the space became cramped. Planning for a dedicated facility started in 2018. The building has a white exterior with windows lining the walls. The white interior has splashes of color and lots of open spaces.
Kruskinski Construction Company built the building in 2019 for MedProperties, which is leasing it to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
Dignitaries helping celebrate the opening of the Ryan AbilityLab on Oct. 22 [included], Homewood Police Chief Bill Alcott, Homewood Assistant Village Manager Napoleon Haney, Homewood Trustee Lauren Roman, Homewood Trustee Jay Heiferman, Homewood Economic Development Director Angela Mesaros, state Sen. Napoleon Harris, Homewood Mayor Richard Hofeld, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab President and CEO Joanne C. Smith, MedProperties Group CEO Matt Campbell, Krusinski Construction President Jeff Krusinski, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Administrative Director Jean Vander Sanden and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab Clinical Manager Katy Morrison.
Smith urged guests to “look at how modern and technical this facility is. This is white, bright and our patients come to this facility and feel uplifted. They see light, they see bright. Those are all part of the healing process. This will be a facility you’ll be proud to say is part of Homewood.”
Read the full story in the Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle.
