Inpatient Rehabilitation Program
Upon arrival, you will be greeted by bright colors intentionally chosen to foster optimism and energy and promote our patients' recovery. Each patient has their own room with expansive windows offering abundant natural lighting and a fully accessible private bathroom. Thoughtfully designed rooms promote comfort, restful sleep, easy mobility, and a welcoming atmosphere for patients and their visitors.
Our program spans two floors, with 24-hour nursing and daily on site physicians to maximize healing and recovery. The rehabilitation building was constructed to offer specialized patient treatment while maintaining seamless connectivity to the main hospital campus. Ingalls Memorial offers dedicated lower level passages. This architectural design enables immediate access to additional medical care and support consultations.
During the day, patients have access to two large dining and recreation rooms. They participate in group activities and community dining to support socialization and enhance mental and emotional well-being. Our program utilizes three large rehabilitation gyms and a highly skilled team to provide intensive therapy. We have space and equipment supporting evidence-based practice and high intensity treatment and the latest techniques to promote recovery and maximize ability.
A key part of rehabilitation is planning for patients to return home. Our program has a car simulator and a fully functioning apartment to practice activities in a realistic setting. Patients and caregivers use these spaces to gain skills for a successful transition to home.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our program. It's our mission to ensure you feel safe and confident choosing inpatient rehabilitation with UChicago Medicine and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. For more information about our rehabilitation options, call 708-915-MOVE.
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After a hospital stay, you may benefit from around-the-clock care in a specialized facility focused on rehabilitation. In our dedicated inpatient rehabilitation facility on the Ingalls Memorial Hospital campus, physicians, nurses and other clinicians from the University of Chicago Medicine and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab work together to support your recovery. During your stay, we help you maximize your abilities so you can regain your independence and improve your quality of life after an illness or injury.
For more information or to make a referral, call 708-915-5031.
Leaders in Inpatient Rehabilitation
UChicago Medicine and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab are committed to finding the best therapies to help patients recover, and our physicians are leading the way in research on rehabilitation. When you stay in our inpatient rehabilitation facility, you will have access to the latest evidence-based therapies and protocols to help you return to your usual routine as fully and quickly as possible.
Benefits of Inpatient Rehabilitation
Patients who choose our inpatient rehabilitation program recover better.
- Our patients show greater improvements in self-care and mobility than national averages.
- Our patients recover more quickly compared to other programs.
- Our patients are more likely to return home and less likely to return to the hospital, compared to national averages.
Specialized Rehabilitation for a Range of Conditions
Our physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists and nurses offer science-backed rehabilitation programs to help people recover from a range of health concerns, including:
- Cancer
- Falls
- Heart and lung diseases
- Limb loss (amputations)
- Multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Parkinson’s disease
- Spinal cord injury
- Stroke
- Transplant
- Traumatic brain injury
- Traumatic injuries
What You Can Expect During Your Inpatient Rehabilitation Stay
While you recover in our inpatient rehabilitation facility, you benefit from intensive services that you cannot get during a routine hospital stay or during outpatient rehabilitation.
As a patient in our inpatient rehabilitation facility, you can expect:
- Daily physician oversight to support your medical condition, no matter how complex
- 24-hour compassionate nursing care and patient education
- Personalized physical, occupational and speech therapy (three hours each day, five days a week)
- Group therapy to promote community and recovery
- Family education with your care team to coordinate support and plans for your return home
- Easy, open communication with your providers and access to your medical records
- Private rooms with large windows
- Free parking
Referrals and Information
For more information or to make a referral, call 708-915-5031.
[MUSIC PLAYING] I think one of the things that makes our program really unique is you truly get a combination of two leaders in the industry.
You are going to have access to the best in rehab, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, combined with a world class health care system. You have the best of both worlds. Think of us as rehab 2.0. We have 3.0, which is the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
That's a unique opportunity with coming to UChicago is that you get the very best expertise in medicine, hand it off directly to the best expertise in rehabilitation. And that seamless kind of care transitions and handoff, I think, really does lead to a better experience and better outcomes.
Each and every person of the rehab team impacts that change and helps the patient get better to what they want to do in their goals. The rehab team is here to support you in your efforts to return back to your day-to-day activities.
A patient is appropriate for our rehab hospital if they have a functional deficit. They also need to have a medical necessity. And they need to be able to tolerate the intensity of an acute inpatient rehab stay.
People don't come to the rehab unit for a small reason. They come for a big life change.
I had a NASH, which is a non-alcoholic cirrhosis and my liver pretty much was dead. But when I had my liver transplant, one of the medications that I had was causing toxicity.
You're going to get expert care, and then it's going to be compassionate. I think we really take great care of our patients. We really get to know them, care about them, make sure the experience is positive, get to know their family members.
I've got to give them credit here. They have really worked with me and worked on me, getting me strength back.
So I want to have the person control their bodies as opposed to their bodies controlling them. By a person having control over their bodies, we've taken them up that mountain. And that's really neat to see.
I think for some patients, success is getting home.
When I first got here, they were lucky. I couldn't walk anything really. And then I got 20 feet. Then I got 50. And the last three times I've gotten over 150. Once I passed the occupational, tomorrow, my wife picks me up and we go up to Chicago to learn about pharmacy and stuff like that, and then we head home.
I always say, I want to see you again, but not-- just as a friend. People do-- people come back and they visit and/or they call, they send a note. Family members come back and contact us.
It drives you. It drives me to continue to see that. Even today, after all these years of doing this, it's why I do this.
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